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We fly to Milan, then take a train over to Turin, back to Milan for some scooter touring, then rent a car to hit the Northern Italy coastal towns, dropping the car somewhere like Genoa from which we take a train to Nice to visit with Alec and Linda before a motorcycle tour with Adriatic Moto Tours. This time we are doing the French Riveria to Barcelona Motorcycle tour. This is a two-week (10 riding days) tour through the French Riviera, Provence, the Pyrenees, Barcelona, and the Alps. The bike reserved is a BMW F900 XR and Kathi will ride pillion. Tour for two is 13,050 €
Following that, Chris is going to attempt to rescue his Ducati in Milan, getting it properly imported into Italy, then do some of his Norway adventure which has been planned for years now. UPDATE Thanks to Daniel Bunea, the Ducati is now in Romania with a Poland license plate and Chris gets to start the Norway adventure a day earlier with no stress.
A loop from Milan to northern Norway and back is 9300 km / 5800 miles, 150+ hrs of riding, broken out into 6hr days, that's 25 riding days. Add a rest/contingency day every 5 days and it requires 30 days which would put me back around July 20.
The Stockholm option. I found a place to leave the bike for a few weeks/months in Stockholm, so I'm going to split that trip in two returning later in the summer to finish the return to Milan.
See Milan to Norway, Finland and Sweden
and Sweden to Finland, and back to Milan via the Baltics and PolandHealthy Traveling
I've been working hard to improve my healthy living since my Dec 2025 heart bypass surgery. I've really modified my diet and exercise habits, lowered by body fat, increased my lean body mass, and upped my fiber intake. A big challenge is how to travel and enjoy the delicious foods of Europe while keeping my body fat down and getting enough exercise. On this trip, I'm going to take notes about what I do to maintaining healthy habits while I/we travel.
New visa requirements
There is a new requirement for our layover in London. The United Kingdom: Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). As of February 25, 2026, all U.S. citizens—including those just transiting through a UK airport—must have an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).
For the EU, since April 10, 2026, there is the Entry/Exit System (EES). This is an interim requirement until the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) goes into effect sometime in late 2026, Q4.
The Entry/Exit System (EES) is now fully operational at Italian airports. We expect to find automated kiosks at LIN where we will register names, type of travel document, and fingerprints and facial images. No visa required for stays under 90 days.
Our experience at LIN at 11pm was really quick. There were no lines at the kiosks and entering our data took less than 2 minutes each. There was no fee. Finally, the immigration inspector was quick and asked no questions at all. Perfectly fine experience.
| 0) May 13 Wed | 7:30pm PDX -9h30m-> LHR 1:00pm British AirwaysEconomyBoeing 787-10BA 266 $693 / $6,410 business 6615 LHR layover 1h15m 2:15pm LHR -2h-> LIN 5:15pm British AirwaysEconomyAirbus A320neoBA 576 (elapsed time 12h45m) Conf codes Z9HC2L (Kathi) Z9QIIO (Chris) |
| 1) May 14 Thu | Arrive LIN, stay near Milano Centrale at San Gregorio Rooms Milano Centrale |
| 2) May 15 Fri | Milan to Turin by train Milan Central to Torino Porta Nuova, 1h2m FR9516 departs 12:02pm |
| 3) May 16 Sat | Mercato Centrale Torino, LavAzza museum, Bicerin Chocolate, walking around |
| 4) May 17 Sun | Breakfast crepes, spring day in the park, dinner on the terace |
| 5) May 18 Mon | Bicerin, train back to Milan, dinner in Centrali, metro to Hotel Convertini |
| 6) May 19 Tue | Napoliano pizza lunch, pick up scooter from Mototouring, then Milan -> Agrotourismo near Como |
| 7) May 20 Wed | scooter to Como and Mennaggio |
| 8) May 21 Thu | scooter ferry to Vezio, Lecco, and to Bergamo, revisione |
| 9) May 22 Fri | breakfast with Alessandro, scooter back to Milano, train to Genova |
| 10) May 23 Sat | Walk around Genova |
| 11) May 24 Sun | Train to Cambio and Nerva |
| 12) May 25 Mon | Train to Ventimiglia |
| 13) May 26 Tue | Train to Sanremo then Chris's birthday dinner at Pasta e Basta |
| 14) May 27 Wed | Train to Monaco for a day |
| 15) May 28 Thu | Just a lazy day in Ventimiglia |
| 16) May 29 Fri | train to Nice, dinner with Alec and Linda |
| 17) May 30 Sat | AMT Day 1 orientation meeting in Antibes at 16:00 |
| 18) May 31 Sun | AMT Day 2 [ride] |
| 19) Jun 1 Mon | AMT Day 3 [ride] |
| 20) Jun 2 Tue | AMT Day 4 [ride] |
| 21) Jun 3 Wed | AMT Day 5 [REST] |
| 22) Jun 4 Thu | AMT Day 6 [ride] |
| 23) Jun 5 Fri | AMT Day 7 [ride] |
| 24) Jun 6 Sat | AMT Day 8 [REST] |
| 25) Jun 7 Sun | AMT Day 9 [ride] |
| 26) Jun 8 Mon | AMT Day 10 [ride] |
| 27) Jun 9 Tue | AMT Day 11 [REST] |
| 28) Jun 10 Wed | AMT Day 12 [ride] |
| 29) Jun 11 Thu | AMT Day 13 [ride] |
| 30) Jun 12 Fri | AMT Day 14 [ride] |
| 31) Jun 13 Sat | AMT Day 15 Departure from Antibes ( breakfast & transfer to the airport ) |
| 32) Jun 14 Sun | Nice with Alec & Linda |
| 33) Jun 15 Mon | Nice with Alec & Linda |
| 34) Jun 16 Tue | Kathi → PDX 11:55am NCE -2h15m-> LHR 1:10pm $4,255 business 2h30m layover 3:40pm LHR -10h0m-> PDX 5:40pm British Airways A321neoBA 327 Chris → Milan by Flixbus |
