Italy - London - Paris 2007

Today is the 2nd of July... Less than 2 weeks more!

Advise for those who are planning a trip: Start early! I only started planning for this trip about a month back. Bad idea. Through the process I realised I missed out on alot of good deals for hotels. I don't just want any hotel, I try to pick one with a unique factor. There are interesting ones with rooftop gardens or old convants which have been converted to hotels.. Charming.

It's been quite difficult planning also. In a big group, naturally there'll be difference of interests and I'm the only one planning for the whole family. I would like more input from them. It's kinda like a situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The aeroplane tickets were booked without my knowing and this ended up with 8 days in London and only 6 in Italy!

If I went on my own(or with friends) I couldn't afford the fantastic hotels we are staying in. Thank goodness for tax paying parents!

Our flight leaves Singapore on a Saturday night and will transit in London for an hour. Initially we were planning to work our up the boot from Rome to Florence then to Venice. After that it'llbe back to London for 7 days then back home.

I'd love to spend time in the Tuscany region, at least 4 to 5 days in a villa with olive groves around! But it's all about time. Somehow we'll only be in Italy for about 6 odd days. Minus the travelling and we're left with 5. So I reasoned that I don't want to rush through the beautiful Florence and spoil the experience. Instead we'll visit the home of the Catholic church - since we are Roman Catholics, and the wonderful Venice. (I read that in Summer the tides are low in the canals - leading to a stench.. But I'll see how it goes...)

Along the way when I realised that there was too much timein London so we decided to make a side trip somewhere else. It was either France, Switzerland, Scotland or Ireland but was eventually decided we'd go to Paris.