Home in Time for Tea

My First Road Trip Holiday - Journey to Switzerland from the UK... At two in the morning I am woken to Richard eagerly packing the last of his things and double checking everything. Are the windows locked, are the passports there, is the chipmunk cage closed, is anything electric left on… For goodness sake. I turn over and snuggle into the blissfully cold side of the bed. Ten minutes left. Because I am so awful at getting up I had arranged with Richard last night that I will travel in my pyjamas with the duvet in the back of the car. I had offered to drive but Richard said he wouldn’t be able to sleep in the car anyway. He never can. I was up until 11pm reading all about Switzerland. Wow, those Alps! I should have gone to bed a lot earlier. I don’t know why I am so optimistic about time, I just presume there’s all these secret hours stacked up between midnight and one in the morning. How can those two hours really be so close together? Before I know it the light is on and I’...

The Aurora Holiday in Iceland: My Quest to Find the Northern Lights Wow, what are those! I thought, as I leafed through a travel book about Alaska on my lunch break. I had five minutes left and I desperately wanted longer so I could find out what that curious picture was all about. The library had to open at half twelve so I had no choice but to put the book down. Shaking my head and standing up, my thoughts gradually returned back to the now. I unlocked the door to let the customers in and prepared myself for a long, uninspiring afternoon. After a heavily anticipated home-time, I finally got in the car and let my thoughts wonder back to Alaska and that amazing photo. A shimmering turquoise glow in a deep blue starry sky with silhouettes of fir trees and mountains, all reflecting in a glassy lake. After a little more reading I discovered that this was what is known as the ‘Aurora’ or ‘Northern Lights.’ I read that it is a phenomenon occurring in the night sky ar...

City Break: Romantic Venice Casts its Spell “Please pack my bag for me” Richard begged me, “I don’t know what to put in. I’m all indecisive!” Oh… I thought with disappointment. I was too hopeful to think he might pack a little box with a life-changing piece of jewellery inside. Feeling a bit presumptuous, I began packing Richard’s clothes from his messy wardrobe. Cheer up, we’re flying to Venice, I thought to myself.   After arrival in Italy’s Treviso airport we took a bus trip to the city of Venice. After a hot sticky journey stuck in a traffic jam, we clambered off the bus and wheeled our suitcases over to the tall city map sign at the bus station. We navigated our way through some busy streets to the Grand Canal and were greeted by a fantastic sight of ageing Venetian buildings with ornate windows and numerous bridges, all lit by dazzling sunlight reflecting from the water. The Iconic gondolas were tied to wooden sticks poking out of the water. We bought our wate...