The Magic Wine Glass

Over the past dozen years of travel, I’ve made reference to my ‘Magic Wine Glass’ a thousand times. So often, when I have a picture taken in Italy, there is a wine glass in it. So, I say it magically appeared there, and poof: the Magic Wine Glass was born.

When I began this adventure, I told my son it needed a name. He said, “Are you kidding? You’ve been doing this for more than a decade. And in all your pictures, you claim the glass of wine magically appeared, and started tagging your pictures #magicwineglass. I’m pretty sure you already named your tour company.”

You’ll doubtless have your own magically appearing wine glass (or espresso cup) in your own pictures.

Why I do this

I’ve been taking women on trips since I put together my first girlfriends cruise vacation in the 1990s. It’s always fallen to me -happily- to create the plan, the spreadsheet, do the research, choose the hotels and verify the train or boat schedules, figure out what was available and what was necessary, to make each trip a success. I really enjoy this part of travel, so it was never a hardship, but it is extraordinarily time consuming.

Then I go on trips and find interesting things that I go home and read about because, it’s SO much more interesting when you’re looking at a fountain, to know a little about the sculptor who dreamed it up, the meaning behind the work, and the political intrigue that went into its creation. It’s the little things that give depth and breadth to a travel experience.

I take great pleasure in finding tiny out of the way restaurants where you won’t find a lot of English spoken, but you’ll see regular working people having their lunch. Out of the way things, like the tiny Leonardo DaVinci museums in Florence, where craftsmen have created Da Vinci’s machines based on his plans… or the customs confiscation museum in Rome, where the constantly evolving display makes me laugh. I enjoy finding craftsmen you can watch creating their works, whether it’s leather goods in Florence or a Roman cabinet maker, a man who re-canes chairs, an olive oil or cheese maker, a truffle hunter, a potter on the Amalfi coast, or woodcarver in the Tuscan countryside.

I encourage you to explore fresh markets and fish markets, and to allow yourself to be astounded at the variety of foods and fishes you’ve never seen. I encourage you to taste new dishes, and savor Italian wine pairings. Try something new. Learn something new. Experience something new. Be a traveler with me, instead of a tourist. Come along, and have your own magical travel adventure.

Text any questions: +1 828 246-2617. And on facebook it’s facebook.com/MagicWineglass.