I wanted to spend a week away with my younger daughter – age 18 at the time (June 2001) having had to leave her behind on a previous trip with my other daughter. Instead of me making all the arrangements as I always had done in the past, I ended up leaving a lot to her – a valuable exercise in itself for both of us!

Liz chose Venice and I intervened here to suggest we explore some other places nearby too. Liz impressed me with her competence in booking a flight through the internet on Ryan Air at one of those ridiculously low prices – a month before due to fly. Although I then immediately started making enquiries re accommodation, everything appeared to be booked up – or we could not book as it was on a first arrival first served basis – although used to travel, I was intimidated by this and going to such a touristy place as Venice, and therefore glad we decided to go directly from the airport to Verona.

With 24 hours to go I discovered the policy of booking hostels was to ring about 7am on the morning due to arrive. In the event it worked out – but I think that area of Italy would be best visited before the tourist rush – which seems to be from end May through to September.

I found Ryan Air comforting – the pilot chatted to us and everything was very efficient. The planes do not land at the main airport Venice but at small Treviso airport – 20 – 30 miles away. Told we could not get a bus or train directly to Verona we bought return tickets for the airport bus. Got off at the train station at Metre – the area of Venice on the mainland. Train to Verona – I didn't realise I had to validate my ticket in a little box on the platform but the inspector looked at our luggage, then at us – we looked a bit jaded by then – shrugged and punched our tickets without complaint. 

Caught a local bus that took us halfway to the hostel Casa Giovanni – a catholic, women's only hostel – cool and pleasant (so hot out). Then we had a bit of a problem finding food – 9pm and only expensive looking restaurants – eventually found a snack bar. By the time we arrived back at the hostel the other beds had now been occupied and we turned the lights out at 11pm. A street market nearby – not cheap by English standards but we used this for our breakfast. Spent the day exploring on foot – a beautiful city. 

Cheapest and best value meal we found was a Chinese take-away – not the usual stuff – things like battered frogs legs. Sat by the river watching the sun set – tired and content – and finally feeling relaxed. Earlier we'd walked to the YH (further out of the centre than where we were staying) hoping the warden would make the booking for us for our next night's accommodation.

They couldn't but did give us the correct number – in the book it was the fax number! The warden of Montagagna YH didn't speak a word of English – somehow I mustered enough Italian and we understood each other (it is French I speak, not Italian – despite my Italian name!) Next morning it was lucky we got to the station early – queues to buy tickets and then another to obtain information so we could find the right train! Discovered we had to change trains at Nagara – and the leaving time for Montagnana was the same as the arrival of our train. However, everyone very relaxed – it seems the trains wait for each other. Montagnana – a sleepy town – and a good place to relax. The YH (in a watch tower in the ancient town walls) had only 4 of us staying there. Friendly warden, despite the language barrier.

Next day to Venice – up very early to go to the unmanned little station. At Mestre I bought a 3 day pass to use on the canal boats and local buses – well worth it, but not quite the deal I thought – it did not cover the boat from the camping site at Fusima, where we were staying, to Venice. So we mostly used the bus via Mestre each time – only 1 an hour. Fusima is not somewhere I would recommend – it is a campsite for 18-30 type clubs – very noisy for much of the night and the cabin we were in was not any more sound-proofed than a tent… apart from the difficulty in transport.

Venice was crowded in the tourist areas – such as St Marks Square – but not so bad a bit more off the beaten track. I did find the locals unfriendly and not many appeared to speak English – they must be fed up with being besieged by foreigners, even though that is how they make their money – and everything is expensive. We found a supermarket at long last and I stopped feeling so anxious about how we were going to afford to eat.

Some highlights for me were Santa Maria della Salute and the orchestra (including piano!) outside, Peggy Guggenheim exhibition, street music in the Jewish quarter, and the island of Burano (brightly painted little houses, 'granny' underwear on the washing line in a little park, wine and fresh fish in a little restaurant), and discovering an Italian 'fast food' restaurant in Mestre – Bis (does not resemble an English fast food establishment!).

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

This month we had the annual member's slides show. We were treated to eight mini talks from club members, covering three continents. I have described them below in a geographical order and not the actual sequence in which they were presented.

We will start with the Americas. The Seattle suburb of Freemont took us on a tour of the strange public art on display there. This ranged from a wall decorated with gunshot to a gigantic troll who “lives” underneath a bridge. We then moved down into Mexico for a look at the less touristy areas west and north of Mexico City, taking in Guadalajara and Oaxaca. Cuzco in Peru was our last port of call in the Americas, we saw weavers in traditional garb and a saline river that helps the local people to a living.

Across the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Senegal. We saw some excellent slides of this remote set of islands and its stark landscapes. Into southern Europe we stopped off at the Spanish City of Barcelona, to see some exciting pictures of a festival that included devils and fire breathing dragons as well as giants and human pyramids. Across the channel via Paris we saw some of Britain and France's architecture.  We saw London's Millennium wobbly bridge, the glass pyramid of Paris' Louvre and the pyramid in Bedford!

In Asia we called in at Rajastan in India, from the Far West City of Jaisalmeer, with its spectacular hill top fortress and it's camels, then across to Udaipur on Lake Pichola, where we saw the washing ghats and the Lake Palace Hotel. Our final stop is in Cambodia at Siem Reap. We saw some of the spectacular temples at Angkor Wat, before seeing some of the local villages, which are accessible only by boat.

Thank you to all the members who spoke to us.

There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday 7^th September when Marion Bull will be talking about her recent travels, “Travelling with the Tuareg” in the Southern Algerian Sahara and rock paintings of the Tassili N'Ajjer.  Julian Webster will be sharing his thoughts and slides: “India – a Kaleidoscope of Memories, Moments and Surprises.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month.

For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk