So here I am, sat in the Marriot hotel in Venice writing my first blog post. Journey went fine apart from nearly ending up in the wrong country because of boarding gate changes but arrived in Venice at 11:30am local time and, after trying to use symbols to speak Italian, I found the pick-up car to take me to the hotel. The biggest shock so far was checking into the hotel to find that i'm sharing a room but I suppose I better get used to it and it was good meeting someone who had worked on the cruise ship for years so found out alot.

Had quite a chilled out afternoon walking around Venice and i'm sure it's not as hot here as back in Blackpool but it's an amazing place and so different from anywhere that i've been before. Just to remind me that I was abroad and hadn't a clue what I was doing, I ended up missing my stop on the bus from the centre and found myself back at the airport so took alot longer than planned.

Early start tommorow as the reps from the ship are picking us up at 8am and then the real fun starts so i'll keep you posted soon.

Ciao!