A HOT travel app

HOT AppMuch of our holiday was booked by our travel agent, the lovely Petra, and the team at House of Travel in Wellington. As always, everything was organised perfectly and went off without a hitch.

But this trip there was a bonus – House of Travel’s iPhone app.

We punched in our booking code after downloading the app and had our itinerary available in an easy to digest and easy to use form on our phone. It was amazing the number of times we used it – to quickly check a departure time or to confirm a flight number when completing an arrival card – it was incredibly useful.

And there’s much more to the app than just the itinerary. There is a plethora of options available.

I’ve been involved with designing and developing  a few mobile apps and can appreciate the time and attention to detail that has gone into this app. It’s a great piece of work.

I’ve just checked the app and it has archived our holiday itinerary and is ready for our next trip. Nice.

 

And then home

UnpackingWe arrived back in New Zealand earlier in the week after 4 fabulous weeks away.  We were greeted by warm spring weather (which has now turned back to winter) and two very happy puppies who, after an initial frenzied greeting, proceeded to ignore us just to make a point.

The last few days have been spent recovering from jet lag and unpacking – as well as returning to work because, let’s face it, the holiday has to be paid for somehow.

There are still a number of posts to write covering such things as our dinner at the 3 Michelin Star restaurant La Pergola in Rome, some thoughts on modern air travel, how purchasing a laptop case on Via Condotti in Rome can turn into something much more and the temptation of Hong Kong duty free shopping.

I’ll post these over the next few days – just as soon as I write them.

 

Under a Tuscan sun – surprisingly

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According to the locals this summer in Tuscany was not good – lots of rain and wind, and not the usual warm temperatures. But we didn’t notice – for our two day stay the weather was glorious. It was a short stay but we … Continue reading

By train to Florence

Jean travelling at 246 km/h north of Napoli

Jean travelling at 246 km/h north of Napoli

Yesterday we left Positano and travelled north by high speed train to Firenze and then drove south to our base for the next two days – Radda in Chianti.

After the fun and games of air travel, train travel is so easy and relaxing it’s ridiculous. The most stressful part of the trip was keeping an eye on our bags at Napoli Station – a place renown for pick pockets and thieves.

In all it took 2 hours and 50 minutes to complete the train trip that would have required between 5 and 6 hours to drive.

We collected a rental car at Firenze, negotiated the city’s one way system, and 50 minutes later checked in at Relais Vignale in Radda which is in the heart of Chianti.

We have dinner planned with friends who live in Chianti and a trip to Siena for a spot of shopping before heading on to Roma – because, as they say, that’s where all roads lead.

 

 

An evening in Noto

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On Saturday we visited the historic hilltop village of Noto located about 45 minutes drive south west of Syracuse. It is  a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its fine early 18th century buildings, considered among the main masterpieces in the Sicilian … Continue reading

A Sicilian sunset

Sicilean sunsetThe view beyond our pool and out over the olive grove was enhanced on Thursday night by a spectacular sunset.

 

A day on Ortygia

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Ortygia is a small island separated from Syracuse by a narrow canal. It was the site of the original ancient Greek settlement which later became the bustling trading and fishing port of Syracuse. In fact the population of Syracuse around the … Continue reading

The Sicilean All Black supporters kit

AB KitToday the All Blacks played the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Cup test. Despite a TV with over 500 channels these Sicilean AB supporters could find no TV coverage of the game.

Compounding this, the villa internet connection is the narrowest broadband connection in the world and so video was all buffering and no streaming.

But the saviour turned out to be the Radio NZ iPhone app which streamed the radio commentary of the game perfectly. And when broadcast through our portable JBL bluetooth speaker it gave us stadium quality sound.

And what an All Black victory – 51 points to 20 – tutto bene.

How not to park your Punto

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We arrived back at Sant’ Agostino after dinner one night earlier this week and discovered one of the guests had almost managed to park their Fiat Punto in the carpark. Now I’m no expert but given the height of the curb the … Continue reading

A cliché within a cliché

For the week at Positano we booked the smallest rental car we could. For those of you who know the roads and the local drivers, this makes perfect sense. We were aiming to be the smallest target possible.

The rental turned out to be a Fiat 500 – the quintessential Italian car.

On top of that we were offered the cabriolet version which meant the chance of open air motoring on fine sunny days. How could things be any more classically Italian.

Our road trips were all cream scarves blowing in breeze, polka dot print dresses, white linen shirts and designer sunglasses. Truly la dolce vita.

Our little Fiat made trips down to the village for groceries (no one wants to carry heavy shopping bags up the hill at Positano during summer) and over the hill to Sorrento to explore old haunts – as well as the hour and a half drive to and from Positano.

The bonus was returning it undamaged – no mean achievement given the roads and drivers of the Amalfi Coast.

Ready for festival

The August Festival is a much anticipated event in Positano. There are parades of boats and fireworks all topped off with dinners all around the town on Friday August 15th.

Sadly there had a been a fatal car accident the night we arrived which took two lives – one being a local boy, the son of a prominent Positano family. With a population of only a few thousand people, the loss was keenly felt in the village. A decision was made on Wednesday not to have the fireworks display on festival night as a mark of respect. This was the right decision but meant that for visitors the evening was much quieter than usual.

Having said that, it was still a great night with everyone getting dressed up for the occasion. Jean had purchased a dress in the UK especially for the evening.

The paparazzi caught her about to leave Villa Greta for dinner.

Jean wearing Karen Millen

 

Firefighting in Positano

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During festival night a fire started on the cliffs above the coastal access road to Positano. It burned up the hill for most of the night and because of the terrain the ability to get men on the ground was … Continue reading