The following is the second part of a letter we received along with a submission to our annual photo contest. (Read Part I).

Well, I am ecstatic to say that she did indeed “beat cancer” and is still in remission today! We did celebrate and she, my great aunt (her sister), my mother, two aunt s(my mom’s sisters) and I, traveled and experienced Italy together with Collette Tours and had an indescribable experience. This trip was so important to me that I actually “cashed in” one of my retirement policies to go with my family.
In addition, another reason for celebration was, that my grandmother found we still had relatives in Sicily and while on our tour we would only be thirty minutes away from the town that my great, great grandfather grew up in before moving to America in 1901. In fact, my relatives still live in the same, small village and we made arrangements to meet and visit with them while we were in Sicily.
Well, can I say that the opportunity to meet my Italian relatives and reconnect a family that had lost touch some 100 years ago was life-changing.
We didn’t know we still had living relatives in Sicily and they didn’t know that they had family in America. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, thanks again to your wonderful company.
I am happy to say that not only did we reconnect with our cousins but still keep in touch through email and Facebook. Isn’t modern technology great? While we were in our “hometown” of Montedoro, Sicily with our relatives we took the opportunity to spread the ashes of my great grandmother, Concetta, on the mountain top of the little town that her father had moved away from to seek a better life in America. It was a very emotional moment as we were able to experience the full circle of where we came from and where we are now.
I could write on for days about how wonderful our trip was but this will do for now. I hope you enjoy our selection of pictures from our journey for your contest. Thank you for considering them. We dream about returning to Italy again someday and when we saw the Grand Prize was a trip to Rome, we knew we had to try.
Thank You again for fulfilling our dream with our Trip in 2010, you really do have a Wonderful Company and Wonderful Employees.
God Bless You all.
Sincerely
Lindsay J.
Lindsay and her family did not win the photo contest this year. However, one of their photos did make it all the way to the final round. Her story and photos really capture what we at Collette strive towards everyday.
Click here to leave a comment.
Tags: Collette Reviews, Italy, Photo Contest