The next adventure

I'm writing this on the train to Bournemouth.

We've packed up again, said goodbye to our families and we're off for round three.

It's always bittersweet to leave home, I hate goodbyes and I’ve really enjoyed being back in England. But the anticipation of the next adventure is always humming away in the background and we have some great plans coming up.

Tonight we'll eat fish and chips and 99s on the beach. And then tomorrow it’s up at 6 am to get the ferry to Cherbourg, France.

After mulling it over for weeks, we've finally figured out what we'll be doing for the rest of the year (mostly).

Here’s how things are looking:

August

We're driving through France next week and spending a few days in Nice (which we planned before the recent tragedy, so I’m not too sure what to expect).

On our to-do list are lavender fields, lake swimming and cheese for every meal. We might even pop over to Monaco for an evening in a casino, James Bond style.

At the end of the month we're catching the train to Milan (can’t wait to go to this Wes Anderson cafe), before meeting my family for a fun week in Florence.

September

As we’ll be in Italy, we couldn't resist a quick trip to Bologna (one of our favourite stops last year) to eat pasta.

Then we’re getting the train to Ljubljana, with a pit stop in Trieste. I’ve wanted to visit Slovenia for a while, and we have a whole month there to explore the capital and go camping by Lake Bled.

October

At the beginning of October, Colin’s family are joining us in Ljubljana and we’re driving to Piran, a little town on the west coast of Slovenia.

Our next stop will be a week in Zagreb. Then it’s a 10-hour train journey south to Sarajevo (and I'm planning to re-read this excellent book on the way).

After a few days exploring, we’re getting the train to Mostar (which looks so beautiful!) and then heading to Kotor in Montenegro for a month.

November

We'll stay in Kotor until the middle of November, go on some day trips and maybe even hop over to Dubrovnik.

From this point on the plan is a little hazy – ideally we'd like to travel home slowly over land, but we're still figuring that part out.

December

We'll spend Christmas back home for the first time since 2013, which will be such a treat. It’s never quite the same when it’s 30 degrees and you can’t find any mince pies.

Here's to the next adventure!