Prepare yourselves, Blogonauts! We are off again!

Once more the five motley wanderers are re-convening in Europe. This time we will explore some of the marvels of Italy ... from its ruinous archaeological Roman left-overs to the delicious gastronomical Italian goodies ... all of which are scattered profusely throughout the shin country of Italy's boot.

Get it? Shin country? Look at a map of Italy. It is shaped like Nancy Sinatra's or Tina Turner's boot. Now, imagine giving the peninsula (not the women) a swift kick in the shin. That part of the boot where you would plant your foot is essentially the region we will explore.

Wednesday is devoted to loading, onto planes, trains, and automobiles (not necessarily in that order), both ourselves and our various gear, all tagged for delivery to Rome. With this journey we get to begin a bit closer to home. Our flight leaves from the nearly-local Bradley International Airport, a user-friendly aerodrome where parking is cheap and wi-fi is free.

Our trajectory, however, closely resembles being launched from a slingshot. From Bradley we fly west (?) to Chicago, where we wait for several hours.

... (Enjoy this moment of empathy, waiting for the next stage) ...

Then, aboard a much larger plane, the slingshot sends us retracing our route and soaring aloft across the Atlantic, where we hope to sleep for a few brief hours before setting foot and gear in Italy.

Stay tuned, Blogonauts! The next post will come from northern shin country, Roma!