Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Let Freedom Reign!

Well, Virginia and the X Man got off fine yesterday. Their flight left at 1850 hours (6:50pm for all you civilians) out of Milan Malpensa. After a transfer in London Heathrow, they should be landing in Hong Kong in about an hour or so.

I now have about 6 weeks of “freedom” facing me. Although I will obviously miss the wife and kid, this is no time to sit around the house moping. You have to look at this as an opportunity to do some things that you might not do when the family is here. With that in mind, here are some things I plan on doing in the next 6 weeks:

Visit at least 2 of the following: Paris, Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Rome, Amsterdam (Queen's Day baby!), Geneva, Belgium
Do a pub crawl in Venice.
Tour the Piedmont wine region and stock up on Barolo and Barbera D’Asti
Watch at least 5 more films on the AFI Top 100
Take at least 1 road trip
Have a pint of REAL British ale somewhere in the UK.
Climb Mt. Pasubio with Giampietro and Agnese (my upstairs neighbors)
Lose 5 pounds (shouldn’t be hard without Virginia’s cooking)
Water the plants every other day (Last time, the plants all died)
Hook up with Ara and Peter for some vino when they come to Italy

Hopefully I can look back 6 weeks from now and not be disappointed. But time will tell. If there’s anyone in Europe reading this who wants to join me in my quest to accomplish any of these, you're more than welcome (and I promise not to get drunk and start any fights with Italians on Vespas...), so bring it on if you think you can hang.

But I’m warning you – you’d better bring your ‘A’ game…


Rik

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would reccommend Edinburgh. Take a "Haggis" or "Blue Banana" tour...it takes you 3 days all throughout Scotland. Stirling, Loch Ness, and most importantly, the highlands, including the Isle of Skye. See the Scotland photos on my site, and you'll get a good glimpse. Do it later in the 6 week period, so spring will be in bloom.

Rik said...

ethib - Yes, I fondly recall your stories of the Haggis tour. NO ANGRY MUSIC!

Unfortunately, with the travel time, I'll probably only have about 1 full day of sightseeing wherever I go. I'm more interested in the famous Edinburgh nightlife.

Rik

Blog ho said...

fuck me, i'm jealous. not of your 6 week freedom...well, yes of that, but particularly the opportunity for travelling to slick places.

Rik said...

You're damn right Ho - I got game baby...

Kitty said...

To see Scotland! God, I'm pea-green with envy. I suppose I don't need to tell you to have fun.

Rik said...

SCHA - I'm afraid Oslo is probably too far for a weekend. Infact, I'll probably have to take a vacation day just t oget a full day in Scotland.

KITTY - No one ever needs to tell me to have fun...-wink-

FRIV - Wehn are you guys going to Ams? Lemme know, maybe I can swing it...

Rik

Anonymous said...

Hey,that's a long list? I've developed a liking to red vino while Peter is only capable of taking Asti spumanti! Several months ago at a party I had nearly 2 big bottles of red wine and got really drunk that I talked nonsense. He told me the next day that I accussed him of murdering me while he was driving me home.I felt embarrass.

Rik said...

ARA - Asti Spumanti?! Ack, Peter has been in the UK too long!

First bottle is on me when you guys get here...

Rik

Anonymous said...

Am sending the Gringo over to join you.

We are looking at Dublin (80€ for both) or somewhere in Germany too as with the prices of airfare going down, it would be stupid not to take advantage.

Will miss this when we leave Europe. Thats for sure.