On September 19th, 2023, my partner Michael and I departed from Boston to Rome for a three-month trip to Europe. How did we get to this point in our lives where we could drop all responsibility and go? I call this our “semester abroad”. If the college kids do it, why can’t two adults in their early 60’s?

We planned and embarked on an amazing journey to “jumpstart” our retirement that we will never forget. The countries we will travel in 80 days are Italy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, with a final stop in Switzerland to ski. In part 2 of this series, after a wonderful week in Capri, we will head toward the Amalfi Coast and spend the next five weeks in beautiful Italy.