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70 days, 2 continents, 26 cities, $3,150
By LOGAN D. MABE
© St. Petersburg Times, LUTZ -- It's been a long time since Mark Weathers has had to write one of those "What I Did Last Summer," essays for school. But if he did one this year, the former Gaither High School student would have plenty to write about. Weathers, 18, attended graduation ceremonies on May 29, grabbed his diploma and just a few hours later left his home in Country Lakes for a plane to London. Seventy days and $3,150 later, Weathers is back from one long odyssey and about to embark on another. His summer fling behind him, Weathers heads to Gainesville on Saturday, where he will be among this year's freshman class at the University of Florida. But before launching his college career, Weathers wanted to engineer a major assault on the capitols of Europe. He and friend James Friedman loaded their backpacks, got their multicountry train passes, learned a few foreign phrases and set off to see the world. In order, the buddies went to London, Bruges, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Lucerne, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Rome, Sorrento, Capri, Salerno, Brindisi, Athens, Milan, Interlaken, Nice, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Paris, Barcelona and finally Madrid. For Weathers, an honors student who graduated 10th in his class and earned a full scholarship to UF, it was the ultimate learning experience. "I learned how to say, "You are so beautiful I must sit down,' in four languages," Weathers said, laughing. The more gregarious of the pair, Weathers won a bet with Friedman that he could get a kiss from a woman in every country they visited. And he has the photos to prove it. But it wasn't all frauleins, mademoiselles and senoritas. "It requires you to be more social," Weathers said of the constant interaction with people of other cultures. "You have to bump into somebody everyday. Or get out of someone's way everyday. ... You have to listen to crazy people yelling on the subway. When you backpack, you actually experience the people." To economize, the two got airplane tickets at a super deep discount. It helped that Friedman's mother works for a major airline. Once they arrived, they spent $800 on rail passes that let them move around the continent by train. Along the way, they stayed in affordable youth hostels, pensiones and the occasional commune. Weathers carried everything he needed on the trip in a backpack weighing 23 pounds. Mementos fattened it up to 50 pounds by the time he got home. Souvenirs are cheap when you're collecting rocks. Weathers brought back stones from the Parthenon in Athens, the Berlin Wall in Germany, the Coliseum in Rome, Jim Morrison's grave in Paris, and Pompeii in Italy. And he brought back his memories. Weathers and Friedman plan to put together a book called Dual Journals, to chronicle their often divergent perspectives on the trip. "You have to go to these places to really appreciate America," said Weathers, who learned the hard way that trains do not run on time in Italy. Now, Weathers is ready for his next great adventure. He plans to follow two years at UF with two more at the University of Southern California, where he wants to study film, accounting and psychology. In between the college stints, he'd like to go to New York and audition for Saturday Night Live. Oh, and by the year 2020, Weathers said, he'll probably be ready to run for president. "I figure if you have set goals, you can work with it," he said. - Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 813-226-3464 or at mabe@sptimes.com.
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