The Non-Traveling Bonehead

One of the places I was stationed--No, the best place I was stationed during the six years I was in the Air Force was Italy.  I was at the very top of it in the little town of Colle Isarco, (or Gossensass in German), only about 7 or 8 miles from the Austrian border.  It was a very, very beautiful place.

Like a lot of people that "live" somewhere I was complacent about it and didn't take advantage of the rare opportunities I had at my disposal.  Only having a year there, I should have been traveling all over the place.  This was especially true because of my work schedule--I worked 4 days and was off 4 days--The entire year I was there.  Anyone that has ever been in or around Europe will tell you the same thing:  You can go anywhere in Europe in 4 days.

Where did I go?

Not many places.  As a matter of fact, I hardly went anywhere.  Switzerland was just right around the corner, but did I ever see it?  No.  Similarly, France was just "right there" and I ignored that too.  Going north, west, or east could have taken me to any number of countries.  Did I even explore Austria? No.  I went through it a few times on my way to Garmish-Partenkirchen or Munich (where I learned that McDonald's had beer on their menu), and went several times to Innsbruck (for the night life aka partying), but that's about it.  I never even went to the lower part of "the boot" to explore the rich historical treasures that Italy itself had to offer.

Here's one of my travel blunders:

My brother Don was in the Air Force at the same time as I was. Although he was only in for 4 years, he ended up stationed in Italy at the same time as me but farther down.  While I was at a small, remote site, he was at the main base of Aviano.  Because it was headquarters to the communications group I was part of, I did go there several times.  The blunder?  Aviano is close to Venice.  I distinctly remember going by the exit to Venice several times thinking, "I need to go there one of these days."  You know what?  I never did.  Stoopid!

That isn't my top blunder though.

I was actually in the city of Pisa.  Everyone knows what famous landmark resides in the city of Pisa right?  Did I see it?  No!  My boss and I had borrowed a guys new Triumph TR7 to drive down to Pisa to pick his car up that had finally come in on a ship.  Pisa was the port town that the Air Force used to ship personal vehicles into if you were high-ranking enough to have that luxury.  We had so much fun driving that little car down there that we instantly lapsed into a cat-and-mouse chase game when he got into his worn old Dodge Scamp.  It was a lot of fun, but the realization didn't hit me until we both stopped for gas a while later:  We were in Pisa and didn't see the Leaning Tower!

In life there are seldom do-overs.  What a bonehead.