2017 Europe Trip

Credit: https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukebailey/definitive-stereotype-map-of-europe?utm_term=.gjOzXN4nNB#.jymor3m836

It's freaking happening. The big one. I mean, Alaska was the big one, and will always be the big one (over 10k miles in one trip. Damn. This one is likely to be a tenth of that)... But the Alps. We're going to go motorcycle the Alps... through 5 different countries in Europe. This is definitely a big one.
It was my dads dream, and I'm in this weird spot in my life where I can actually pull it off too! On top of that, the wife can make it work as well, so the three of us are doing this thing.
Regrettably, my brother can't pull it off this time. Believe me when I say, with my serious face, he will be missed on this trip. We tried to make it work; we couldn't make it work. He will have his adventure, hopefully sooner rather than later.

The motorcycle tour route through the Alps! About 1000 miles over a week; it won't be long hard days in the saddle, but I'm confident the route will not disappoint.

My ride: The new Honda Africa Twin. Why would I get a somewhat hardcore adventure bike for a road ride? Because if I were to buy a new bike right now (which I can't) this one is near the top of my list. So I had the opportunity to ride it here, and I signed up! I hope it treats me (and my passenger) well!

My dads ride: The Ducati Multistrada 1200. The absolute perfect bike for this ride. It's Italian, it's comfortable, and it's made specifically to eat up these mountain passes all day long, at warp speed if desired.

The After Party

Alicia and I are sticking around for another week, and plan on seeing as much as we can. We had to make the usual decision; stay in one area and enjoy it... or deal with travel, and see as much as we possibly can. We went with plan B, snatched up several AirBNB apartments in the city centers, and will be bouncing around by train and plane. The motorcycle ride is entirely small roads and tiny towns, so for this later half of the trip, we're going to hit some must-see bigger cities.

We'll stay a day and night in Heppenheim, to see some Family I've only seen a few times in my life. The last time was almost a decade ago and was quite memorable.

After a brief morning train ride, we'll have a couple days to see as much of Paris as possible.

We're flying down to Italy and crashing in Riomaggiore for the night.Sure we won't have much time, but there isn't much to do, other than absorb the fact that you're in the most beautiful place on Earth.

We'll take a train over to Florence for a couple days where we will absorb Italy, history, art, and wine.

We're ending with a couple days in Rome. It'll be a grand finale for sure.