This summer, I had the fortunate opportunity to visit Italy for five weeks. Due to COVID I assumed the trip would be cancelled but it turns out that while travel for tourist reasons was forbidden, travel for work reasons still had a green light!
The area of Italy we were "working" was about 45 minutes North of Venice at the base of the Dolomites. It’s a stunning part of the country with rich history and beautiful scenery.
After a mandatory two week quarantine (gotta keep things safe!), the fun part of the trip kicked off with some awesome skydive training. One of my favorite things do to when jumping out of a C-130 is to turn around and rock out the aircrew, then watch the plane fly away.
I must admit..... that view never gets old!
Day after day, I was blown away by the quality of food and wine the region has to offer.
One of the KAVU motto’s is “Local Worldwide”.
What that means is...... that you try to live like the locals do wherever you travel. This might mean finding the best bars, eating the best food, or flying off the best hills; hitting up all the secret spots only the locals know about!
As paraglider pilots around the world know, the Italian Dolomites have some of the best flying around. While I was there, I reached out to the local flight club and they generously showed me around.
Turns out they have an official flying site and landing area within walking distance of our hotel!
Hell yeah!
I brought my trusty Alpina on this trip which, I scored from fellow KAVU athlete Nick Greece a few years back. One of these days I’m gonna have to get a new wing, but for now this baby does just fine.
One of my favorite things to do while paragliding during this trip was to fly over the old towns and check out the scenery. Looking down on cities that were built over 1000 years ago.... with castles, churches, and city centers that haven’t changed much over the centuries.
It felt like flying back through time...... literally!
Over our first free weekend, we went and visited the famous “Prosecco Road”, where most of the worlds Prosecco is made. We visited a variety of wineries and purchased our fair share to bring back to the states. It’s hard to believe, but we drank wine nearly every night for five weeks and never once had a headache or hangover.
Granted we didn’t drink much each night, but there was a measurable difference in the quality of the wine compared to what I was more familiar with. Not to mention, it practically costs less then water over there!
This photo represents the night training we conducted during the trip. Believe it or not, skydivers don’t just jump during the day..... we jump at night as well!
The open door in the center of the photo is where the jumpers leap from the plane. One cool part of night jumps is that it actually seems like you are in freefall longer then jumping during the day. The visual stimulation from daytime jumps often makes time seem to go by quicker, and just the opposite happens at night.
During the second weekend of the trip, we drove to Slovenia to visit Skydive Bovek. From the pictures on their website, we knew we were in for a treat; beautiful scenery and one of the coolest skydive aircraft around, a Pilatus Porter.
White puffy clouds over jagged mountain peaks with lush green valleys below reminded me of Norway and Switzerland at the same time. I regretted not being able to spend more time there. Definitely a place I would visit again.
Another pleasant surprise..... their rental skydive equipment turned out to be top of the line.
Yes, believe it or not you can rent a skydive parachute as long as you have a license. I was worried that their gear would be old but it was actually the opposite. Their rental fleet was newer then I find at most of the drop zones I’ve been to in the USA. In this case, I got to jump a small, elliptical 9 cell canopy with a name i don’t remember, but with one of the best parachute openings of my life.
This is the landing area for Skydive Bovec, and in the background you can see the grass runway the airplane uses. It is a drop zone owners dream to have so much perfect grass for their skydivers to land on. It made me wish I could take the entire valley back with me to America so I could go jump there every weekend.
One of the perks of the tourism "shut down" was all of the famous cities in Italy were basically "ghost towns". We spent a day in Venice and honestly.... it was the coolest city I have ever visited. The second you get off the train, you are smack dab in the middle of the action and don’t need a plan or a map to have a good time. It felt easy to just wander around and it reminded me of a "Disney World for adults", where around every corner was a new surprise and adventure.
Before I new it the trip had come to an end, and we conducted the last of our work jumps in Italy.
Our final day was beautiful and this last drop zone was in the countryside at the base of the Dolomites. We opened our parachutes higher then normal to take in the scenery of this special place which, we would soon, and unfortunately, be saying goodbye to.
In the landing area, as part of our departure celebration, our hosts provided us with bottles of Prosecco. We obviously had to open them in traditional fashion..... with a saber.
During special occasions a saber can be used to hit the lip of the bottle neck which breaks off the entire stem. It is actually easier then it looks and was the perfect way to complete our training;-)
The five weeks I got to spend working and playing in Italy left me changed in many small, but important ways.
I now appreciate a good cup of espresso, prefer wine over beer, know the value of high quality fresh food, and recognize that most things the Italians make, they do with purpose and style. It took a while to get used to the businesses closing for lunch, but it made me realize how fast paced our lives are, and how I could benefit from a slower tempo at times.
I became closer with my coworkers, as you can imagine happens when you spend extensive time in close proximity with someone. I even became closer with my wife, because as they say..... “distance makes the heart grows fonder”.
And lastly, I was left with a sense of appreciation for being able to see this small part of the world through the eyes of a local during a time of uncertainty and change.
Neil Amonson
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