It seems the last days, weeks, months, years have been full of horrible attacks on innocent people. I used to say that I didn’t want to go overseas as that’s where all the nasty things happen. I was quite happy staying tucked away in Australia where these things don’t happen. Thinking over the past few years, I realise that I was completely wrong. These sort of incidents have happened in my corner of the world as well as overseas. Melbourne and Sydney have seen some pretty terrible attacks on innocent and unsuspecting people. Whether these acts are on behalf of an organisation, or a ... read more

Ok, return flights to Rome sorted with Emirates, just on 3 weeks apart. Now to sort the route and accommodation…… and lots of youtube and sticky-notes. I like travelling by train in Europe. It has a lot of advantages, apart from the scenery that you get to appreciate: You only have to get to the station a few minutes before the train is scheduled; You don’t have to wait around to collect your luggage; The stations are in the heart of the cities, so you don’t have 40km taxi rides to pay for; You have more space than on planes; and A lot of the train stations are really beautiful. So I arrive in Rome on the Sunday night and need to be in Genoa in Italy by Wednesday to get on the MSC Cruise ... read more

Last weekend, my daughter and I spent a wonderful 24 hours in Melbourne. It was all planned around Saturday afternoon’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Pixar concert at The Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall. The music served as a narrative to the abridged versions of Pixar’s many animations which were projected behind the MSO. Until we went in to The Arts Centre, Melbourne was experiencing an Autumn day right out of the box, fine, sunny and 27 degrees. When we left, 2 hours later, Melbourne had showed it’s meteorological split personality, torrential rain with a bit of flooding and about 14 degrees. We went back to our hotel to tidy ourselves up before a bit of a wander about the CBD. The Rendezvous Hotel in Flinders Street has a great location, beautiful historic foyer and really nice, modern ... read more

Apologies for taking so long to write this. It is now Tuesday night (actually, now Thursday night), the first part of my flights home left Athens at 4.20pm on Thursday, after a wait of around four hours at Dubai we left at about 2am Friday morning, landing at Kuala Lumpar at about 1pm and landing at Melbourne at 1am Saturday (local times used). Having an awesome daughter who insisted on picking me up from the airport regardless of the time of my landing, I decided to book a room at the Parkroyal at Tullamarine Airport (with super comfy beds). Last Thursday turned out quite interesting. Another Greek breaky of ham and cheese on buttered bread, this time with full confidence (all the awkward peering under lids to inspect the contends having been done the morning before). ... read more

This time I am filling you in about my time in Nice, as well as my day trip to Monte Carlo. I left Montpellier (I so have a soft spot for that city) at around 9.15am, and travelled by train via Marseilles ( around 60 minutes stopover) to Nice arriving just after 3pm. I walked from the station, down the main street leading to the promenade. After a few minutes, I came to the narrow street called Rue de I’Hotel des Postes. This was another hotel taking up only a portion of the building, in this case, half of the third floor. And there is no lift. NO LIFT. This was why it was vital for me to re arrange my packing when I was in Montpellier. I was aware of the third floor/no lift set ... read more