Bon Viaggio Nicholas!

Well, Nicholas is on his way!  As I type this he should have just passed the Hudson Bay en route to Frankfurt, thence to Rome and then by train to Spoleto to begin his work as a farmer.

Last night I prepared him a home-cooked meal, his last (at least from our home) for a while and figured, LASAGNA!  No, not actually.  I figured that he's not going to get a lot of Mexican, so I made some of the spinach and mushroom stuffed peppers that he likes, along with some quinoa and brown rice tacos.

Today I took the day off to drive him to LAX.  Mixed up some ombled-eggs for breakfast (another something he won't likely be served in Italia) and helped him get his considerable load of stuff into a duffel.   The duffel was quite a load and I was concerned there'd be an excess baggage fee for it.  Checked Lufthansa's web-site and became considerably concerned; they've got charges up in the $350 range.

Leo knew something was up and I think wanted to join us on the trip.  He had to settle for wishing Nicholas a bon viaggio and was then banished to the backyard, with a cookie he was not too enthusiastic about.  I think he is going to miss his boy.

The trip to the airport was mostly uneventful.  LAX was relatively calm and the Bradley terminal practically empty.  The duffel proved to be a non-issue; flew through the baggage check-in with no problems, no fees.

Interestingly, I had an opportunity to check off one of my Gumbilist items; Eat a hot-dog at Pink's.  It turns out that there is a Pink's IN the Bradley terminal and what's more it's actually outside the security check-in.  So, we had Pink's for lunch.  (Nicholas had a vegetarian dog, which he declared not too bad, although the guacamole was a little funky.)  I don't actually think this qualifies for the check-off, unfortunately.  The list item is "Eat a hot-dog at Pink's."  It's not "Eat a Pink's hot-dog at LAX."  So, that one will have to wait.

We killed a bit more time, wandering about the terminal and nearly losing Denise while she was absorbed in some "You are here" terminal information kiosk.  Had a beer together in an airport bar and then saw him off through the security check-in.

That's about it for my update.

This is Nicholas' adventure, so I'm going to let him tell the story.  I'm sure he'll be blogging as time permits.

Can't wait to get the updates.