Flew a mission to the European mainland today. We flew to Naples - during the arrival, the weather was good enough to see Grammy's town (Avellino) from the air (and possibly Montevergine). Vesuvius looked impressive, too! We stayed on deck for a while and got to walk around near the Capodichino Airport. Also met up with some of my friends who were stationed at NSA Naples. Later, Ken and I got back in our aircraft and flew over to Costa Esmerelda (Olbia) in Sardinia. It hasn't changed much, but I had never seen how busy it gets in the summer until today... We were delayed for high traffic volume (slot times again) for several hours but arrived back in Sigonella by around 1600. Right after we landed, I learned that one crew was flying to Germany to pick up parts for our other (broken) plane. I convinced Dustin that we should change and grab an overnight bag for this one - we only had about 10 minutes to run back to the room for some clothes. The racing around was worth the effort, though, because we got on the aircraft and were in Germany before sunset. What a great opportunity! After getting checked into our lodging [(Air Force BOQ)], we changed and got a cab before 2000L. Nice! We had a great dinner - complete with Jagerschnitzel and Bitberger beer - in St. Martinsplatz and then walked around the old town. Found a few more drinks - it was nice to be a passenger and not part of the official crew. This whole experience was one of those recharge moments: very memorable and really worth the effort!!
