Your questions: How should I spend 10 days in this Pacific paradise?
Singapore Airlines has daily non-stop flights from Singapore to Milan. Flight time is 13 hours and the overnight flight arrives in Milan at 6.30am.
What you're asking for is an extremely large villa with perhaps seven bedrooms and that's going to limit your choice. There are several websites where you can search for the accommodation you're looking for, including The Plum Guide, Oliver's Travels, Interhome and Airbnb. Villas usually rent by the week, typically Saturday to Saturday. Look for somewhere with a pool and you're going to need air-conditioning. You'll be in the countryside but preferably not too far from a town. You'll need to do your own catering but shopping in local villages and markets is one of the joys of rural Italy.
You will probably want to explore the surroundings and possibly the lakes as well and therefore you're going to need a couple of hired vehicles at the very least. If this appeals, don't leave it too long, villas book up quickly. Either the Lombardy region, which includes Milan and Lake Como, or Piedmont, its western neighbour, would fit the bill. Piedmont is more rugged and mountainous, and also slightly less busy in August, and that would be my choice.
In September, we're planning a 12-day stay in Greece before a cruise, spending time in Thessaloniki followed by Mount Olympus, Meteora, Delphi and finally Athens by train. Any suggestions for an itinerary and stay options in Athens?
M. Howland, Concord NSW
Arrive in Thessaloniki and spend the first day exploring the city centre, the waterfront promenade and the Ladadika district, the Rotunda, White Tower and the Archaeological Museum. The following day, take a walk around the Old Town of Thessaloniki, also known as Ano Poli, and enjoy panoramic views. Visit some of the city's Byzantine churches and explore the Kapani and Modiano markets.
The next day take a train to Litochoro, at the base of Mount Olympus and over the following day you might hike part of the E4 trail or else take a guided tour to explore the Mountain of the Olympian Gods. The E4 goes as far as Prionia, in Mount Olympus National Park, but it's a tough slog.
The following day take a train to Kalabaka in the foothills of Meteora, take a stroll beneath the cliffs and over the next couple of days visit some of the monasteries, and Varlaam, Great Meteoron and Roussanou are the standouts. Take a train to Delphi, visit the ancient sanctuary, the Temple of Apollo, the stadium, the Delphi Museum and the nearby village of Arachova, then take another train to Athens. Recommended hotels in the capital include the Perianth Hotel, Monsieur Didot and the Foundry Suites.
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A third of the passengers have to sit in the middle, so why not me? On the first leg of the four flights, I found myself in the middle of a party of 100 students from Japan going home from a school trip. They were all dressed in uniform (white shirts, ties and blue jackets for the boys, blue skirts for the girls). And there was me, in row 66, in the middle of this sea of them. And what a refreshing experience. What a polite, well-organised, sensitive and well-supervised group. Those sitting next to me didn't speak English, but we exchanged polite greetings through the translation app on our phones. + The nice thing about the Singapore Airlines flight is that I'm not the only one wearing a mask. Yes, I'm still wearing a mask in planes. + Just a little tip: the earphones on the first flight can, of course, be used on the following flights. So I roll mine up, slip them back in their little resealable bag, and take them with me. I do like the electric buggies in Singapore's Changi Airport which carry the less mobile to their gates. They have a flashing light on top, play a cheery tune and (rather than a beeping horn), and have a recording of someone politely saying: 'Excuse me. (Pause) Thank you.' Others (with different, jaunty music) announce: 'Vehicle approaching. Please give way.' It's midnight at Changi and the shops are shutting. Travellers are looking for places to perch. The place is slowing down. And I settle down, too, on a seat opposite Chow Tai Fook and Victoria's Secret, to wait for my flight, which boards at 1.35am. I am in transit, and that gives me time to think . . . . . . I'm in transit, in every sense. Physically, I'm just at the waypoint, waiting for a flight. I'm precariously on the one stepping stone between home and away. I have my passport and boarding pass close to hand. But I'm in transit internally, too. Emotionally. Spiritually. I'm on the way to India, to a place known, and (unusually for my journeys to India) I do not have a group of readers with me. I am not responsible for anyone or anything except myself, my wellbeing, and the stories I will write for you. I will write 2000 words a day. I will file and caption every picture I take, every day. I will be awake, seeking, absorbing, processing, reacting and writing for 18 hours a day. And that feels, frankly, gorgeous and self-indulgent. All I ever wanted to do was to be a writer and work hard. And here I am, heading for a place that's comfortable for me, doing it. But for now, I'm in transit. In transit: the action of passing through or across a place. The passage of a celestial body, in astronomy and astrology (both of which are alive and busy in everyday life in modern India). Perhaps we are one person at home and a slightly different person when we are away. That is one of the attractions of travel. We are cut loose and liberated. We are freed. We miss home and family (we long for home and family), but we are footloose and there's a lightness to that if we just embrace it. My carry-on bag is heavier than when I left home. I believe in the serendipity of airport bookshops, which leads me to WHSmith at Perth Airport. And there on the shelf is William Dalrymple's latest, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed The World, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. It is, I know, the book for this trip. I had an unpleasant experience with Mr Dalrymple and Perth's writers festival some years back, and haven't read his books since. So it's a big moment when I tap my phone and pay the $39.99 for his book. I have moved on. I am the better off for it (and so, in this case, is Mr Dalrymple). (A reminder of the advice once given to me that the only thing left after they cremate a human body is the grudges.) PS The book is excellent and I do recommend it to readers interested in India, and how it has very much had a hand in shaping today's world. I read The Times Of India online several times every week (as I do French, German, British and other online newspapers). A lot of stories are insightful from a different perspective, which I find healthy and refreshing. Some stories show the pattern of the world in a different way ('Russia says India to get remaining S-400 systems by 2026'). I am engaged by its local news (''Wait, is my matar paneer safe?' Inside the Indian cottage cheese controversy'). I remain rather enchanted by some of its quirks. It has a whole astrology section ('The most loyal zodiac signs: who stands by you no matter what'). And so, as you see, with time to pause comes time to reflect, absorb and expand. And that is one of the treats of travel.
