We had booked tickets for a ferry from Korcula to Hvar and we opened the email sent to us by the ferry company and followed their directions to where the ferry was to leave. There were a few other people there, but no signs anywhere indicating where the ferry was to leave from. Eventually Lidia walked over to the other side of the old town to a different port and found the ferry waiting there with a thousand people in the queue. She rushed back to us and we dra...

Our transfer picked us up at 10:00 to take us to the island of Korcula. There is a ferry direct to Korcula from Dubrovnik, but it only runs at 7:00am or 4:30pm and neither of those times suited us. The only alternative was to book a van to take us 2 hours along the coast to a town called Orebic and then a 20 minute ferry to Korcula. The ferry had two flights of long, steep, steel steps up to the lounge area and I had to carry the suitcases up there, one in each ...

A short flight from Rome took us to the stunning medieval city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. We landed at the airport and jumped into a taxi. The taxi driver asked for the address and I gave him the address of our apartment as listed on AirBNB. Turns out it wasn't an address, but it was written in Croatian so I couldn't tell. I rang the hostess, Petra, and she was one of these people who talks constantly and doesn't give you time to ask her questions or respond. Sh...

We flew back into Rome from St Petersburg, arriving at about 1:30pm. Our transfer was waiting for us and we drove into the heart of Rome to our apartment. Madi and Jye had arrived at 10:30 that morning and were waiting for us outside the apartment when we arrived. It was so exciting to see them after 4.5 months travelling. We checked into our apartment, which had a view over the Column of Marcus Aurelius. This column was built in 193 AD and is a 30 metre colum...

We said goodbye to Leonid and boarded the train in Moscow bound for St Petersburg. It was a fast train and we travelled at up to 220 km/h during the journey. When we arrived in St Petersburg we were met at the station by our local guide, Natalia. She took us to our hotel, the Astoria, which is right in the heart of St Petersburg directly in front of the magnificent, gold-domed St Isaacs Cathedral, which is the main cathedral of the city. The Astoria itself is a ...