We haven't been able to travel for more than a year, or meet up for around three months, (all due to COVID) so please accept our apologies for the lack of new content on our Sensational Baby Boomers blog.
However, it's high time to dust off the laptop, and although it's too early yet to plan our next holidays, we thought it would be a good idea to look back at some of our favourite places.
There are sometimes very specific reasons or times when holidays create extra special memories - a special birthday, an anniversary, or even exceptional hotels and bucket list places, and our travels have incorporated some of these.
ROME
We have both been to Rome, though not together, yet both of us have found this to be a very special place.
This is Anne C and I visited Rome for the first time in early 2020, before the virus took hold. The trip was to celebrate my daughter's birthday and had been on my bucket list for a while, not least because Anne H had been a couple of times and said how fabulous it was.
We were slightly apprehensive about the time of year - we went in January - but the temperature was pleasant and it was good to get away from the bitter cold in the UK.
We got off to a fabulous start when our pre-booked transport arrived - a rather comfortable Audi - and as we approached the centre of Rome with its beautifully lit and well preserved ruins, "Nessum Dorma" came on the car stereo and the trip became magical.
I have already covered the trip in detail here, and Anne has also written previously about it here and here, but I can honestly say it is one of my favourite cities in the world. The history is everywhere - and beautifully preserved while still being very much on public display. The food, of course, is amazing and we were incredibly lucky with the hotel, whose staff went out of their way to ensure my daughter had a fabulous holiday - even bringing her a gluten free birthday breakfast (complete with cake) in bed on the day!
SYDNEY
I visited Sydney in 2014, and although I had never particularly yearned to go there, it turned out to be a wonderful holiday. In context - my daughter had been saving through university to go travelling, and finally set off in 2013 flying off to Thailand and spending months in the Far East. She ended up working on a farm in Australia, and since I was on a cruise with Anne H in the Far East (more of that later), I flew on to Aussie to see her for the first time in six months.
There are times when you actually pinch yourself because of where you are, and Sydney was full of those moments. The first time I spotted the Opera House from the Botanical Gardens, and of course when I set foot on Bondi Beach - I absolutely could not believe I was there!
Of course, the fact that I had missed my daughter terribly made it so extra special, but also that our accommodation was lovely, the weather was fantastic, and there was lots of interesting places to visit. I loved the laid-back vibe, while the friendliness of the locals and the fact that everyone spoke English made it such a wonderful trip. See full details of the Sydney trip here.
SANTORINI
I couldn't not mention our annual holidays in Santorini, which has almost become a second home for me. I've even been learning to speak and read in Greek - no mean feat for a 67 year old!
Having visited several of the Greek Islands, and loved the sunshine, the food and the wonderful Greek people, it was around the year 2002 that we headed off to Santorini for the first time and fell in love with the place. We stayed in a small hotel, and the owners had two young children, slightly younger than our own daughter. But they played together and we tried to chat to the owners in their broken English. We have returned almost every year since, occupying one of two of our favourite rooms on a wide balcony over the dining room. We have also taken several of our friends to stay there over the years - including Anne H and her daughter too.
Although most of the photos you see of Greece are taken in the capital, Thira, with its stunning west-facing sunsets over the Caldera, we stayed on the south east coast, in the lovely friendly resort of Perissa. Thira is a bustling, Instagram-worthy town, full of tourists and cocktail bars. It's great for a shopping trip or watching the sun go down, but it is quite expensive for meals and drinks (and jewellery), and if you're staying in hotels with a view, the cost is eye-watering.
Having now been going back for the past 20 years (though sadly not last year for obvious reasons), we now know many of the locals, and are on kissing terms with the bar and restaurant owners!
Perissa is a small resort, not particularly sophisticated - no nightclubs or rowdy bars - and mainly attracts couples. There are no pavements or street lights along the main road, yet it feels entirely safe. It is almost a throw-back to how Greece used to be before tourism really took off. Most people walk along the coast road, which is forbidden to traffic in the evening - where there are a few shops and bars, though nothing too fancy. It's a place to go to chill out, relax and just enjoy good food and sunshine. Santorini trips here and here.
THE FAR EAST
Lastly, but by no means least, one of the best holidays we spent together was a cruise to the Far East with SilverSea Cruises. This was a special treat a few years ago to celebrate my 60th birthday, although in fact we went some months after the special day because of sailings, and ended up celebrating Anne H's birthday on board, We certainly pushed the boat out because the ship - The Silver Shadow - was fabulous. Everything about the trip was amazing - from visiting Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong, to our fabulously comfortable - and spacious - cabin, to browsing the markets in Bangkok. We had our own butler, a fridge stocked daily with champagne and fabulous toiletries stocked in the bathroom ( which also boasted a full sized bath). I had another "pinch myself" moment when we were sailing down the Mekong Delta - those faraway places we had only heard about on the news during the Vietnam war. More on our far eastern trip here.
Well, these are my favourite holidays, but not exclusively those we have enjoyed, either together or separately. Iceland was fabulous, and New York was amazing, despite having rather a bad accident there. There are places I've seen where I would happily go back - Malta, Bruges, Croatia (and some of the above), France, and others I'm happy to have seen but have no desperate desire to return - Germany, Hungary and Denmark, though never say never!
I still have a bucket list - Las Vegas, Hawaii, the Maldives, Canada and Niagara Falls, Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily. I have booked Vegas five times and for various reasons it has been cancelled through no fault of my own (three times due to COVID) and was due to sail to Hawaii this year but that is now looking dubious too.
Next time, Anne H will take you through her favourite places and holidays.
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