Italy 2017

On Monday June 26, 2017 I was suddenly but pleasantly surprised with two weeks of paid time off. Amazed at my great fortune, that night I checked United's website and discovered that I could get anywhere in Europe leaving tomorrow and returning next weekend for just 60,000 frequent flier miles roundtrip!  Similar checks of American and Delta's website yielded no such last minute deals, those airlines would rather fly with empty seats.  I would have loved to explore areas of Germany or Austria that I haven't seen before, or seen part of the Tour de France, the weather in all of Europe north of the Alps was supposed to be quite rainy for the next several days.  Spain and Italy seemed to be the safest bets for enjoyable weather.  I haven't been to Spain, but I'd recently heard from a coworker who just returned from vacation in Spain how late the Spaniards stay up at night.  Between my love of Ancient Rome, Renaissance Rome, and desire to see the Dolomites and my lack of comfort with a late night schedule, I seriously considered an Italian vacation.

Tuesday morning I booked a trip for 8 full days in Italy and was on my way by 2pm!  Once I had this crazy idea I knew I'd never forgive myself if I didn't follow through with it....  This was by far the most spontaneous thing I've ever done in my life.  Typically I spend several months planning every detail of a trip to maximize my time.  I was on a plane for Rome and I didn't even have a place to spend the night!  I already had Rick Steves Italy 2017 loaded on my iPhone since I have a trip to the Alps planned for later in the summer.