An early start (5.30am) from home/ London Stansted had us in Milan by lunchtime. We took the airport bus from Bergamo into Milan Centrale station, then the metro to our hotel. Our first visit on our whistle stop tour was the Duomo. • If you hate crowds and tourist traps you might want to get here early in the morning to avoid the hoards. There were thousands of people jostling for space along with lots of hawkers and beggars. We avoided allowing them to give ...

Awesome if short helicopter experience. We had a five minute flight over NE Essex. As the other passengers were dithering over who would sit up front I stepped in to make sure that Kathryn got that seat. It was so much more comfortable, and less frightening, than flying in a plane

Shutters on the inside and outside of the window make for a very dark bedroom! We woke up not having a clue if it was day or night. It was 7am so Alan decided to go for a run. Around 15 minutes later he hobbled back into the room. His hip was killing him and he'd only managed to go around 100 metres. This wasn't promising for a day of sightseeing. We went down to breakfast where we were taunted by cereal but no milk or bowls. There was also no milk to be had wi...

After a rushed morning (Alan was coaching) we headed off to the airport to travel to Carcassonne. As usual Angela was stopped by customs, the contents of her bag scrutinised and then swabbed! The flight was fairly uneventful apart from the lack of water to make hot drinks, the man opposite Angela avidly reading his bible then disappearing to the toilet regularly with his bags and an extremely bumpy landing. Carcassonne is probably the smallest airport in the wor...

The final part of Alan's plan for the weekend was to visit Angela's brother's family. We don't see them often enough! We had time to spare before that trip so went to the Black Country Living Museum. We spent some time in the pit, exploring the houses, shops and buildings before heading off to spend a lovely afternoon with family. It was a lovely way to end a brilliant weekend.