The 1st Thing I Always Pack

The 1st Thing I Always Pack….



I don’t know about you but the 1st thing I always pack for a vacation is my camera. Every vacation destination has that "one picture" you need to take; in a way it’s proof that you were there. As humans we associate images with locations around the world, even if we have never been there. For example if I showed you pictures of The Christ Redeemer, The Sydney Opera House and Stonehenge you would know exactly where they were, Brazil, Australia and England, these images are embedded in our heads. As tourists we have an agenda, relax, have fun, experience new things and of course, take that "one picture". Unfortunately on my trip to Italy, I did neither!!



We have all seen pictures of The Leaning Tower of Pisa; again, one of those images that has been imbedded in our heads. I woke up that morning on a mission, I wanted to take two pictures of the tower; one of me pushing it and the other of me trying to hold it up, simple right?? Knowing that it would take a few try’s to get the positioning right, my brother and I headed down to Pisa’s Cathedral Square early to beat the crowds. For me the worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist. When we arrived, there were hundreds of people already there, we waited for 2 hours, while more and more people kept showing up. Then the buses started rolling in full of tourists, it wasn’t looking good for me. After 4 hours in the sun and still no picture we decided to call it a day and come back at night. We went sightseeing, visited a few museums and found our way back to the tower around 5pm; funny thing is, there were still hundreds of people there!!!!! What should have taken 5 minutes, took a whole day and $100. We came back at 2am, slipped the guards some money and took the pictures; unfortunately they were black and white. Alas, it wasn’t the picture I wanted but I thought it would have to do.



Remember when I said that the first thing I always packed was my camera? Well, that wasn’t the case for my trip back home…I left my camera in the hotel room and had to make do with the "one picture" of The Leaning Tower of Pisa once again imbedded in my head…Dang it.!



http://getawaygateway.com/blog/2011/05/26/the-1st-thing-i-always-pack/