Sleeping under the stars

I had the most fabulous sleep in the lovely Crowne Plaza in stunning bushland a few minutes from Belfast Centre. I must have been tired as woke up this morning with all of the lights on and children’s television blaring Bob the Builder.  The Titanic Museum was simply amazing. One would never go there unless prepared for flashing lights and heaps of all sorts of virtual reality, but it was awesome. I loved the ground floor of the museum that was made of glass with the wreck of the Titanic below. Every wall was projecting the sea and the wreck, and I did actually feel like I was in Titanic’s watery grave.

From the Belfast docks to one of the most beautiful coastal drives in the world was super easy. The Causeway Coastal drive took a couple of hours, but past some of the most stunning scenery ever. The cliffs, views of Scotland, and the fishing villages were simply beautiful. I had stood in Colonsay and seen Ireland, but today, the stunning clear weather meant I could almost touch Scotland.  It was so surprisingly close. The basalt columns in Country Antrim were impressive, but completely overrun by tourists. It was worth the drive for the stunning coastal views, but the millions of people and the exceptionally touristy visitors centre in the home of the giants made me determined to visit in winter when the masses have cleared out.

The drive back along the highway was pretty quick and I turned the lovely car South. I didn’t realise that I had entered a different country until the road signs changed to km. I skirted around Belfast and Dublin and sang my way through Tipperary. Tonight, I am sitting in the fantastic Absolute Hotel in Limerick and have just had the most absolutely fantastic dinner. It came with a beautifully shaped bowl of goodness knows what. A quick poke made me realise. Of course, I am in Ireland. A great big bowl of absolutely fantastic mashed potatoes washed down with a very good G&T.

Work has been pretty frenetic, so I escaped for the weekend aboard a super cheap Easy Jet flight to my ancestral home.

The Premier Inn Hubs are my very favourite hotels and I always stay in Goodge Street. On my return from the not so gorgeous city of Stoke on Trent, Goodge Street was fully booked. I found a great Hub tucked in behind Kings Cross and I think the location is just perfect. I am totally over carrying suitcases so dumped the bags, packed knickers and a toothbrush, and dressed like a bag lady for my Irish runaway. Of course, running down the road to Kings Cross there is not another person in sight except one very dapper suave looking gentleman who I immediately recognised and thought OMG. Toby from Lincoln greeted me warmly and it will be lovely to see him next week, where the Chanel lipstick might need to come out to make up for the Kings Cross vagrant look.

My flight into Belfast was pragmatic as I was keen to see the Giant’s Causeway before Boris stuffs up the border. I expected Belfast airport to be quite big and busy but as we landed, the little sheds made me quickly re calibrate my head.

I handed over my license to the lovely Irish lilted young man at the car hire desk. With the gift of the Irish silver tongue, he explained my little treat. My car hire was super cheap but when I turned toward the stunning Titanic Museum on the docks in Belfast it was a lovely brand new, never driven red Merc that was in my possession. I seriously won’t want to give it back.

There is something about London that always makes me feel that I am at home. After my quick trip through Paris to pick up jam for Fiona, the speedy sojourn through the tunnel really helped my head. The more the altitude dropped, the better I felt. As always, the quick trip from Paris to London was just lovely and it was very civilised sitting on the hurtling train munching on delicious quiche, washed down with a beautiful rosy French wine. I was super excited to walk off into the mad rush of London. It really is one of my favourite cities in the world. I had delicious dinner with the gorgeous Sarah at Aqua Shard and yep, London is still one of my favourite cities in the world.

The story of the young orphaned girl who lived with her grandfather high in the Alps near Chur was my very favourite as a child. Whilst much criticism has been directed at Spyri, the last time I visited the Alps I thought of Heidi the whole time, and this time was no different. I did an epic train trip from Venice. From 0 m above sea level I trained to Milano and then up the side of the Italian lakes to Tirano. From Tirano, I went to the highest railway crossing in Europe, reaching a height of 2,253m before I dropped slightly into St Moritz. Whilst the Bernina Express, and the UNESCO world heritage railway were absolutely stunning, by the time I got to St Moritz I had a shocking case of vertigo so changed my plans slightly and stayed put for a couple of days. I think the climb up Heidi’s mountains, albeit in a stunning train, and dehydration, literally did my head in. I stayed holed up at the very lovely Grand Hotel Des Bains Kempinski St. Moritz. It was lovely to have a hotel holiday, but I did rather wish everything would stop moving. Switzerland is so damn expensive. A bottle of water was more expensive than a good bottle of wine at home, even at the supermarket, and I decided that if I didn’t move myself, I could end up bankrupt.

The trip across Switzerland on the Glacier Express was lovely, but after another nine hours of Heidi’s height I crawled into bed in the lovely Hotel Bellerive with the mighty Matterhorn out the window and the whole room moving. I really did feel like I was a dizzy character on a chocolate box lid, with the Swiss chalets as far as I could see from my lovely balcony.

Our boat sailed right around the Mediterranean and you hardly felt it moving. Fiona and I had been cruising as kids and I did expect to have the same bit of sea sickness – seriously though, the thing hardly moved. It was so beautiful sailing along past islands and then at other times, seeing the sea as far as you could look. The sunsets were impossible to describe. I have been to Dubrovnik before and enjoyed my visit again. We sat and had beautiful lunch overlooking Kings Landing but gave up on climbing walls as the sun really was relentless. By the time we docked in Slovenia we were well and truly in holiday mode and just went for a little amble and then back onto the boat for a swim.

