Let’s Get This Show on the Road! Returning to Travel Post-Covid
Guest Contributor Molly Verlin
Watching a recent 60 Minutes segment, I found myself commiserating with the featured Broadway performers who have been out of work this past year. As a tour guide in Italy, my work too has disappeared.
Nathan Lane, one of those unemployed Broadway stars, stated something that struck me: “We’ve missed that connection; it’s about connection; the human connection.” While he, of course, was referring to the stage, I suddenly realized that’s what I had been missing too. Although the loss of income has been difficult, it is that connection with tour members—that sense of community—that I miss most. I miss not only building relationships with my tour members but also helping them connect with each other and with locals.
On a cicchetti crawl in Venice with my tour members and my colleague Yaren Turkoglu
Image | Yaren Turkoglu
I have been leading Italian tours for Rick Steves’ Europe for five years, and to build this sense of community, one of my favorite early-tour activities is a Venice pub crawl. Once my tour members have learned the ropes at a couple of Venetian cicchetti bars (where they serve Italian-style tapas—usually bread topped with fresh seafood, meat, or cheese), I send them off to find their own cicchetti and tell them to give one to a fellow tour member. With this single activity, they interact with locals, learn about the culture, and connect with each other. I love how they relax throughout the evening (the wine helps!) as they grow more comfortable with each other and their foreign surroundings. This experience bonds them for the rest of the tour and makes them more confident to set out on their own adventures.
I also run my own tour company, Molly’s Old South, and on one of my recent tours in Charleston, South Carolina, Henrietta Snype, a third-generation sweetgrass basket maker demonstrated her craft to my group. Watching her hands fly as she worked was mesmerizing, but even more fascinating was her story. She explained how her African slave ancestors learned this craft on a nearby plantation and how she is keeping it alive by teaching it to her children and grandchildren. She showed us five generations of her family’s baskets, from her grandmother’s to her granddaughter’s, and this led to a fascinating exchange about her art, life and roots. We all connected and learned from each other.
Henrietta Snype demonstrates her artisan skills and creations.
Image | Molly Verlin
This is why travel and connecting with people we would not normally meet is special. While the last year’s virtual experiences—happy hours, museum visits, gatherings, and the like—have allowed us to connect in new ways, they are not, of course, the same as actually traveling. An essential part of travel is about being bold and putting ourselves out there to make those connections we crave. As much as we may love a culture’s art or architecture or food, it is the people we meet who really create our lasting memories.
To close with more Nathan Lane: “I love Netflix but enough is enough.” Agreed! Now that travel is returning, maybe some of us will be able to get off our couches and enjoy the live adventure and community that travel brings us. I am ready! Are you?
On tour in Charleston, South Carolina
Image | Molly Verlin
Molly Verlin, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, moved to Italy to become a tour guide upon graduating with an Art History degree from Davidson College. After receiving a Master’s degree in Renaissance Art in Florence through Syracuse University, she returned to the U.S. to teach college Humanities and Art History and lead local tours of Jacksonville and St. Augustine. She returns to Italy to guide tours for Rick Steves’ Europe several months a year and also leads her own bus tours of the American Southeast through Molly’s Old South Tours. You can find Molly @mollysoldsouth on Facebook and Instagram.
