A return to Italy after 24 years

This year I returned to Italy, landing in Rome, then travelling to Naples, a stay in a small village 20 minutes outside of Sorrento and then to Sicily, based in Palermo and Taormina.

It's easy to fall in love with this country. Its history and invaders (Hail, Caesar!) art (da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli), UNESCO world heritage sites, precarious hillside towns, volcanoes, and the delicious food. Oh my God, the food! A breakfast cannoli with pistachio cream; or Sicilian street food lunch, the triplo (potato croquette, fried aubergine and chickpea fritter served on a bread roll, a true carb-fest); and dinner of fresh tomato pasta cooked al dente or crusty pizza with mozzarella and salty anchovies. I also love the self-catering antipasto plate dinner option of fresh mozzarella, grilled zucchini, Parma ham, sun-ripened tomatoes, olives, local cheese and crusty bread. Yummy.

I last visited Italy in 2000 when backpacking. Then I had very loose plans, with periods of intense sightseeing followed by restful days in the sunny, warm Italian countryside cycling through fields of sunflowers or lazing by the beach on a 5 euro per day sun lounger. When I was younger it took a few trips to work out my travelling preferences. I don't love crowds or the schedules of organised tour groups (not on my own there!). I am okay with finding my 'top 5' of sightseeing preferences and that may be different from the 'top 5' in a guidebook.

While my recent travels certainly had firmer timelines, they followed a similar pattern. Busy days of sightseeing followed by more restful days strolling and soaking up the atmosphere, and enjoying lots of good food. I travelled with a friend who was happy for me to head off on my own when my 'top 5' sightseeing didn't necessarily tick any boxes for her - fair, and some of which I regretted part way through like scaling hundreds of steps to see the sunrise at Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples.

I made some notes for myself for future travels. Any tips others would like to pass along are always welcome!

Pack your suitcase, then remove at least one-third of what you packed

Getting around with my 15 kg mid-sized suitcase was a pain (okay if I'm honest it was 17kg and soon became 20kg as I became obsessed with buying Italian linen), it was even more painful to realise that I really didn’t need around a third of what I packed. It's basic human nature to overpack, to think you need that extra pair of shoes, jacket or a hair straightener. For my next travels I will make a big effort to pack less!

Don’t put it off!

As I was climbing steep, stone stairs to the Cathedral in Amalfi, I noticed the woman beside me. She was red-faced and breathing heavily, like me. She looked at me and gave a half-laugh half-groan and said ‘my knees are killing me’. Walking around beautiful, ancient cities and sites is awe-inspiring and let’s face it, incredibly tiring.

I need to stop putting off travel thinking that I will do it later, when the kids are older, when our finances are better, when I have more time... It doesn't have to be a grand European tour instead day trips or weekends away that I have always wanted to do. My recent travels were a reminder to take these opportunities now, when I can, while I am relatively fit and able because we don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Be organised

One of the biggest changes I noted, which should not have come as such a surprise, was how the internet and booking online has changed the tourist experience. In 2000, I would wake up early on mornings I wanted to visit a museum or key attraction and get in the queue. I don’t recall being able to pre-book and or pay for a tour that allowed me to jump the queue - or perhaps I was just a broke backpacker and not looking.

Italy is an incredibly popular destination with around 60 million international visitors each year. This means that for some attractions you need to book months ahead - this goes for restaurants with great reputations and awarded menus.

Fortunately for me, my travel companion was organised. She had pre-booked some tours, great restaurants and her Airbnb finds were first class. Put simply my early noughties laissez-faire approach to sightseeing just does not work for popular destinations. I need to remember to be organised and not leave things to the last minute.

Read a book set in the city or country you are visiting

When travelling I always like to read books set in the city or country I am visiting. I read Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, while cruising on the Nile and E.M. Forster's A Room with a View when in Florence. It's such a great way to immerse yourself. I was so laid-back planning for this trip - I only had me to plan for and not the usual situation of me, my husband and three kids - that I only remembered about books at the airport. Fortunately I had a Kindle and with some quick online searches found some great reads. For Italy, I particularly love Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome and Sarah Winman's Still Life.

Be prepared for crowds

We had booked a 'skip the queue' guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. While we were meant to be part of a tour group in reality as we approached the Sistine Chapel we were carried along by the momentum of the crowd. As we entered the Sistine Chapel we were equally jostled, shouted at by guards to move this way or that (or be silent), and I had to chuckle at the teenager next to me completely oblivious to it all playing Roblox on her mobile phone. So much for truly appreciating the great work of Michelangelo! It reminded me of the words of author Anne Enright I was ‘communing with greatness in the midst of a rabble – Get out of my way! (Anne Enright, 'The Wren, The Wren').

I am not a big fan of crowds. I appreciate that experiences like the one above are necessary if you want to see something so important but it's not an experience I would highly rate.

Like most people, I find it's best to 'mix it up', tackle the crowds and see the busy, popular sites for a few days, and then get off the beaten track to recover.

One taxi driver had good advice, saying that for towns that are popular day tripping locations consider staying overnight. That way you can siesta in your hotel at the busy tourist times, and head out in the evening to get a quieter and more local experience, when all the day trippers have departed.