September 27, 2026

What Do We Need? … and can we make it to Southeast Italy?

Polignano a Mare, Italy

This is truly the question we are asking in every way. After 27 days, what do we need? This is longer than a vacation and not quite a “moving in,” so I find that we are in a bit of an interim time. We experience the weight of all that we carry approximately every 5 days. 

For me, purchasing the local clothing and the olive oil and spices are part of the experience and part of the memory. Our budget includes keepsakes and souvenirs (and shipping money to send some home), but each time it is the choice of giving something away, packing tighter, or not buying anything new. 

We find ourselves having 3 main priorities these days:

1. Planning the logistics of the days (while the kids engage school) – I try to stay a week or two ahead with tickets, plans, and what we will need
2. Eating – this seriously takes up one-third of the day. Each meal has a sitting time of 60-90 minutes minimum (there really is no such thing as a quick meal). There is also the walk time of at least 1 mile each way (twice a day). We do utilize the mini-grocery markets every other day for meals and snacks. We can get plenty for 20 euro, as opposed to any simple meals at restaurants that will be at least 70 euro (for 5 people). Once or twice a week, we splurge a little more for dinner. Overall, we are trying to stay within our budget
3. Engaging the things we have planned – trying to keep it simple and still see the things we came for and might never have the chance to see again. This includes our activities budget for tickets, some tours, a weekly excursion, and a daily adventure

There is not much time for anything else. During a train ride, I might listen to an audiobook. At night I usually write my blogs and memories. I also have a detailed spreadsheet of all of the experiences thinking it might make a cool and handy travel guidebook. 

As we dragged ourselves through the taxi, ferry, road trip day today, we wondered, What do we need? 

We answered this question last night by deciding we needed to cut our next day by 3 hours. We need a closer place to stay (closer to the Bari airport) for these last 2 days in Italy. And so we went into logistics mode to make the changes and consider the options. 

We are on the ferry back to Naples, leaving behind the lovely island of Ischia. We will pick up a rental car and drive to Puglia, the southeast section of Italy (the heel of the boot) that was forgotten for many decades. It is now a gem for seeing the sites you may never again happen upon so there is no way we can leave it out. 

Literally, looking for my bootstraps right now.