Lottie and I fancied a final break in the sun before the arrival of our twin babies and decided to go to the Italian lakes in early summer 2015.
The original plan for 2015 was a) get married, b) have a mini-moon straight after our wedding in the UK and c) have a big long-haul trip later in the year.
The first two happened as planned, but then we got pregnant within a month of our wedding and all long-haul bets were off. Goodbye Mexico, hello Italy.
We flew business class from London City to Milan as we had been busily collecting air miles (in preparation for our long-haul honeymoon) throughout 2014.
It was a short flight, but we still enjoyed our unfamiliar surroundings at the front of the plane. Proper cutlery and china bowls, prawn curry, great service.
Lottie was three months pregnant at the time so we chose a comfortable and safe itinerary: three nights at an agraturismo above Lake Iseo followed by three nights in a posh hotel on the shore of Lake Como.
I negotiated the notoriously challenging Italian driving experience in a tiny little Fiat. Some of the winding roads around Como were particularly hairy as cars zoomed past us round blind bends.
The other nervy outing was when we drove north from Iseo to the furthest tip of the lake. It was to visit a smaller lake that we'd read about and the drive was essentially a series of long dark tunnels, car headlights almost blinding us as the notoriously fast Italian drivers shot past.
It was a good holiday, if not the most memorable one we'd taken. Lottie was never 100% comfortable because of the babies and it was too short to completely unwind and settle into holiday mode.
But that said, there were definite highlights. Takeaway pizza by the still waters of Lake Iseo; a boat trip on Lake Como that ended with a perfect lunch of pasta in a quaint lakeside town; an incredible view over Como from our luxurious hotel balcony; mulling over names for our future babies after dinner...
At the time of writing (Jan 2016), it's the most recent trip abroad I've made. Now our twins Amber and Frankie have arrived, I think it will be the last one for a while too!
Here are some pics from what seemed like our final hurrah (for now):
The original plan for 2015 was a) get married, b) have a mini-moon straight after our wedding in the UK and c) have a big long-haul trip later in the year.
The first two happened as planned, but then we got pregnant within a month of our wedding and all long-haul bets were off. Goodbye Mexico, hello Italy.
We flew business class from London City to Milan as we had been busily collecting air miles (in preparation for our long-haul honeymoon) throughout 2014.
It was a short flight, but we still enjoyed our unfamiliar surroundings at the front of the plane. Proper cutlery and china bowls, prawn curry, great service.
Lottie was three months pregnant at the time so we chose a comfortable and safe itinerary: three nights at an agraturismo above Lake Iseo followed by three nights in a posh hotel on the shore of Lake Como.
I negotiated the notoriously challenging Italian driving experience in a tiny little Fiat. Some of the winding roads around Como were particularly hairy as cars zoomed past us round blind bends.
The other nervy outing was when we drove north from Iseo to the furthest tip of the lake. It was to visit a smaller lake that we'd read about and the drive was essentially a series of long dark tunnels, car headlights almost blinding us as the notoriously fast Italian drivers shot past.
It was a good holiday, if not the most memorable one we'd taken. Lottie was never 100% comfortable because of the babies and it was too short to completely unwind and settle into holiday mode.
But that said, there were definite highlights. Takeaway pizza by the still waters of Lake Iseo; a boat trip on Lake Como that ended with a perfect lunch of pasta in a quaint lakeside town; an incredible view over Como from our luxurious hotel balcony; mulling over names for our future babies after dinner...
At the time of writing (Jan 2016), it's the most recent trip abroad I've made. Now our twins Amber and Frankie have arrived, I think it will be the last one for a while too!
Here are some pics from what seemed like our final hurrah (for now):
