With about four weeks to go until we leave on our trip to Japan and Italy, the excitement is certainly building in our household.
Cleaning jobs that I have been putting off forever have been accomplished, suitcases have been pulled out of storage, and the garden has had a spruce up.
I get excited like a very small child when we go on holiday. Even though I have been fortunate enough to have travelled a bit, every time seems like the first time.
Of course a lot of the excitement is in the planning. Working out transport, hotels and places to visit, even down to working out restaurants to try is fun.
There are so many things I am looking forward to but most of all I am looking forward to the family reunion in Tokyo with all my children and grandchildren. Having a week together exploring Yokohama is going to be exciting. With grandchildren living overseas you really miss seeing them grow up, so this is going to be the highlight of the trip. Yokohama is very pretty and it’s a shame that we will just miss the wonderful flowering of the cherry blossom trees.
Japan can be quite expensive but I am really pleased that the accommodation prices do seem reasonable. Relying on public transport is a bit of a worry in a country where most taxi drivers do not seem to understand English, so I think we will stick to trains as much as we possibly can.
From Japan we go to Rome where we spend four nights. We will be meeting some kiwi friends there and we will also have our daughter from Brisbane travelling with the five of us from here.
I love Rome, there is so much to see and do and the atmosphere is just wonderful. I am sure I am going to bawl my eyes out again when I see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and of course Vatican City. I don’t think it matters how many times you visit Rome, it just has that incredible effect on you. As a child I always wanted to go there but never imagined I would. How truly lucky I have been.
Next we go to Lucca. I have mentioned a little about Lucca before, we are spending a month there so I will talk more about this lovely place on my travel blogs. Next we go to Santa Margherita. This will be a totally new place for us to visit. We are staying four nights and really looking forward to spending time on the Italian Riviera.
From Italy we fly to Hong Kong for four nights. I will write more about that in my blogs also.
I know a lot of people who are travelling to Europe this winter so I hope you all have a marvellous time. Don’t rush to do everything the first couple of days; pace yourself, sit back and enjoy a coffee or glass of wine and soak it all up. I know I just love people watching, especially in different parts of the world.
I hope you will all enjoy my blogs that I will be writing while we’re away. I particularly hope to capture the sights, sounds and everyday beauty of life in a typical small Italian town.
Ciao!
By Kay Rayner