Background

I just graduated from BYU and instead of walking across the stage, I will be walking down the terminal to the airplane and fly to Rome. I have taken a few years to get through school because of my need for distraction from the mundane. I have been to Alaska, the Olympics (in Vancouver), backpacked the Appalachian Trail, and driven buses and trucks (not bad for a high school physics teacher). It has been a good time, but now I am ready to go see another part of the world that (I hope) holds new mysteries, people, and experiences that will help enrich my life.

I expect to be in some huge cities surrounded by people as well as find myself sitting alone on top of a mountain waiting for the morning sun to warm my face. I hope to experience history, enjoy the present, and make friends and memories for the future.

This blog is to allow you to share my experience and encourage me to keep those I care about informed about my whereabouts.

My tentative plan:

• fly to Rome (on Saturday)
• Meet up with Dave (a friend I became acquainted with in Salt Lake)
  
• 2 or 3 or 4 days in Rome
• 1 day travel to Florence (by train, bus, or hitchhiking)
• 2 or 3 days in Florence

this is when it starts to get fuzzy,

• Head up to Turin
• Genoa is next
• Chinque Terre
• Mt. Blanc
• Geneva and CERN
• Then hop on the Alpine Panorama Trail (510km across Switzerland)
• Munich
• Berlin

This is when it gets real fuzzy,

• Brussels
• London (for the Olympics)
• Wales
• Scotland
• N. Ireland
• Ireland
• Fly home from Dublin.

This is my ideal itinerary. Seeing as how I will be flying by the seat of my pants most of the time, I don't know that I will see it all. What I do know is that it will be one fun summer full of adventure.