Recent Posts

City breaks, Europe, France, Paris

An eerie visit to the Paris Catacombs

Make no bones about it, they’re creepy! Cata-come and visit! I’ve been to Paris lots of times and ticked off all the major tourist attractions. So on recent visits I’ve been starting to look at slightly more obscure or out-of-the-way things to do. I’d wanted to go to the Catacombs […]

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Chatham Maritime Food & Drink Festival, Kent

I’m really excited that this food and drink festival, practically on my doorstep, has become an annual fixture on the calendar. It usually takes place on the late May bank holiday weekend. There are loads of stalls selling artisan and locally-produced food and drink, as well as live musicians, dragon […]

City breaks, Destinations, Italy

A day trip to Florence

During our month in Italy we were hoping to spend a few days exploring Florence. But circumstances forced us to stay in Rome during the time we’d allocated for it. In the end that worked out pretty well: the kids got to see Rome for the first time, and we […]

Destinations, Europe, Italy

Visiting Murano and Burano Islands, Venice

We had 4 days to explore Venice, which I think is probably longer than the average amount of time. Now, don’t get me wrong; the city is beautiful and utterly beguiling. You could stroll its maze-like streets and wander relentlessly into its little nooks and piazzas for many days. But […]

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Travel curse strikes again!

Dropped. Squashed. Lost. Dropped. Lost. Survived. No, that’s not a strange new take on the fates of Henry VIII’s wives; it’s actually the fate of my sunglasses during my travels over the last few years! Sadly, among my family and friends, it’s become expected that I’ll either lose or damage […]

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Holidays are coming…

No, not Christmas, but Italy. And I must stop picturing it as a holiday; it’s a ‘working trip’ ? But after more than six months of thinking about and planning this one I can’t believe we’ve actually reached this point. The little things have started coming together… we finally got […]

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Travel collections

I’ve never been a big fan of the idea of adults collecting stuff. To me, large collections of random things like cat ornaments or biscuit tins are utterly pointless: they gather dust, make a house look really untidy and they’re mostly redundant, not being used for their intended purpose. Collections […]

Destinations, Europe, Italy

Choosing where to stay in Italy

Check out my previous Italy posts, Fam-go Italiano and Italy planning It often happens with travelling that the very first place you look at eventually becomes the place you choose to stay in. And that’s what happened here. After booking the initial flight to Naples, I pulled up a map […]

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Brexit and International Driving Permits

In a very short amount of time I’ll be going to Italy. Flights were first booked many, many months ago in a flurry of excitement about travelling in one country for an extended period, working and writing as I go. It’s a step towards a much-anticipated personal dream. Back when […]