How on Earth??

So, perhaps you are wondering just how we happened to come to Sardinia, of all places, for our honeymoon. Or how we ended up spending it housesitting with two doggies in the middle of the countryside during the tourist off-season.  Well, we often wonder about that, too!  It's a long story, but, in the interest of time, here's a somewhat abbreviated version.

A couple of years ago, we started to look at a website called Sabbaticalhomes.com. It is similar to other home exchange/rental/sitting sites, except that it is oriented to academics who are often going away for an entire semester, summer or academic year, instead of just a two- or three-week vacation.  Also, people are typically listing their own homes, rather than a conventional vacation rental. And, since they are academics, those homes often have unique architectural features, are filled with interesting books and art, and/or are in cool locations.

Last fall - it now seems like years ago! - we saw a listing for a home in Sardinia owned by a lady named Cinzia who is a language instructor (English and Italian) on cruise ships.  As such, Cinzia regularly travels for long periods, and needs someone to mind her household, which includes two dogs and a garden (see picture below).  For short trips, she can rely on local friends and family, but for long voyages, like the five-month one to Asia she is on now, Cinzia needs to find people like us to house-sit.

Of course, none of that explains why we agreed to come to the 'middle of nowhere' on an off-beat island that almost nobody we knew could find on a map. Or why we were willing to stay put for several months in somebody else's personal residence. In fact, we were actually in extended negotiations with a number of other promising home rental prospects across Europe that, for various reasons, didn't end up working out.  And, of course, we could have decided just to travel around Europe, staying at a series of nice hotels and resorts in the usual famous places, exactly like we were on a respectable honeymoon.

But somehow we kept coming back to the idea of staying in one place, and in a real home that would give us the feeling of actually living in a foreign country, instead of just visiting it. In this light, the apparent disadvantages of the arrangement at Cinzia's actually became advantages. We would be able to really settle in, get to know the neighborhood like a native, travel around without any real time constraints, etc. etc.  And our location, close to the beach and mountains, with crystal air and sky, and virtually no other tourists, would facilitate those famous long, romantic walks that bespeak of a very private and passionate honeymoon hideaway.  With those bewitching stars in our eyes to guide us, we were carried forward to our current fate.

Even so, it took months to make the final decision, and more months to work out the details - and we've got a GMail file four pages long to prove it! Cinzia's voyage schedule was changed several times by her management without much warning, but fortunately we were flexible enough to adapt.  Our own schedule changed as well, as we postponed our marriage date to accommodate various relatives, and finally decided to just to get married quietly and put off our formal celebration until we got back from our honeymoon.  Anyway, after months of hemming and hawing all around, by mid-January we finally had real dates under our belt, swallowed hard, and bought our plane tickets.

So, you are probably wondering, how has it all worked out for the two starry-eyed lovebirds?  Well, the final verdict of course awaits our completing the trip and heading home but.... so far so good!

There were - and still are - some annoying problems with the house, including some occasional strange smells, armies of ants around the perimeter of the house, and incredible potholes in the local road. And, it has taken us awhile to find the best places to shop for those things we know exactly where to find at home. But even those annoyances are generally trumped by the coziness of being somewhere that has been furnished and decorated to be a real home, complete with two friendly dogs always hanging around who love nothing better than to be cuddled and petted (see below).

Also, it can sometimes be a little isolating to be stuck out in the country, especially in bad weather.  In this respect, however, it is not all that different from our digs at home, except there we have more friends to hang out with.  But, on nice days, we have magnificent views of the mountains all around Cinzia's house, and we are a very short drive from the beach, the mountains and many picturesque small towns. Cinzia also took pains to get us in touch with some of her numerous family and friends, and, as we've documented earlier, already had two visits by friends from mainland Italy, so we haven't ever been lonely for long.

Actually, our biggest single issue is probably the language gap. We had hoped to spend more time, both before and during the trip, learning Italian.  For basic travel, of course, only a smattering of 'shopping/eating Italian' is really necessary.  However, to actually engage people, carry on meaningful conversations, and really understand what's going on around us requires a lot more proficiency than we are likely to gain on what is still a relatively short foray into foreign living.  We'll just have to accept that gap for now, and wait for an opportunity to spend even more time abroad in order to master one or more languages - probably at least a year in each case.

The real test of this trip is of course whether we are enjoying it as a honeymoon.  In that regard, the good news is that, with the stress of regular travel removed, we certainly are having a lot of low-stress time together, with lots of opportunities to share new and unique experiences, enjoy nature, and to have some plain old fun. Also, we are punctuating our long stay in rural Sardinia with time in more sophisticated places - Tuscany up front, and Piemonte at the tail end.  We'll have plenty to remember about this honeymoon, that's for sure!

Finally, we thank our lucky stars that we even have the opportunity to take this much time away for our honeymoon. Most people only have a week or two squeezed into a tight schedule around work and family.  Even people who have the time and wherewithal are afraid to leave their home for so long - many thanks to our wonderful housesitter, Abby Morgan, our loyal gardener, Marie Tomlan, and our stellar handywoman, Laura Ventura, for helping to make this trip possible. And, of course, thanks to Cinzia and her boyfriend Giancarlo for making their lovely home available, so we could have this unique experience.