That time I got into BIG trouble for almost ending up in Italy …
When I should’ve been in Austria!
I hope you’ll be able to join us on March 24, 2021 @7pm EST, to see and hear about what a special place the southern Tyrolean Alps are! And what it’s like to travel with me in the small groups I put together. Click the button to register for the free zoom event:
I picked this trip as my maiden voyage, so to speak, because the Dolomites have had a pull on me my entire life. My mother grew up in Bavaria, Germany, and spent many winters in the Austrian Alps, mountain climbing and skinning up glaciers (when “skins” were actually real seal skin!), climbing around the ice, at altitudes where only the experienced climbers could reach. Now-a-days, they have three chairlifts and two gondolas to get us to the top of my mom’s favorite glacier, and I always stand in awe of this view into Italy: (I took this photo a few years ago.)
View into Italy; top photo is the same view, but during winter.
My mom’s charcoal drawing of a photo taken of her and a friend in action on the Wilde Kaiser Mt … see the actual Wilde Kaiser below; “Wilde Kaiser” translates into “Wild King.”
My first trip to the Tyrolean Alps was when I was 6 years old and was sent, by myself, to visit my extended family. I didn’t speak German, and they didn’t speak English, so you can say that trip was also my first Epic Global Adventure! 🙂 My Tante Marie and Onkel Tony had a beautiful mountain retreat at the end of a steep alpine road (we have to park at the bottom in the winter!), in a tiny farming village; the only sounds you hear in the summer are cowbells, and the only sounds you hear in the winter are NOTHING. That place became my Sanctuary—my dad’s job moved our family every 1-2 years, and that house and those mountains NEVER changed. My cousin owns the house now, but whenever my family and I visit, I still get to drink my morning beverage from the same mug my Tante served my hot cocoa in—literally, not kidding!
Left: Meeting my cousins for the very first time, when they picked me up from the airport (I’m in the middle). Right: The view from the balcony of my Sanctuary; the Wilde Kaiser is the jagged mountain glowing in the distance.
In the 1980’s (I’m on the right), my sister and I got into BIG trouble when we got lost at an Austrian ski resort and almost ended up in Italy! On our way down to the parking lot at the end of the day, we found ourselves at a sign that directed us like this: <–AUSTRIA ITALY–> Boy, did I yearn to turn right!
So I’ve come full circle, from my first actual Epic Global Adventure in the northern Tyrolean Alps, to hosting my first small group trip to the southern Tyrolean Alps with Epic Global Adventures! When I joined Paula Hiuser’s travel advisory team, she asked me, “Where in the world have you always wanted to go?” And I replied, without hesitation, “The Dolomites.” After looking through various itineraries, this itinerary (click HERE) not only checked all the boxes for me, (as a comprehensive introduction to the Italian Alps), but this travel partner’s commitment to sustainable travel made them The One.
Click the button below to register for the free Dolomites Trek Talk, and travel virtually with us to a very special place.
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