Upon touching down at LAX, after 12 hours in the air, I walked non-stop to the 7-11 convenience store near the baggage claim belt for a Big Gulp to quench my thirst. The attendant at the counter, an earnest young man named Corey, asked politely where I had been?

“Bologna, Italy…it is in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region,” I answered. “For business or pleasure?” Corey asked as I paid. “Italy is always pleasure,” I admitted. “But I was also there to attend the annual Motor Valley Festival in Modena.”