Our apartment and everything in it is brand new. We are the very first to stay here which worries us somewhat as with eight children between us, we are likely to trash it. The kids run excitedly from room to room, exclaiming about the three flat screen TVs, the rooftop sauna and the funky coloured lights. We adults are impressed by the panoramic mountain views and cow on the kitchen splash back. It seems to have everything. Except for one thing. Read more
There is one thing you need to remember when planning a white Christmas in Europe: Christmas shopping should not be left to the last minute. Christmas Eve is the time for feasting and celebrations, not late night shopping. My footsteps echoed on the eerily quiet streets as I searched in vain for an open shop door. A promising shaft of light only revealed the omnipresent Turkish kebab shop. I didn’t think they could sell me wrapping paper.
We crouched in the bunker of the sand dunes. All was silent, apart from our nervous breathing, as we waited for the signal. This was our first time, unlike the others. We didn’t know what to expect. All we knew was that we had to act quickly. If we didn’t it could mean the difference between life and death. We were anxious and confused. What if we were too slow? What if we did it all wrong? What, in fact, were we doing here?
Feeling like Kate Winslet in Titanic, I balanced on the bow of our yacht, my salty hair swept back in the breeze, my sheer cotton shirt billowing behind. Dolphins raced us in the turquoise waters, so clear we could see the seabed. It was so romantic it was a cliché.
My 40th birthday present from my husband was two weeks sailing the islands of Tahiti in a charter yacht. But that wasn’t the best of it.
Read more