Two Drifters

Well, channelling Heidi was better than I even imagined it could be. If you want to see what I mean, you’ll need to watch our Uniworld destination video on YouTube. It will be live in early October. The Uniworld experience video is online now. You can watch it here –  https://youtu.be/9_KD9_YNpBY?si=x_RaaDu2XB6CAARX We joyfully met up with M and A outside of Notre Dame. Baby J bump was now well on show! It was lovely to see inside the restored Notre Dame and then we wandered happily around Paris ending up at a restaurant for dinner where N and K joined us. We hadn’t seen them since May other than a one hour visit at home when I was sick so it was wonderful to see them too. Having our two boys and their partners with us for dinner was special, special, special. We spent most of Sunday and Monday morning together. An activity highlight was a visit to Galerie Dior where we learnt about Christian Dior’s Empire and viewed some beautiful fashion. I really enjoyed this as did Andrew. High...

I finished last month’s entry by saying we had 35,000 subscribers to our YourTube channel - https://youtube.com/@weliketocruiseandtravel?si=dWqmjiL2P6n7E3di That number is already over 40,000! Incredible given that we only started in late January. Incredible also because there was really no plan for this channel. When the offer first came in early 2020 for Andrew and I to sell our legal business, he was adamant that we wanted to retire. I was pretty sure that I didn’t. Although the sale was protracted (a Pandemic intervened), he didn’t waver and neither did I. When the new owners of the legal business decided not to offer either of us ongoing work, Andrew was delighted. I was not but I said I’d have a break and do some writing. And see what happened. The first three stories I had published were in an online dog magazine and were unpaid but at least I could then send emails (“pitches” as I now know them to be) and say that I was a published writer and link my work. Go World Travel Maga...

^ A photo taken by one of my Press Trip colleagues before dinner on "White Night." It radiates the "new me!" Thank you Tash! It has been a busy month of catching up with emails and family in the morning (Europe morning and Australia later afternoon and evening), sightseeing most of the day, dinner and bed. The heat has been relentless. Every day 30 -35. Although we knew that’s what the weather would be, I often feel like a wilted lettuce! We have now started our Croatia cruise with Azamara. This is a Press Trip and we are part of a group of 11. I was apprehensive coming in. Not only suffering “imposter syndrome” but worrying that the group would be cliquey and unfriendly. Nothing could be further from the truth – one pair is from London, the others a split of Melbourne and Sydney. Each person is lovely and interesting and friendly. We are fast friends already 😊 The cruise itinerary is busy plus there are shore excursions and group dinners and I am not sure I will h...

^The Grand Canal, Venice I survived the ASTW event (everyone was very welcoming!) and, a couple of days later, Andrew and I flew to Milan via Singapore. Given that we do not have the constraints of work or school terms any more, we decided to break the journey and transit in Singapore. We thought that meant not leaving our Singapore airport hotel but there were actually two, different, free tours we could choose from which both had different Singapore sightseeing opportunities. It sounded like a great idea to me but also to a few others as the tours were booked out! The hotel worked well – we arrived in Singapore late so went straight to bed then wandered around the airport for a while in the morning and spent the rest of the day at the hotel (outdoor) pool. We had rented the hotel room for the 23 odd hours we were there so we showered and flew to Milan late that night. Our cases were checked through from Melbourne direct to Milan so we did have to plan what we took with us in our day ...