Springtime in Roma!

My first keynote speech to an august body of my flight test colleagues.  What an honor!  I flew into Milan, still working on my talk about "The Future FTE".  Took a train from Milan to Rome.  That trek from Milan to the symposium hotel near Rome was an odyssey and a learning experience on how to purchase tickets. Lots of fast walking up and down staircases with 2 suitcases to catch various trains.  Several kind Italians helped me sort out the maze and purchase various tickets. Got a workout. On the train from Milan to Rome I was "heads down" still working on finishing my talk. Barely looking outside trying to input revisions I made by hand on the flight over. A pity. But the return trip to Milan awaits.  Out of frugality, I choose to take a regional train.  That involved a 1/2 mile walk at the central Rome train station (it's a HUGE station), which after multiple stops and changing trains left me at a country station 1 mile from the hotel.  At that point with a large suitcase in tow, I deferred on walking and got an Uber.  Spent 2 more hours at the hotel in revisions as mine was the first talk in the morning. Went down to the lobby to print it out, and walked right into the SFTE welcome reception.  My first food! Had an hour of interesting conversations before I felt ready to collapse from a long trip and little sleep.   Took a shower and an Ambien.   7 hours later all is well.  Off to give my talk. 

My talk was very well received and generated lots of buzz!

The symposium was amazing for subjects and networking nonstop. I've been swamped with interest. Need a PR manager to manage my schedule :) More on the symposium here and here. The last day was a tour of ITAF Practica di Mare airbase.  I reunited with 3 of the Italian test pilots who I worked closely with in Italy (Marco Mangini, Raf, and Johnny)  

After the conference ended, I wanted to stay in Rome for 3 days until JD arrived to see some sights with my friend Jaime Silva. Not so fast.  There was no place to stay!?  Everything else below $700 per night was taken. Had almost given up and was headed to Rome and then at the last minute was very fortunate to find a tiny flat below $100 a night that was done sorta as a "deal" offline from Airbnb.   Interesting story.  

First night in Rome had dinner with Jaime and one of his TPS classmates at a fantastic restaurant serving traditional Roman food, called Osteria da Mario, near the Coliseum. Walked back to my flat and the nightlight is so vibrant even with a little rain. Took an hour but quite interesting as the route was filled with monuments and people even past midnight.  

Jaime and I toured the Sistine Chapel and walked all over Rome centro.  Most interesting was the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum.  That guy was talented.  Yet frustrated!  There is a lesson there.

 

Headed to Milano.  Travel tip Google Pay is a must in Europe.  always works for train and metro.  Walk on walk off.  Credit and debit cards are hit-and-miss