
Okay. I agree. That's not that exciting. Well it kind of is. You see, we weren't going to hire a car in Sicily. We had hoped we'd be able to just get around by local transport. As it turned out, various factors meant it just made sense for us to hire a car. We will arrive by air into Catania from Rome at 10:30 on a Sunday night. The town we will stay in is more than an hour away and the family have normal work and school commitments the next day. Plus there are four of us with luggage! So after shopping around I booked a VW Passat Estate. Apparently it is automatic and air conditioned and has room for five people and up to five bags of various sizes. The one thing I am sure about though is that it's much easier to hire a car in Italy in advance rather than leave it until we are there on the ground.
This week I also borrowed some travel books from my local library. Well, they're not really travel books in the traditional sense. They're not guide books, put it that way. They are more personal journals and all three are about various Italian experiences. I have finished reading one already. It was such a good read I quite literally couldn't put it down. 'Vroom with a View' tells the story of one man's dream to travel Italy by Vespa. Helped by the knowledge that I will shortly be tramping many of the same paths as he describes, I sat with a pen and my Lonely Planet by my side and noted highlights as I read. I know my experience won't be anywhere near as adventurous as his but I plan to make the most of every minute I am there. And if making the most of some of those minutes involves sitting by the pool with a book in one hand and a glass of Chianti in the other then that's how it will be.
Go to next article: We Are Staying in a Palace!
This week I also borrowed some travel books from my local library. Well, they're not really travel books in the traditional sense. They're not guide books, put it that way. They are more personal journals and all three are about various Italian experiences. I have finished reading one already. It was such a good read I quite literally couldn't put it down. 'Vroom with a View' tells the story of one man's dream to travel Italy by Vespa. Helped by the knowledge that I will shortly be tramping many of the same paths as he describes, I sat with a pen and my Lonely Planet by my side and noted highlights as I read. I know my experience won't be anywhere near as adventurous as his but I plan to make the most of every minute I am there. And if making the most of some of those minutes involves sitting by the pool with a book in one hand and a glass of Chianti in the other then that's how it will be.
Go to next article: We Are Staying in a Palace!