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Weary traveler

3–4 minutes

I joined a food tour in Palermo, Sicily, the morning before my flight. Being on a guided tour helped my weary self get out and explore the town.

Here are the foods we tried:

A brioche filled with spinach and cheese.
The flat piece of food is made of chickpea flour. Our guide said that sometimes families would make it in the shape of a fish to pretend it was fried fish when they couldn’t afford it. The filled, fried rice ball was delicious. It’s called “arancina” in Palermo (the west) and “arancino” in Catania (the east). There is also a croquet and German beer. The people of Palermo would rather drink German beer than beer made in Catania. Quite the rivalry!
These long squash plants are like zucchini. They would sell the zucchini and cook the leaves. The leaves used to be a Palermo “struggle food” for the poor to eat for survival. Now, pasta with zucchini leaves and mussels is a gourmet dish.
Focaccia, cheese, and olives
A spleen sandwich – actually so yummy! Spleen, lung, and throat sliced very thin and cooked in butter. This food utilized the part of the cow that the Jewish population did not eat. By cooking it in butter, those who ate this sandwich could not be seen as Jewish sympathizers. I’m not exactly sure the religious history, but I do know that the butter made it delicious.

My backpack had gotten so heavy with all the clothes, foods, and other souvenirs. I was excited about each purchase in the moment, but I wasn’t paying attention to how much room I still had in my backpack. Luckily it all fit, barely!

I used a cart to tote around my bags at the airport at the end. My large backpack by the end of the trip, weighed 22kg! Phew!

I arrived early to the Palermo airport for my flight to London. It was especially crowded since the other Sicily airport had suffered a fire and was closed for the next few days. A lot of travelers were rerouted to Palermo. My flight was with RyanAir, and the app told me to go to the ticket desk in order to print my boarding pass. I ended up waiting in a very slow line for 3 hours. When I made it to the front, the lady told me that I didn’t need to wait in that line; all I had to do was go to the Ryanair ticket desk. The ticket desk line was much shorter.

London claims multiple airports: Heathrow, Stansted, and Luton. The are not very close together. I flew in to Stansted, and was set to fly out of Heathrow the next morning. Arriving to Stansted around midnight, I was too weary to navigate the series of busses and trains that would take me until 2am to get to my originally planned accommodation towards Heathrow. I opted to stay the night in the Radisson, the fancy hotel walking distance from the Stansted Airport.

The inside of the hotel lobby

Earlier in the trip, I was frugal. This last day, my budget no longer mattered to me. I even took a Bolt (UK’s version of Uber) to the Heathrow Airport the next morning, rather than navigating a series of busses and trains. I decided to treat myself!

Casual view from inside the Bolt car

Lucky me! II even got an exit row seat on the plane – plenty of legroom. And I was thankful for the direct flight between London and Cincinnati.

Yay exit row!

I am now home in Cincinnati, reconnecting with friends and loved ones!

I’m already planning my next trip abroad. Talk to you soon.

2 responses to “Weary traveler”

  1. Denise Boone Avatar
    Denise Boone

    Thank you for the tour! See you this weekend! Safe travels!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Amy Street Avatar
      Amy Street

      Thanks for following along 🙂 See you soon!

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