I never planned to be chasing 100. I remember the stories about CU's former Assistant Housing Director Bob Pine, who with his wife Dorothy had achieved a world record of 335 countries visited and I was impressed. However, travel was the destination for me. I loved interacting with the people, checking out the grocery stores, finding out what was the same and what was different, not collecting stamps in my passport. Still, there I was, 15 miles past the rock of Gibralter standing in the hum of the biggest wind-farm I have ever seen and staring at the coast of Africa looming in the haze.

At just 30 minutes away by fast ferry, it was a no brainer. Christine would be able to make her first footfall on the African continent and Morocco would make 88 countries for me, just 12 short of the 100 required to join the "Century Travel Club". A group I know nothing about but for some reason, unknown to my conscious mind, I can't wait to qualify for.

What a trip it was 30 minutes is hardly the time it takes to get from Boulder to Denver, but this short hop was like a time warp episode on Star Trek. The differences between southern Spain and northern Africa stand up and smack you in the face so hard you can't believe you started the day just a few hours ago grabbing espressos at Starbucks. This is not Europe

What it is, is fascinating! It was the final day of Ramadan and the families were out in their finest, incredible fabrics and draped in amazing ways. Completely different dress but the mood and the activity was the same as Christmas Eve in the states, the whole town heading to sundown dinners and celebrations with their family and friends that would mark the last of their fasts.

Despite being stylish for Spain, Christine felt out of place in Morocco. Her hair was uncovered and the pants she was wearing were not covered by yards of robes. However, even when I left here on a corner for a few moments to get a picture she was left alone, something I could never do in Ecuador without coming back to find someone begging her to marry him. The people could not have been kinder. We were definitely the weird ones, once again...

Anybody in the mood for fresh olives?

I think that says "Drivers License Bureau"

We were the only ones eating 2 hours before sunset...but we did stay inside out of sight.

We have been in Colorado for a week now and are finishing up details for our move back to Cuenca, Ecuador. We will be studying Spanish again and then heading down into Patagonia and the Chilean Lake District. We hope to spend the South American summer traveling in the southern latitudes and then head north to end up in Columbia.

We look forward to the total lack of media stimulation, we feel over-news'd here and it is not as if it's uplifting. We love our daily newspapers down south in both  Spanish and English and the ability to pick and choose what we want to read on our own time schedule.

Ugghhhh...Kent, the phones ringing...
Whaaaa..
The phones ringing...
Huh, waa..where?
By the bed, 
No, that's just the alarm...
No it's 4 in  the morning we didn't set the alarm.
Who's calling at 4 in the morning?!
I don't know, Oh no! Maybe something's happened back home! Get the phone, get the phone!!!
Where is it? There, on the floor by the bed...
I got it!
What's the number...
934 730-4000!
Who's that? I don't know, just answer it it must be important.
Hello! This is Kent, Hello?
Hi, this is Meredith, is Christian there?
Who?
Christian...
No, No Christian here...there is a Christina, but no Christian.
Oh Christina, yeah that's it Christina, is she there?
Christina, Christina...it's for you...
Who is it?
I don't know, its Meredith looking for you...we did give this number as an emergency contact for Lars...
Well give it here quick...
Here...
Hello? This is Christina...
Hi Christina!!! How are you? This is Meredith from Publishers Clearing House...
Click!

This happened four nights in a row in a cabin in Kallioranta Finland at a charge to us of $2.99 a minute. We finally had to call home and get a friend to put our cell phone on the "do not call" list.

If you want free bathrooms and cheap espresso while in Italy make sure to rent a car, because the only places where the restrooms are free in the entire country are on the "autostrada" the huge toll road that blasts up the center of the country. The trouble is that by driving the autostrada you will miss all of the Italy that you came to see. It's like driving up 28th street on the way to Estes Park and wondering as you pass the McDonald's and Burger King what is so special about Boulder.

If you don't mind paying $1.60 (1 euro) to go to the public restrooms every once in awhile and travel light enough to walk a couple of blocks to your hotels in each amazing town then definitely travel by train. Every train station delivers you to the absolute center of the action. City sites, festivals, night life, all are almost always just blocks away.

Prepare for this type of travel like you would for a home football game...please remember all these lessons were obtained through painful experience.

1) Travel light; the most important Italian train travel advice is just six words "one rollie bag, one shoulder bag". You think you will be able to manuever that one small extra piece without any trouble, dream on. Try practicing with six minutes sprints we call "frantic train connections" . Using your rollie, the shoulder bag and just one small additional bag, head over to the UMC and time yourself for three rounds of the following...start at the front desk, race down the main steps, out the lower door, across the outdoor covered walk, then back in through the Food Court (most realistic if done at class changing time) then back up the steps to the Ballroom main doors, if they are locked go back around. Still want what's in that extra bag?

2) If a taxi driver approaches you, run. No legitimate self respecting taxi driver would ever get out of his/her car for any reason, period. If a driver has singled you out, gotten out of his car and approached you, you can be sure of only one thing...it is going to cost you. Just say no and get in the cab with the bored and surly driver waiting on the corner.

