I’m spoiled on travel. I know this. I’m about to write that it’s been a while since I travelled, but the reality is that I was starting a five week trip just 4.5 months ago. Still, it feels good to be back in the saddle, or, I guess, back in the harness with a backpack weighing me down. So here I am in Milan, with something between one and two months in Italy before spending something between 2 and 3 weeks in Tunisia, with a possible 2-3 week “stopover” in Greece, Mozambique, or Eastern Turkey on my way home.

My flight was… hilariously bad. I think it was due to the fact that United and Continental are currently “mid merger,” but nonetheless, it was a joke. While there were personal video screens, there was no video on demand, and there were only two video channels. Things were in English and Spanish on the screen, so I guess if one spoke Italian on this flight to Italy they’d be screwed. I guess I should have known this’d be the reality of flying on a 767. There was the loudest Cuban/NJ woman next to me, who was drunk and pretty much would not shut up (though she did buy me a drink). But whatever. It was a dirt cheap flight and at least I got frequent flyer miles.

Now I’m waiting for atrain to leave the airport to Milan’s central station, where I’ll switch immediately to see a couchsurfing host in Turin for 2 days, before coming back here for 3 (including one night at lake Como), then go to meet up with old college friends in Venice.

Hopefully my language limitations are well tolerated… everyone says with a few works of Italian and a decent spanish vocabulary one can get by!

I’ll keep you updated.

Andrew