This trip was a reworking of travel we’d planned for 2020, but we all know how that year went… Anyway, my partner and I, along with 11 friends and 3,200 other gays spent ten days eating, drinking, relaxing, being entertained, partying, and exploring the Mediterranean on a gay cruise. It was full on, and we had the best time.

The two of us followed up the cruise with two nights in the stunningly unique Venice, then two weeks in and around the fabulous beast that is London. We caught up with friends and family, joined a bonfire festival, went on a winery tour, and revisited some of our favourite restaurants, parks, walks, pubs, clubs, museums, and galleries.

We also soaked up some stunning live musicals, plays, and opera. With such an amazing cast, songs, choreography, staging, and all the rest, Cabaret might very well be my new favourite musical. And I can see how Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is the longest running play in the world – currently in its 70th year, it opened the same year the late Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne. We caught performance number 29,292, and it felt as fresh and relevant as ever.

I’m still catching up with my travel posts on Instagram (@gbralph_), but if there’s anything in particular you’d like to hear about, just let me know!