Who? What? Where? When? WHY???
23 июля, Соединенные Штаты ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Russell and I are heading off on a Competitours.com adventure. We did this 10 years ago, and had an absolute blast, so we are looking forward to this immensely.
This is a 10 day trip around Europe.Читать далее
Leaving SFO
25 июля, Соединенные Штаты ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
In an effort to speed up my adjustment to jet lag, I woke up at 4 am for our 5:30 PM flight to Dublin, Ireland. My goal was to be so sleepy by the time we boarded that I would just sleep the entireЧитать далее
Dublin: Historic home and street scenes
26 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
The flight was somewhat empty so Russell and I ended up in 4 seats between the two of us. Which made it possible for me to relax and stretch out and actually get some sleep. Russell however spentЧитать далее
Nametag challenge
26 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
We had one last task before we start the Competitours part of the trip and that was to come up with name tags that identified us as individuals and our team. It didn’t take long before we came upЧитать далее
Dublin last day
27 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
We are both still fighting jet lag so we didn’t wake up until 10:30. It was noon by the time we checked out, far too late to get a traditional “full Irish breakfast.” So Alex, Adrian, and IЧитать далее
Day 1: Kilkenny (Kilkenny Castle)
28 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
After another very bad night’s sleep, we woke late and barely had time to get coffee and stumble down to the hotel lobby for the official start of Competitours Europe 2026.
Ari (our fearlessЧитать далее
Day 1: Kilkenny (Hurling)
28 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
After lunch, Tommy led us on a short and leisurely (neither) stroll (hike) to a hurling field (pitch?). There we were introduced to the Irish sport of hurling. This is similar to lacrosse or fieldЧитать далее
Day 1: Kilkenny (Pulling pints)
28 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
After hurling, we had a more leisurely paced walk back to the pub where we had a new challenge!
This one was testing us on whether we could pull a perfect (or at least pretty good) pint of 3Читать далее
Day 2: Kilkenny (Irish dancing)
29 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
The next morning we had to get up and packed and checked out and breakfasted and luggage dropped off and down to reception by 10 am. Which wouldn't have been so hard except once again it was 3 amЧитать далее
Day 2: Kilkenny (Irish drumming)
29 июля, Ирландия ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
Our final Irish challenge was an introduction to the bodhran (rhymes with SOW-lawn), which is a handheld Irish drum. Since it is a relatively small instrument, we could each hold one in ourЧитать далее
Day 2: Kilkenny to Switzerland
29 июля, Швейцария ⋅ 🌙 79 °F
We had to rush the end of the drumming not so much because we were in danger of missing our plane, but rather because the bus driver had someplace to be after dropping us off. This meant we have noЧитать далее
Day 3: Lac Léman (Swiss chocolate making)
30 июля, Швейцария ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
The next morning I was really dragging due to an entire week of sleep deprivation.
However some of that tiredness evaporated when I walked into the breakfast room and saw the stunning view of LacЧитать далее
Day 3: Lac Léman (Fondue dinner)
30 июля, Швейцария ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
After the chocolate adventure, they drove us to the village of Gruyeres, which is obviously famous for their cheese.
We wandered around the little village and ended up at a nice little restaurantЧитать далее
Day 4: Lac Léman (Sheep herding)
31 июля, Швейцария ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
The next morning we had to be packed and checked out and on the bus by 8 am (again!). We were warned that we might get dirty but none of us guessed what our activity would be: sheep herding!
We metЧитать далее
Day 4: Switzerland to France
31 июля, Франция ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F
After our morning of sheepherding we got on the bus and headed to the nearby town of Ouchy. Alex, Russell, & I joined a father-daughter team for lunch at a restaurant that served mussels. RussellЧитать далее
Day 5: Annecy (Orienteering)
1 августа, Франция ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
The next morning I woke up with a sore throat and so groggy from sleep deprivation. And the whiskey. Let's not forget the whiskey.
We rode a bus out to a forest on a mountaintop and discoveredЧитать далее
Day 5: Annecy (Lunch & Raft Building)
1 августа, Франция ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
Our next stop was a restaurant right by the beach. Ari treated us all to lunch and we had a lovely time resting up for the afternoon challenge.
After lunch it was time to get dressed for the nextЧитать далее
Day 5: Annecy (Visiting The French Laundry)
1 августа, Франция ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
I was exhausted so as soon as we got back to the room I assembled the dirty laundry, passed off to Russell and headed to bed.
He took it off to the nearby laundromat. Soon he was joined byЧитать далее
Day 6: Annecy (Via Ferrata)
2 августа, Франция ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
I woke up feeling better. We didn't have to meet the bus until 10 am. Then it was about a one hour ride out to another mountain. Today is the Via Ferrata day!
The Via Ferrata is a way toЧитать далее
Day 6: France to Italy
2 августа, Италия ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
After we all met up back at the bus, we had a long drive into Italy. We stopped at a rest area to get sandwiches to go.
The Via Ferrata wore everyone out and even Steve and Ari zonked out on theЧитать далее
Day 6: Tremezzo (dinner)
2 августа, Италия ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F
Dinner was a short walk away to a table on a terrace overlooking Lake Como.
An anonymous donor (OK, it was us) wanted to pay for a really nice dinner for the whole group. The setting wasЧитать далее
Day 7: Via Ferrata marketing videos
3 августа, Италия ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F
We didn't win any points for actually doing the Via Ferrata because they don't want to encourage us to even edge up to something unsafe for the sake of points in this competition. So our only pointsЧитать далее
Day 7: Bellagio (Art)
3 августа, Италия ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
The next morning we once again had a relaxed start time (10 am!) and we weren't checking out of the hotel, so we got a decent night's sleep, except I kept waking up in pain every time I swallowed.Читать далее
Day 7: Swimming in Lake Como
3 августа, Италия ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
It was a hot and sticky day so when Ari suggested heading to a nearby public beach, he had quite a few people wanting to join him.
Ironically, Ari got distracted by playing beach volleyball andЧитать далее
Day 8: Tremezzo to Sarnico
4 августа, Италия ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F
We had to get up and check out again this morning, but wasn't an early departure. We checked out and got on the bus around 10 am and then drove to our next (and final) city: Sarnico.
We wereЧитать далее







































































































































have a great time!! [Kathy]
Have fun! I’ll be following your posts. [Ronni]
Love the video! It is silly and adorable. You guys have an amazing trip. Don't spend so much time with your mascot that you forget to go to your next destination!! [Alan & Shirley]