Return of the Italian adventurer

It feels a little weird to be writing on this blog again. I haven't been here for three whole weeks, which is a virtual lifetime in the online world. Even typing feels strange. I've had the sort of holiday that my mind, body and soul was craving. Life felt like it was getting a little out of balance and I just needed to recharge.

Of course, me being me meant that I didn't exactly lie on a beach for three weeks. I couldn't help myself and saw far more of Italy than I had expected (it's my third visit to the country). I went to Rome, Porto San Georgio and the beautiful surrounding countryside, Urbino, Bologna, Verona, Lake Maggiore, Milan, Vigevano, Lake Como and back to Rome again. All in three weeks... with a two-year-old toddler who wasn't interested in rushing around to see the sites (not when he had his train, car, gnome... to walk slowly along the streets of whichever place we were visiting).

But even though I saw many places, travelling for me is so much more than ticking places off a list or taking photos. It's when I get to shut out the noise of day-to-day living and really get back to what's important to me. It's when I can dump all the baggage that I don't really need. And it's when I can see the answers clearly to the big questions in life.

It's also when I get creative. I came up with so many ideas and projects that I want to work on that I can't wait to get started.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this blog while I was away. I had a MASSIVE shoot the DAY BEFORE I left (literally was packing up at 6.30pm in Sydney's Palm Beach on Thursday night to race back to the city to collect my child from daycare and pack for a flight the next day) and was frantically coding the posts. A friend has since told me there are a few errors and slips in them but I'll hopefully be able to tidy them up - and find out what happened to the image that went with Lisa Loxley's post.

This week I'm getting back on my feet so not sure how regular I will be able to post, but hopefully everything should be back on track next week.

I hope you've enjoyed the posts while I was away - I'll try to respond to your comments soon. And I'd love to hear from those of you who enjoy travelling and find out what you love about it.

Oh, and the house swaps went amazingly well. It was a fantastic way to meet locals and see and experience how Italians REALLY live - not one of the three homes I stayed in had a kettle or toaster! And they all used stovetop coffee espresso makers (not big fancy machines!).

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