So 18-hrs after I returned from Tokyo, I left for Italy (for vacation). I had planned this months ago as Star Alliance did a huge business class fare sale. I scored RT tickets to Venice for $1400. Which basically amounted to: THE SLICKEST DEAL OF 2014, yo.

And similar to the previous day, my international flight (from ORD to FRA) was cancelled. Luckily, United was able to re-book me through EWR, with only a 5-hr delay in my arrival time to Venice.

The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. Once nice thing is that they had a German crew, and they were MUCH better than their US based crews.

Other observations.

• There are a TON of kids flying in international business class these days.
• The trend continues, no one likes to talk in J-class
• One nice thing about United is that they have a good selection of movies.
  • Dallas Buyers Club – It was alright.
  • American Hustle – I fell asleep.

OK, so the weathermen in Italy had been forecasting rain the entire week, and when we showed up that evening, it was alright:

The next day, we planned to hike around Parco Naturale Puez Odle. When we got up there, it started to thunder and storm.

We were eventually swallowed up by a rain cloud, so we took shelter at a ski lift.

After about 3-hrs in the rain, we called it a day and returned to the valley.

Looking down!!!

The next day was supposed to be a transit day to Sesto. However, we returned. We were gonna hike this area, dammit! and we did!!!

It was pretty unreal…

Afterwards, we hit the road for Tre Cime. Somewhere along the way, we passed by this wonderful view.