On our last full day in the Amalfi Coast we ventured on a day trip to the towns of Amalfi and Atrani. While we could have taken another ferry from Positano we decided to travel by bus, another must do experience in the region. There is a network of intercity travel along the coast which makes it easy to get around without a car, provided you are prepared for the trip. Bus drivers in Southern Italy are built differently and are equipped with nerves of steel. If you are scare

Mid trip we arranged to be picked up by car and driven to the historic site of Pompeii, something I had missed on my first swing through the area decades earlier. We couldn't have asked for a better day - the sky was blue, and the air was still. It was neither hot nor cold - a perfect day that lends itself to the thrill of exploration. Pompeii, a UNESCO world heritage site, sits at the base of the almighty Vesuvius volcano, about 20 minutes outside of Naples. This Greco-Ro

I stumbled onto Capri in the 90s in a serendipitous moment during my low budget, university graduation backpacking trip. Those days on the island were an unexpected bolt of lightning, its profound beauty, striking fast and deep. Meanwhile, I blinked, and it was 25 years later. The day Pablo and I set out for Capri I felt nervous at breakfast. Had it really been as beautiful as I remembered, or was it all a figment of my imagination that grew with the decades? We fidgeted aro

Four years ago Pablo and I embarked on our inaugural European vacation together. To compound that even further, it was our first trip since the start of the pandemic. We, like much of the world, had been sitting in our house for a year and half. That alone made it epic. The world suddenly felt huge. Those were strange times. Pablo was jet-lagged on our arrival in Rome and I hadn't felt the wind in his sails on the train to Naples. Would he love Italy the way I do? We emer

The first post about Rhodes spoke more to our arrival, and the small apartment we rented. I didn't dive into our actual adventures on the Island. Note that two of our major adventures were off the Island - to Symi and to Marmaris, Turkey which I wrote about separately. The old town of Rhodes, a labyrinth of narrow streets that flow into plazas, is both a walled medieval city and a UNESCO world heritage site. The centre piece of interest is the Palace of the Grand Master bu

On our visit to Greece in the spring, we were staying on the island of Rhodes, in the far eastern part of the country. This meant that a day trip to Turkey was possible. Ninety minute ferries run from Rhodes, Greece to Marmaris, Turkey daily. You can travel over in the morning and back in the evening. How could we say no? We researched the ferries ahead of time, but didn't book tickets until we arrived in Rhodes. We were able to walk into a local travel agency who made t

On our recent trip to Greece, we transited through Athens. I always knew we would fly home from Athens, and would spend the final night there, but after miscalculating which day there was a flight from Malta to Greece, we also ended up with a pit stop at the start of the Greek portion of the holiday. With the flights booked, we were supposed to land in Athens at midnight and had a mid-afternoon flight the next day to Rhodes. After briefly contemplating sleeping on the airpo

On our recent trip to Rhodes, we took several days trips in addition to exploring the Old Town. One of those day trips was to a neighbouring island, Symi. With a reputation as being one of the prettiest islands in Greece, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to Island hop for the day. Symi reached the height of its prosperity in the mid-nineteenth century, under Ottoman rule, mostly for its prevalence, of all things, sea sponge diving. During its hay day, beautiful brightly

We recently returned from a visit with my youngest kiddo in Malta. This year, we added a side trip to Greece, another destination, like Sicily, that had been percolating in the back of my mind for decades. Had I visited Greece in my early 20s, no doubt I would have ended up in Mykonos and/or Santorini. As a family trip neither seemed like the right choice - the first is notably a party Island and the second a place for romance. So, where to go? I wanted more than just a b

As a traveller I love travel, both physical and mental. The other day we went to a movie after work to see The Way, My Way, a story about an Australian filmmaker, with a bum knee, who decides to embark on a pilgrimage to walk the Camino de Santiago across Spain. It hits all the notes of a grand adventure - beauty, humour, overcoming challenges and human connection. The Camino commonly begins in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France and transverses the north of Spain. It's 800 ki

In another lifetime, when my children were little, we had the opportunity to travel to Finland over Christmas to visit family. Truth be told, I don't like to travel at Christmastime. It's expensive, crowded and people tend to be a in bad mood. My stance is that, for the most part, little kids want to wake up in their own beds on Christmas Day. But this was travelling to the mothership of Christmas. I was in. We would be staying in downtown Helsinki for the majority of the

Sicily has been on my bucket list since the 90s but for one reason or another, it never happened. When we decided to make a side trip from our recent holiday in Malta, I knew it had to be Sicily. From Malta, Catania is a 30 minute flight - the plane goes up and then comes straight back down. Flying across the Island from the south, it was apparent just how arid this land is, and yet it's a foodie paradise, in part due to the rich volcanic soil from Mount Etna. We flew Ryan

With my youngest kiddo living in Malta I have had the opportunity to visit the Island twice. Valletta, the capital city, and a UNESCO world heritage site, is gorgeous. Here are my favourite things (so far) in the city. Aimless Wandering - I think the best part about Valletta is simply wandering around. The city rests on a hill, leaving pedestrians often walking up, or down. Good shoes are imperative and you will earn your supper. The stone architecture with it's narrow st

A couple of years ago my youngest kiddo was in the twelfth grade and applying for university. While out running errands in the late winter/early spring he casually slid into the conversation that he might want to study in Malta . My ears pricked. He had come across it while researching places to study on exchange. By the time he brought it to me, he had worked out the details, to show me he could do it. The next thing I knew we were flying across the ocean for university

In late January 2020 I booked a trip to Italy, for the month of May. This was going to be my first big trip in years. I don't typically book non-refundable hotels but given that the trip was just around the corner, I figured, what could go wrong? So that didn't work out. By the end of March, it was apparent we would not be going because no one, worldwide, was going anywhere. The airline gave me a travel credit, and I sheepishly reached out to the hotel. Given the global n

My closets will never be more organized than they were partway through the pandemic. I had the joy of coming across my old journal that I...