Malcolm and Brenda arranged this holiday through a travel agent to stay in Cattolica, Italy, travelling by train. Having crossed to France by ferry, the onward journey was by charter train that was a 24 hour overnight trip routed via Switzerland. The train journey was made interesting by the lady in our compartment who was travelling with her children. She insisted on cooking food on a small Primus stove on the floor which, to Malcolm's mind was dangerous, and he said as much to her. However, she was a determined individual and persisted.

Having arrived at the station in Cattolica, they were taken to their hotel which was pleasant enough and they had a large room. Much of the time Malcolm and Brenda stayed in town or on the beach. In the evenings they would go to a bar and sit out to watch the world go by. One evening, a couple of strangers came up dressed as priests and posed behind the couple for a photograph. Another day they hired bicycles and explored more widely. There were organised trips which Malcolm and Brenda joined, visiting Florence, San Marino and Venice. The trip to Venice was not as interesting as it could have been as there was a public holiday and many of the places of interest were closed. However, part of the trip included a visit to a glassworks where they bought a nice set of trifle dishes with silver bands around the lip.

Towards the end of their holiday, Malcolm and Brenda took a trip along the coast on a local bus. During their visit they were very hot so they each had an ice cream. Unfortunately, that gave Brenda a chill on her stomach and she suffered from enteritis and had to take to bed. Malcolm was obliged to call a doctor who prescribed an injection which Malcolm was expected to administer. Neither he nor Brenda liked the idea so they sought a more practical remedy from the pharmacist. The upshot was that they were not able to travel home as scheduled and stayed another week.

The trip home needed a bit of organisation and negotiation with the travel representative. In the end, the rep gave up his compartment on the train enabling Malcolm and Brenda to travel in comfort. Malcolm had some explaining to do to his employers but, as for the additional expense, they were able claim from their insurance company.