26 Days, Two Hats: A Sojourn Through Italy, France & England
There's a particular joy in a trip that refuses to be just one thing. This one was part pilgrimage, part music camp, part reunion tour, and part working mission for the Society of Flight Test Engineers. For thirty days I swapped between a guitar case and a briefcase, sometimes in the same afternoon. Here's how it unfolded. Arrival: Italy, August 24 I landed in Italy on the 24th with a bit of a fog that comes with a delayed DFW flight, crossing an ocean, and a missed Heathrow connection. But employing my motto, "flexibility is the key to tactical success" it all worked out. Arriving a few hours late at Milan-Linate, I picked up a rental car and headed out in rush hour for a 1-hour drive to Venegono to pick up my Italian guitar, spending my first night in a new Airbnb aptly named the Villa Puccini (for all its Puccini memorabilia) hosted by a mathmatics professor. I went out for a late-night pizza and a birra rosa as a huge thunderstorm brought welco...