3) Enjoy the ride, no other form of travel allows you to comfortably fly across the land at 100 mph while drinking great wine and enjoying the company of your fellow travelers...oh and "go" on the train, it's free.

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Around any turn

Amazing, amazing, just amazing. Every single turn in the Dolomites prompts the same response. After weeks of relentless sun and heat in Southern Italy we swallowed hard and rented a tiny Smart car that just fit us and the albatross, we call “the bag” and headed north.

Our last experience with a rental car in Italy had been an unmitigated disaster. Twenty years at rental car desks refusing the additional insurance had become a habit. I did it again, not considering that I was no longer employed or that my home car insurance was in sleep mode. Anyone looking at all the dented brand new cars in Italy would recognize that this is a hazardous place for smooth metal panels. Spend seven days in the Walmart parking lot, increase the speed tenfold and you get a feel for driving here. $3000 poorer from the last experience we were fully insured this time as we headed off on the relative sanity of the Italian Autostrada, a 600 mile long toll road that sweeps up the agricultural center of Italy all the way to the Alps. We just needed mountains and cooler weather.

We overnighted in Bologna for the simple reason that I had read about it in John Grisham’s book “The Broker”. I think I’ll use his books as travel guides from now on.. Who would have thought a town named after a luncheon meat would offer so much. The huge historic area, off limits to all but a few local cars, was a warren of beautiful squares, parks, pubs, cafes and markets. Pocketed with so many Medici towers and churches it looked like a playful giant had collected them over time and carefully placed all perfectly in one spot., except for this one crazily tilted tower that makes the leaning tower of Pisa look upright.

It’s the walkways that most impress. Miles on miles of soaring, vaulted, arched, covered walkways. These colonnaded walkways with mosaic tile floors remain cool and breezy even on the hottest day. Think the UMC fountain area on steroids.

Topping it all off was the two mile long covered stairway visible from any high point in the city that lead up the green foothills to the Cathedral of San Lucca. Imagine a gorgeous covered breezeway from Pearl Street to the Amphitheater on Flagstaff Mountain and you get the picture.

We headed north again across the one hundred miles of flat plains between Bologna’s foothills and the Alps backing Romeo and Juliet’s Verona. As the highway headed up the valley and the sky became deeper blue and our tiny car’s inadequate air conditioning finally caught up. Sixty miles later we were in Bolzano. We bailed ourselves out of the Autostrada “58 Euros, per favore” and turned up the hill at the first “Pensione” sign we came to. Within minutes we had spiraled our way up a one lane highway that we would call a bike path back home. In just minutes we found ourselves on an incredibly green alpine shelf backed by soaring granite spires and picturesque mountain farms. We were hanging over the valley below, with jaw dropping mountains all around us and yet we were still 2000 ft below Boulder. It was better than home, it looked like the 12,000 foot alpine meadows you find on West Maroon Pass, but we could breathe!

We had a great time in Scandinavia with my parents, I had promised my Mother that someday we would get them over to Finland as they had heard so many stories about our experiences in the Land of the Midnight Sun over the 30 years that we have been visiting my old CU roommate Hans.

We were lucky enough to have been there nearly a month before they arrived, which gave us a definite edge those first few days as they battled jet lag and the pure physical effects of airline travel. The great news was that Hans sister Pia and her husband Jakob were still at the house, which made for incredible meals and 24 hour comic entertainment, no matter what time their internal clocks told them it was.

It was fun to finally show Mom and Dad this beautiful place, of course Finland as always made sure we all knew who was in control weather wise, it may have been 100 degrees back in Colorado but it definitely wasn't here.

The picture above is their welcome shots of "Terva" snappsi (pine tar schnaps) and the incredible fresh local strawberry layer cake that Pia put together.

The picture below was taken at 11:45 pm, almost midnight...who needs sleep?

Don't forget to register at the bottom to be notified every time we post, we hope you enjoy them. Our goal besides having a great time...and we are having a great time...is to find smaller places around the world that people from Crested Butte and Boulder would enjoy spending time in. It's a big world and we hope you enjoy the stories from all the different places we are being led to and stumbling upon. You can also get the latest by just emailing us at kentsadventure@gmail.com the thing we miss the most on the road is notes from home and the latest that is happening in your lives.

Best wishes!

Kent and Christine

An amazing thing has happened, we have free internet access at our hotel, this is a big first because we have been paying around $15 an hour no matter where we have stayed, for at least the last month, it takes the fun out of electronic communications, that's for sure!

Of course we are here in far western Sicily for what reason I know not...it is extremely HOT, so dry it is dead brown and I have to tell you this city - is just plain ugly - Trapani is the name but Trappin-me is probably a better way to say it. Sicily has some gorgeous coast, but not here. We wanted to go from Sicily on over to Tunisia in Africa using the ferry that leaves from here. Finally got the schedule once we got in...only goes on Saturdays. Then you have to stay in Tunisia a week, hmmm not sure that is a good idea. But then again you never know. Hope everybody is doing fine!!!

The picture attached is from Kotor, Montenegro: now that, unlike here, is a beautiful place to go, more to come soon

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