So we are off on another sojourn to the Mediterranean. Of course the trip involves a big ship. This time around it's the turn of Celebrity Reflection on a 10 night cruise that starts in Civitivecchia and visits Messina in Sicily, Valletta in Malta, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini & Athens in Greece before heading back to Italy for Naples and a return to Civitavecchia on the 29th May.Peter picks me up from work and we grab an early dinner before heading to the Radi...

We leave Manchester under cold grey skies. The kind of weather that makes you wish you lived in sunnier climes. Traffic to the airport is heavy and slow. Cars filled with drivers whose faces convey a weary resignation. Bumper to bumper we weave our way along roads wet slicked and black. I sit silently waiting for Peters famously short patience to give out and some expletives to burst forth like a torrent. The traffic starts moving before his irritation threshold ...

Bird song. The dawn chorus. I glimpse at the chink in the curtains to see any sign that morning had broken thinking it must be imminent given the full throttled chirping I was hearing. I check my watch. 3.15 am. Damned insomniac bird. Little avian upstart, I spend the next hour trying to return to sleep, not by counting sheep but thinking of as many bird related insults I can come up with. Peter's accompanying snore means I am unsuccessful.At 5.30 we are both...

We awake at 6am and Adventure of the Seas is already docked in Southampton. It's a beautiful, crisp sunny morning. P&O's Oriana is silently making her way up the channel to her berth behind us. I can see bleary eyes passengers from that ship looking over at ours. No doubt mulling about their journeys home.We shower, dress and head down to the Vivaldi Dining Room for breakfast. As it's the last morning it's served buffet style rather than waiter se...