Even though the above view from our balcony can be quite distracting, we have managed to get some work done over the summer and are slowly but surely getting ready to take off once more. As usual, we’re starting the planning from the back. I’m not sure why this works so well for us but having a fixed point in the future does make things easier since you’re limited to a certain time frame. Our fixed point in this case is cherry blossom season in Japan.

This usually starts around late March in the south of the country and then sweeps north over a few short weeks. We’ve rented an apartment in Kyoto from the end of March till the end of April so hopefully we’ll get lucky and get there right in time for sakura.

Once Kyoto was fixed, the other destinations just fell into place: Australia December through February and New Zealand February/March (we’ve already seen most of NZ on an extended trip several years ago but we both fell in love with the country and can’t wait to go back and visit those few places we missed last time round). Before Australia we’ll be spending October and November roaming around south-east Asia:

Seoul (we found a great flight from Rome so that’ll be our first stop)
Vietnam
Laos
Cambodia
Indonesia

True to form, we haven’t organized anything for these countries yet since these are the closest ones on the calendar. But we do have a wealth of information already thanks to travel-hungry friends and our trusty guidebook. Now we just need to sift through it all and pick what we like. (So far some definite points are: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Angkor Wat, the jar fields, Hué and Hoi An.) In any case, September 29th is our take-off date so I guess preparations should begin…soon.

After we left England – what now seems like ages ago – we made a pitstop in Menèrbes at Sally’s house before going on to Italy and the long-awaited change of clothes since we were still travelling with our winter clothes at this time.

Menèrbes is the arch-typical Provençal village, with tiny little shops, a handful of delicious restaurants and views to die for. Just the place to relax after a long, long drive (London – Menèrbes: 14 hours).

With our bellies full of camembert and champagne, we drove to Italy and got our SUMMER CLOTHES! Yes, it was such a glorious moment to get our shorts and sandals that it warrants all caps.

For the rest of the summer we moved between Mallorca, Barcelona, France and Italy. In Mallorca we watched waterskiers take it to the next level

and some beautiful moon rises.

In Barcelona we heard, and sang, some Karaoke (note Alfred’s expert mic handling)

and wore as little clothes as possible in the heat.

We went to Bordeaux to see our friends Henri and Martha get married

and stayed to admire the street performers and cadillacs, in Cadillac, naturally.

Now we’re house-sitting for Conor’s godfather in Italy and even though the dogs, Red and Green, and the cat, Cat, are less than thrilled that their masters have gone on holiday for a weekend and left them here with two complete strangers, we’re enjoying our last few days in Europe. Where are you off to next, you ask? We’ll tell you all about it in the next post.

Leaving the empty apartment was sad. In fact, it was so sad that I forgot to return the keys to the portera so we had to turn around and go back. (Hadn’t gone too far yet, thank goodness.) At least that gave us a chance to get breakfast at Submarin 2 and wouldn’t you know it – they have almost* the best croissants in Barcelona! Right in front of our noses for the last year and we didn’t bother to try them until the day we leave.

(*Nothing beats Mauri.)

Empty apartments also have their advantage as the kids showed us on our last afternoon.