Positano
A place of dreams and a reminder to manifest those goals.
Ah, the joys of traveling pre-COVID-19. Yes, I’m feeling quite nostalgic for the days of wanderlust past, but not to worry. I have plenty of time on my hands to revisit old travel photos, read through guidebooks, and plan for more bucket list stops when things eventually normalize. Hopefully.
“Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”
John Steinbeck
The Amalfi Coast - where Positano is located - is a dreamy destination, but it was a personally planned dream for decades. As a teen living on a US Naval base in Guam in the mid-1990s, we had one little video store no larger than a half of a shipping container. I used to rent movies (VHS - gasp!) weekly until one movie caught my eye and I started renting it any chance I could.
The movie was Only You, which was partly filmed in Positano - mostly toward the end where the protagonist, played by Marisa Tomei, starts to figure out that her destiny is in her own hands. If you’ve read The Desert Warrior or followed my other work, you might detect a pattern.
Years through my teens and finishing high school in California, I was still watching Only You religiously and to the annoyance of my older sister, Janice. I promised that if she would bear with me, I would take her there someday - and in 2018, I did.
Not only did we explore Rome and where Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. link up in the Trastevere neighborhood, but we got to spend quality time throughout Italy in addition to racking up little sister points with a day trip to Positano.
The video at the beginning of this post was taken in June 2018 when we took a family road trip from Rome through Puglia, Matera, Santa Maria di Castellabate, Amalfi Coast, and back to Rome. 2020 made us all appreciate a lot of those unforgettable moments.
While Positano is a gorgeous stop, it’s not the most ideal for quality Italian food - not even close for the outstanding, gastronomically-rich region of Campania. Travel farther north or south, and then you’ll be in good hands. During this 2018 visit, Positano was saturated in German and American tourists which made for quite a claustrophobic experience. It was touristy, sure, but I still made good on my promise.
My old desktop wallpaper at work in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition to my promise to my sister was a promise to myself. Positano was a bucket list item for sure, but it’s one of many places I’ve had the chance to experience through setting up travel goals no matter how out-of-reach they may seem when I start.
I had gone through war, experienced violent bigotry in and out of the military, escaped abusive relationships, started my life over several times, slept in my car when I had nothing else, and more. When this Positano desktop wallpaper was up in 2017, I had already achieved so much more than I had planned. And then we were invited to a wedding in southern Italy - so it became a stop on our Italian road trip in summer 2018.
While marrying an Italian sure helped facilitate the journey, this happened as a by-product of focusing on my goals of a better career, a healthier relationship, and a quality home life. If you, above all people, don’t believe in yourself or your plans, how will anyone else?
Me, inserting myself into my desktop wallpaper in real life in Positano.
One of my favorite quotes from Only You comes from the film’s beginning where a carnival fortune teller stops the young protagonist on her way out after receiving an eerie prediction and says, “The truth is you make your own destiny. Don't wait for it to come to you.”
I couldn’t agree more.
