With Neetu & Chris, it was no different. They were travelling in Italy for their 3rd anniversary, and wanted some photos for the occasion. It was a perfect balmy spring evening – the kind of easygoing weather that Milan hardly ever sees – so of course tourists, travellers and locals were out in full force.

This evening I walked beneath a row of bay trees in Alberobello, pausing to smell their sweet aroma. I lifted my feet to stand on tippy toes and tilted my face towards the sky. A new friend and unofficial local tour guide laughed at me, “ma cosa fai?”

Today I drank a dark Italian espresso, and I couldn’t help but to smile as the bitterness turned sour in my mouth as I walked back out onto Corso Buenos Aires. I eavesdropped on conversations, ate panzerotto fritto and got lost in sweet laneways somewhere between Duomo and le Colonne…

We drove up from Jurien Bay, stopping at Dongara for fuel, Geraldton for lunch, roadside for photos taken standing atop the roaring ute’s cab for a clearer view.

I find being in transit such a strange act – to start the day in one place and end it in another.

In Verona, the city of Romeo & Juliet, the great love tale of our culture, life seemed slow but fast but… fake. Unreal in the lighting, balconies, slippery marble walkways and grand drinking fountains in tourist-filled piazzas.