Tracy and I sat on the deck of our Mosman home on a warm early summer evening in 2022, with a glass of Pinot Grigio in hand and the city skyline laid out across the horizon, discussing our senior gap year plans.

Sometimes the routes we take to get to places when we travel seem counter-intuitive, at least they do to me. The first long haul flight of our senior gap year adventures was a good example. 

For our first Northern Hemisphere summer, we planned a European road trip, what we called our ‘Tour de Europe’. 

After the Swiss Alps, just past Lugano, we entered Italy.

A sin of omission is not doing something that you should have. What we experienced was a sin of omission of epic proportions.

We mapped our route to Paris, picking out famous wine regions to break up the journey. At Chablis, we booked a private e-bike tour.

A francophile all her life, Elaine was the outward bound type of traveller, loving nothing more than exploring the countryside on foot, or bicycle. No longer being in the position to do so, we thought it was about time she visited Paris, and arranged to meet her there for her 80th birthday.

Producers wanting to cash in on the group’s ongoing popularity hounded the real Abba band members for years, wanting to organise a world tour, but they refused. Some very smart people then developed a new technology and pitched the idea of a lifelike virtual concert that would eliminate the band’s need to tour.