Holiday Hell-o
Today Italy was placed under nationwide restrictions for the entire Christmas period. With a trip to Australia out of the question, hopes of a visit to family in the UK dwindling, and Christmas with friends near Milan dashed, a few weeks ago we booked ourselves in for a little family getaway here in Sardinia.
Yesterday, we set out for the other end of the island, with our hire car packed to the brim and two kids wedged in the back. Having heard about the beautiful mountain scenery that runs through the centre of the island, we opted to take the scenic route from Cagliari in the south, up to Budoni in the north.
Unfortunately the winding country roads and steep switchbacks did not agree with Master Five, who is still yet to discover his sea legs, let alone get used to this unusual four-wheeled method of transport. And so, five screeching stops on the side of the road later and three episodes of mopping up sick from the back seat, we were half way to our destination and finally on the motorway.
With our sick crew member finally asleep and snow-capped mountains glinting in the distance we breathed a sigh of relief to finally be nearing our holiday getaway, at the exact moment a metal harpoon speared the rear tire and flattened it in under 30 seconds. Cue our sixth emergency stop to pull apart said packed car on the side of a busy highway in order to access the jack and change out the tire. We limped along on the emergency spare with hazzards flashing for the last 45 minutes to our rental villa. Relieved to have finally arrived, we stuck on the kettle and managed to blow all of the electrics before we had even poured the first glass of wine. Add in a near-broken finger and a very grumpy toddler, it certainly made for an eventful day. It seems that 2020 is still throwing punches!
But we are not deterred! We will spend the Christmas lockdown in our cosy little villa just the four of us, soaking up the winter sunshine and calling family and friends around the world. It’s not the Christmas we had planned, but we’re full of good cheer and grateful to be here!
