Nowhere in Particular

In trying to save some money on our flight to Iceland, we made a rookie mistake. Flying via Paris worked out much cheaper, even as two separate bookings – one from Porto, Portugal to Paris and then from Paris on to Reykjavík, Iceland. But the BIG MISTAKE came in when we did not check that we were arriving and leaving from the same airport. We have not been able to visit Paris as part of this crazy adventure, so when it was the cheapest flight option we jumped at the chance and tried to be clever. We thought we could use our 12 hours in between our flights to get into the city for the day and see some of the major sites. Soon after booking our flights I was overcome with a nagging feeling. I checked our flights, and that’s when we saw our mistake of needing to be at two different airports. The planner that I am was initially flustered, but we talked it over and thought it would still be okay since we would have to leave the airport anyway to tour the city. It would mean we would ne...

We have both been to Rome before in 2005, and I went again in 2009. So why do we keep going back when there is still so much of the rest of the world to see? What keeps drawing us to this city? Rome was a city we visited on our first international holiday, and one could think that the nostalgia of the exciting maiden voyage is what intrigues us, but I do believe it is so much more that that.  The famous and impressive sites like St Peters Basilica, Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, the Castle of Angles, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon are on everyone’s itinerary for Rome with just cause.  St Peters is breath-taking. You are first overwhelmed by the scale of it all, but when you look closer every tiny part is impressive in its own way – you can just keep coming back over and over again and see something new each time.    St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City The colours of the Sistine Chapel are so bright and vibrant, with Michelangelo telling...

We were in Rome and excited for our first pride parade, never having had the opportunity to attend Joburg Pride in our home city. We caught the Rome metro to the Colosseum – what better place could you find to watch Roma Pride? The anticipation built up as the parade took a long time to to this location, but people all around us were holding hands, smiling and excited to be involved in some way. Amongst all the joviality you must not forget that Pride Parades have an important social and political purpose. But the party atmosphere is overwhelming. Couples, singles, mothers, fathers, dancing divas, people walking their dogs, and mostly friends – seemly a combination of old and newly introduced – walked the streets of Rome declaring that love is all that matters. Roma Pride, 11 June 2016 Some took the opportunity to strut their stuff in outlandish attire that would stop normal traffic. I must comment here that I would be hard-pressed to find a social cause worthy of a walk for ...