My last trip on my own (1)

In my previous life (while being single), I loved to travel alone. Why? I love to travel and it was too difficult to plan a trip if you want to invite a friend/family. Just imagine the difficulty to synchronise dates, decide on a common interest (which country/which style of travelling) etc. The easiest was just to plan my trip totally on my own, the fun already started during this planning phase… and then you just GO! Now after four overseas trips with my partner (which was lovely!) I do start to long for that independent travelling experience again… What bliss to sit at a Cafe in Rome, sipping the best Cappuccino ever tasted, writing in my diary… Now I never write anymore while travelling… there is just never time for it!

So yes, I am experiencing a little bit of blues today on this rainy day in Stellenbosch, thinking of my last trip alone in 2009… (This is while planning our next excursion to Paris and London together, which I am really looking forward to :-))

I was attending a conference in Florence, Italy. Although I were in Italy before in 2001, I remembered how difficult it was to choose an itinerary and that I had a long list of places left to visit. So, here we go again… I also prefer to travel only to one country at a time. It is because I prefer to immerse myself in the place’s culture, learning a little bit of the language as well.

Florence was really beautiful, just very hot, the conference at the beautiful Piazza SS Annunziata, my hotel also on the same piazza…

From here I took the train to the north, Lake Maggiore. Spent a few days in Stresa and took a roundtrip by ferry and train, exploring the area in one magnificent day.