The travel bug bites again…

I haven't written in this blog for awhile, not because I haven't traveling, but because the travel has felt empty and somehow lame. A lot of things have seemed empty since I watched my brother draw his last desperate breaths.

But now I'm planning a trip to Europe and this has revitalized me as nothing else seems to do. There's an allure to overseas travel that's incomparable. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be the tingle on your tongue from champagne or the rush you get when you've first fallen in love.

This will be my fifth trip to Europe, and the place never gets dull. I'm repeating my travels of two years ago, when I flew into London and went to the Women's Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy. This time the trip will be longer, since I'm separated from my husband and feel no particular pull to return soon. Between London and Matera, which is in southern Italy, my auntie Roberta and I will visit Rome and Pompei.

Guess when I'm flying out? September 11^th. Yep, you read that right—September 11^th. I figure it's the safest travel day of the year.

The challenge this trip, as with the last one, will be packing for two extremely diverse climate zones. I'll be spending the majority of my time in Italy, so the majority of my clothes will be light. But evenings and England will require a jacket of some kind, something waterproof unless I buy a brolly or a hat.

Oh, and did I mention that I never bring more than carry-on luggage?

Any suggestions from the travel fanatics out there?