Hamish

Good – Having ice cream 

Bad – Walking…I just don’t like walking

Standout – I like a picnic breakfast (nothing special here, just a variety of food on the table for breakfast: yoghurt, fruit, breads, jam – help yourself)

Jess 

Good – Very little jet-lag, pasta, pizza, ice-cream, chocolate, scenery is amazing, nice house and backyard, Paestum and Pompeii.

Bad – Flight long and boring, nothing to do, uncomfortable, confined to your seat, can’t go anywhere, can’t sleep. Not getting the car straight away at the airport. The internet – unreliable (something that I love so much has hurt me so bad, it’s not always there for me like it is back home). Humidity of Pompeii.

Standout – Just being in Italy, so happy to be here

Rod

Good – friendly locals, village of Campagna and all its mysteries, the scenery both in Campagna and on the coast, the ruins, the food.

Bad – the traffic, poor excuses for streets, feeling totally lost twice, sleep deprivation

Standout – the village of Campagna

Belinda

Good – arriving safely in Italy, not flying over Iraq, Syria and Turkey (as the Emirates flight path had suggested – we flew over Saudi Arabia and Egypt instead), cheap and delicious pizza, cheap wine, walking into the village to buy a few things (zucchini, grapes, bread, ham, cheese, wine), Paestum and Pompeii. Rod has done a great job driving under very stressful conditions.

Bad – Not being able to buy water at Rome airport: credit card wouldn’t work in the machine, only had 20 Euro for the vending machine (machine only took 10 Euro and less), everyone exhausted and thirsty, trying to sort out the car issue – it was a nightmare.

Standout – the cry of ‘internet, internet’ when the WiFi kicks in. Rod, Jess and I grab devices and go crazy until it cuts out again. It’s really very funny – didn’t realise how reliant we were on the internet. Try going without it for a few days – all our organisation for the trip, keeping in touch with family and friends, so many things need the internet. First thing in the morning when we hear notifications, Hamish will yell out “Jess, internet.”