Coming into Venice was quite a sight. I had heard about the problems with boats on the Grand Canal, but our captain behaved and delivered us to the Venetian cruise terminal. The total organisation on the boat continued with our disembarkation and our trip to our lovely Airbnb, on one of the maze waterways of Venezia, was just lovely. The tourists weren’t quite so lovely, so note to self – do not ever visit Venezia in August.

I had thought a day at sea would be boring, but that was the best bit of being on a ship. I really could have quite happily stayed on board for the whole trip. Each morning the buses were lined up early and people streamed off for the various shore excursions. When the masses had departed, it was so lovely to have a leisurely breaky, a latte in the nice coffee shop, and then stroll off the ship when we were ready. Our day at sea was probably my favourite day. Probably made even more favourite by a fantastic massage with the most incredible view of the sea. It was so nice just to sit on deck, swim, and wander up to the very top of the ship to sing along to Abba in the dark at the open-air cinema as we sailed along the Greek coastline.

Our day in Argostoli was beautiful. I hate swimming in the sea as I am convinced some deadly sea creature will come up out of the sand and eat me. Swimming in the warm, clearest water I have ever seen changed my view of the salty depths. It was so beautiful. The only issue was that I needed to close my eyes as the whole of Italy and Greece were on holidays and the wall to wall cabanas, and millions of suntanned bodies, again felt like a total assault on the senses.

The restaurants on board were fantastic and the staff were equally as good. I am astounded how they managed to produce such beautiful meals, with so many people on board, but night after night the meals just kept getting better. The bars had the most fantastic entertainment and it was so nice to stroll down, listen to some great music, eat delicious food, and then fall into bed with the waves crashing.

Valetta in Malta was by far my favourite stop. I had never thought about Malta as a holiday destination, but it was so fantastic. The fortification of Valletta made me think I was caught up in an Indiana Jones movie. As we climbed in a lift to scale the massive sandstone walls, I expected to see some sort of Arabian bazaar – it had that feel about it. Once we entered the city though, it was stunningly Baroque, although looking across to Daenerys Mdina I did expect to see dragons flying the skies. I didn’t go on a cruise to see the places we visited, rather, the plan was to sit around reading in the sun without having to drag suitcases around. The little taster of Malta has put it firmly on my ‘will return’ list.

We left Roma on our massive ship. Ron had recommended Celebrity as a great line and he wasn’t wrong. I really didn’t think I would ever be the cruise type, but it was so nice to unpack the bags in one spot and just sit back and be floated around. The ship was huge, and I am sure there were thousands of people on board, but it was so damn big it was easy to find a quiet spot.

Must admit, walked up to the pool deck not long after sailing and thought I had entered some parallel universe – brown bodies, blaring music, and wall to wall cocktails. We were only ten minutes out of Roma and the party had started. It really was a bit of a blast of the senses, but the first day was definitely the worst. Either people calmed down a bit or I just got used to it. Once I figured out my way around, I realised if I climbed higher it was definitely more sedate – up on the top deck was gorgeous. The sun was blaring but found a shady spot and sat down with my book. It was just sublime sitting there reading and watching the sun go down.

The next morning, I was awake early, and I watched the sun come up over the Sicilian Coast. We docked in Messina and it was so good to seek reprieve from the blazing sun inside the Duomo in Piazza del Duomo. The cathedral was beautiful, with one of the largest astronomical clocks on the side. The religious iconography was everywhere, but the sun was so damn hot, we quickly gave up on our religious sojourn and went to do our worshipping at a bar in the Piazza. The limone granita was stuffed down in record time.

Tina was desperate for a latte but the shops were all closed at Trastevere Stazione. We had two ways to get to the Infinity. To Civitavecchia on the regional train or on the super fast Frecciarossa. We decided to head to Termini on the slow train and what a nutty decision that was. We couldn’t get a train for two hours so had to jump back on the train and go back the way we came minus a latte. The train trip to the Roman port was easy and then a couple of buses to board the Infinity. I had imagined great long lines to board but we just strolled in, grabbed a champagne, and our holiday began

After having my head pretty well in my laptop for the last couple of days it was lovely to go roaming the streets of Roma with Tina. I decided that Tina really should start a travel blog focused on loos as after each loo stop, I got a report on the bathroom. We had a lovely day wandering in the Roman heat. For an Aussie, the heat was just bearable (only just I might point out) but for a Canadian from Winnipeg, Tina just went redder and redder. The day started out OK with lovely latte macchiato (yes my usual children’s milk) but after wandering for what seemed ages in the Roman sunshine Tina spotted what she thought would be a very grand loo. Must admit, I too was getting damn hot by that point. We walked into the very cool, very swish St Regis Roma on Via Vittorio E. Orlando with the singular aim of going to the loo – well that was until Tina spotted the bar. They have just spent 45 million dollars spiffing up the place and the price of our cocktails went some way to paying off the debt. We shut our eyes, ignored the price, scoffed down two and then staggered out the door after another loo stop. Well Tina is usually pretty sedate, but give a Winnipeg girl two delicious cocktails and what else is there to do but take a swim in a fountain. I stood waiting for the Carabinieri to come blowing their whistles and thought our next loo stop might be in the Tullianum.