A flat white, two neighbors, and an invite back

Hi {{first_name}}

IWe walked into Crema and Vine yesterday morning for a flat white.

Yes. A flat white. In small-town Danville, Virginia.

The owner, Steve, has lived in Asia and traveled to Melbourne and Sydney. He knows what a flat white is, and how obsessed Australians are with coffee. He and his wife have somehow perfected one ninety minutes from Raleigh.

We said G'day to Steve. "Oh, good to see you back."

Then, "Hey Joyce. Hey Carla. Great to see you in here!"

Two neighbors from down the street. We'd spent time with both of them the day before. We'd joined Joyce on a walking tour, and Carla, in one of the beautiful historic mansions on Millionaire Row, had invited us into her house to look at her antiques and collectibles.

A few days in Danville. Already, we'd made friends. Already, we had an invitation back for what we were told is the hottest New Year's Eve party in town.

Here's what I want you to take from that.

When you arrive in a small town, the surface can fool you. Not much going on. Probably boring. But under that surface sits a place full of adventures, lessons, and people worth knowing. You just have to dig.

That's our job, finding those stories for you. We're good at it. We love it. We do it so you can land in a destination and have an easier time.

But here's the part still on you, no matter how detailed our plans get: spend time talking to the locals.

We have to add an extra 20 minutes to almost everything we do, because we talk so much. Granted, the Australian accent helps. You don't get a lot of Australians wandering through small towns in North Carolina, or anywhere else in the USA. But we're open. It's how we find the good places to eat, the best coffee, the photo spots, the hidden gems.

We just ask, "What's your favorite thing to do around here?" And they lead us straight to them.

These are the experiences you can have in small towns. Harder to find in big cities like New York, but they're there too. It's all about how you enter a town, big or small. How you approach it. And most of all, how open you are to chatting with strangers who, very quickly, become new friends.

Warmly,

Caroline

P.S. We’re excited to share our Danville trip with you - it’s an easy getaway idea from Raleigh, and we’ve discovered many people from Raleigh do come here. Today, we’re experiencing Hyperfest, at the Virginia International Raceway. We only learned both exist because of this trip and the VIR is one of the bests road courses in the country. I’m not a race car person but I’m willing to experience new things on the daily! Should be fun!

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