I recently discovered that my father loved to travel, too, and in the 1950's, when not too many working class families enjoyed foreign holidays, he was cruising Eastern Europe and sunning himself in Spain. Is this where the gypsy gene comes from? I also remember when I was young that two of my mum's brothers were in the armed forces and when home on leave would bring me gifts, a leather purse, a watch with a velvet strap, all bought in the countries in which they had served. I would look at the gifts and try to imagine the countries of origin.

No wonder then, with this background, I had my itinerary all worked out in my head from the age of 10. Gosh, it has taken me a long time to finally get my act together and get this trip underway. Mind you, life did get in the way for a very long time but not any more...