Jane Austen isn’t always the person I think of when I consider adventurous travel. Yet this quote from Austen’s Northanger Abbey (which I last read in my first year of university) resonates with me so deeply. Why do I travel? Why do I yearn to leave the shores of Aotearoa New Zealand to seek adventures elsewhere, given that my country has been dubbed God’s own land?
The answer to that questions is not that I necessarily find the adventures available within NZ insufficient, shout out to our small town treasures, it is just that there is a great big world out there.
Weirdly, we are on the eve of our departure for our ‘big’ trip this year – to Europe – but this won’t be new adventures for Darryl or I. Instead, we are revisiting places which are near and dear to our hearts, travelling with Darryl’s mum for whom these places are new, and ensuring that while some locations may be the same, the adventures will be decidedly different.
So where are we going?
London – 4 nights
Paris – 3 nights
Lisbon – 2 nights
Barcelona- 3 nights
Avignon, Nice, Aix-en-Provence- 5 nights
Venice – 1 night
Florence – 4 nights
Salerno – 3 nights
Rome – 4 nights
Home (via Bangkok!)
While that may feel action packed, that is how we like to do things. Just jump into a city, get a feel for it, see the attractions and eat and drink until our hearts ache with fullness. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the month.
The Peterson Odyssey 