The sun is shining, the sea is Mediterranean blue, we have a lovely little apartment in this hilltop town. Life is bliss. Why would you want to drive anywhere today. So we are staying at home and enjoying the local surroundings. A short walk takes us to the edge of a cliff face overlooking the rocky Amalfi coast line. The white wake from boats stands out from the blue of the sea. In the distance a cruise ship is anchored off the town of Amalfi. We make friends with two women sitting in the shade of an olive tree. One speaks English quite well, the other much older woman nods and smiles. Our new friends tell us about the town especially the local restaurant where her son works. We say our farewells and climb a little ... read more

An early start today. We need to be at the airport by 10:00am for the “meet and greet” with the Peugeot Eurolease representative. You cannot be late. Good planning meant we had enough cereal, milk and fruit for breakfast. After a quick, but sad, farewell to this wonderful apartment that has been home for three days we set off for the Metro. Trying to negotiate the metro system during rush hour with two large bags, two carry-on bags, and two very precious bags is not for the faint hearted. But for two experienced pensioners it was a breeze. Once at Termini we needed to purchase tickets for the airport train. There are several options to get to the airport. The Airport Express is not the cheapest but is quick and efficient. Confronted by a bank of ... read more

Last night we tried really hard to stay awake for as long as possible. After dropping things or forgetting what we should be doing it was obvious we were sitting there asleep most of the time. We could hear the desperate call of a bed wanting some companionship and who were we to refuse such an offer. It wasn’t that long and the watch was showing 7:45 am. Over ten hours sleep. The bed was wonderful. We took our time to prepare for the day. When planning this trip we decided the first few days would be restful. We have visited Rome before so the urge to tick off all the famous sites wasn’t there. If we travelled into the centre of Rome that would be a bonus. As the morning got close to lunchtime we ... read more

Two years ago as we drove through the Burgundy area of France we made the decision to come back sooner rather than later. Before that trip had ended we were planning our return. If the reason for returning was to revisit Burgundy then where else would we like to travel. Italy. And so the itinerary developed. Now you have the opportunity of following our journey through Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Before we leave home lists are created. We have set ourselves a six week programme of gardening, household tasks, informing the various agencies of our trip, haircuts, doctors’ visits, and packing. As each item is ticked off the lists soon shrink. We are now down to just one final list. Hopefully we’ll complete the last item – arrive at the airport on time. These ... read more

Thursday 13 August 2015 At last our final wake-up in an overseas hotel before we head home. We had a busy day ahead of us before our shuttle ride to the airport at 4:30 pm. The usual packing, making sure the precious items were in the carry-on bag, sharp items in the checked bag, items to declare were easily accessible, warm clothes near the top, and passports in a safe place. We had plenty of available baggage weight (30 kg) but could we lift the bags. We farewelled our room with the usual casual glance, shut the door and dropped seventeen floors at a speed that made your ears pop. After leaving our bags with the concierge we left for a round of shopping visits. The wonderful underground moved us quickly from shopping centre to shopping ... read more