This is the story of Will and his two friends who sailed to England in 1967 to see the world. Aerogrammes. letters, diaries and postcards help to tell of their adventures in this A to Z.

Itchycoo Park      Small Faces. •  1967
Over bridge of sighs
To rest my eyes in shades of green
Under dreaming spires
To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been

c/- OVC,180 Earl’s Court Road,London SW5,England, 04/04/1968

Well things are pretty hectic here now as we move out of the flat in two days and have a big job cleaning it up, packing all luggage, finding alternative accommodation for five nights and then getting holiday travel arrangements settled. After exploring dozens of possibilities and spending about two hours at the travel agency the other day while phone calls were made for flights to Spain or Majorca etc all of which were booked out, I was beginning to think I'd end up in England for the Easter Hols. You just wouldn't believe the huge exodus of people to holiday South to the Sun from Britain and the package tours are surprisingly cheap hence the reason they were all booked out.

Cilla and I finally got a student concession flight to Milan, Italy on the first day of the hols and will spend about 16 days down there probably going to Venice for a bit of gondoliering and maybe on to Trieste and a few days down to Yugoslavia where there should be some sun. Can’t be any colder than here anyway because the two days of 70° temperatures we had disappeared and the temperature dropped to 30° when it snowed for two days. You just can’t even guess what the weather is going to be like in England. The flights cost £26 return and get back to London the day before school starts. I’m taking my shorts and togs and hope to have a dip in the Adriatic. Yugoslavia is supposed to be pretty also and though it’s Communist it’s not difficult to get a visa. The concession flight is almost half the scheduled flight price and flies over France and Switzerland in daylight hours so the view should be good. Cilla speaks good French and Italian and I know how to say “good morning”, “how are you?”, “good”, “beautiful”, “thank you” and also “do you speak English?” so I should get by OK. We’ll send you a postcard.

Appears as if Jeff, Phil and Bill will go to Ireland and northern Scotland where they haven’t been yet although they’re having trouble with last minute bookings too. My ribs still are not 100% and I’m out of rugby again this week but the X-rays said no fracture, probably chipped so will fix itself. The hospital I was at was Saint Marys and I saw the room where Fleming discovered penicillin. 

Trieste, Italy, Easter Sunday

Buon Giorno! Had a good flight by Viscount over the snow-covered Swiss Alps and now have found the sun. I’m sitting on the banks of the Adriatic Sea in the 70° afternoon sunshine. Left Venice this morning and travelled by Alfa Romeo (105 mph part of the way) down here, stopping for sightseeing on the way. Venice is MAGIC, everything they say it is. Cilla and I had a fascinating day going up and down the thousands of canals and many walkways of the islands. We found a Trattoria (cheap restaurant) and Osteria (cheap grog shop) where wine was 4 1/2d, that’s 10c Australian a glass so had an enjoyable evening. Saw Juliet’s house in Verona and the balcony under which Romeo made his speech. Tomorrow we reach Yugoslavia and maybe it will be warm enough to swim. Hope you had a Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter) Arrividerci, Will

c/- OVC,180 Earl’s Court Road,London SW5,England, 17/04/1968

Hope you got my card from Venice.  Since then have moved on further south and the sun is shining brightly (70F) Yugoslavia seems OK. Hitching progressing well. A Serbo Croat bought us the local drink, Sljivovica (plum brandy) and a fish meal and we are staying at a first class hotel in Zadar on the coast with a view from the front window of an ancient Roman forum and the Adriatic sea (It’s reasonably cheap) Yeevooli (Cheers)

c/- OVC,180 Earl’s Court Road,London SW5, England 01/05/1968

Hello.  Back in good ol’ London after a magic holiday.  Received your letter Jack, the day I got back and was good to hear all the “gin”.  I’ll write you as soon as I get organised again.  Well, where was I when I last wrote? Zadar, Yugoslavia?  Because we ended up going down the coast with an American middle-aged couple (typical rich Yanks) in their VW 1600 Estate car to a great little town called Dubrovnik on the coast.  A complete little walled town where we checked into a great hotel with Floyd and Marion (from LA) and had 1^stclass accommodation with waiter service and three good meals for £1/6/- a day each.  Wine was 2/8 a large bottle, and the sun shone warmly the whole four days we were there.

In fact, the weather was great the whole time – sunny and warm, mostly 70-80F except for two days of rain in North Italy.  Am now suntanned on the face and arms at least – makes everyone at school jealous.  We caught the ship across the Adriatic and landed in Italy at Bari then thumbed down to Naples, Sorrento and Pompeii (my second visit as Cilla hadn’t been there).  We got lifts with the usual ease.  There’s nothing an Italian won’t do for a girl.  So after two days we headed for Rome and spent two nights there and one very hectic day sight-seeing.  

Cilla’s fluent Italian came in handy when we ordered two gelatos at the mobile cart in this picture. After I ordered in English the man said to his assistant in Italian, “Charge them double, they’re tourists.” Cilla heard what they said and hit the roof. In Italian she spoke back to them, “You will not charge double, you will charge the regular price.” They dropped the price all of a sudden.

Cilla has spent a total of four weeks in Rome before so knew her way around very well including the cheap eating spots and we visited the Vatican – a tremendous church but we didn’t see the Pope. Of course we saw the Trevi Fountain and threw in the coin like a good tourist should do (value 2d), the Roman Forum, the Colosseum etc and stayed at the Old Olympic Village (1960 Games) in the accommodation once used by the competitors – it’s now a youth hostel.  

Throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain

We started running out of time after that so hitched 340 miles the next day (I’ve now ridden in every brand of Fiat ever produced). Passing through Firenze (Florence), Pisa, and spent another couple of days loafing in the sun around Genoa – Christopher Columbus’s home town.  

Then things started going wrong as Cilla had a couple of dresses and about £4 stolen while at the hostel and the weather turned cooler and rained but we had a few Cinzanos and Martinis to brighten up and got to Milan to catch the flight back.

It was there we were informed it had been cancelled and they had booked us on an all night 24 hr train journey back through Switzerland and France – timed date of arrival for 4pm Monday – the time school finishes for the first day back.  No scheduled alternative flights were available so we were stuck – had to cable school and apologise that two of their teachers wouldn’t be back in time.  

Of course, we got a good heckle back at school – the first thing the Deputy said was (very jokingly) “I don’t believe a word of it”.  The boss was quite understanding. Expect we’ll lose our day’s pay however as that’s the regulations for first day of term, but we’ll complain to the airline company, which might help.  

At present I’m back in class sitting in the Spring sunshine.  The kids are writing poetry.  All’s quiet and I’m writing this letter and drinking coffee at my table out the front.  What a life!  Still living in our bed and breakfast place which is very nice but not cheap so will have to get a flat (Phil and I) very shortly.  Phil leaves for a week in Devon with the kids tomorrow, all expenses paid.  I have some photos back (prints).  I’ll send on eventually as soon as things are back to normal.  The parks are full of tulips, daffodils and other bright flowers and the trees are all budding with green.

Australia to keep the Ashes and of course kill them at Wimbledon.

POSTCARD

This is the Coliseum in Rome.  I climbed right to the top and it’s a bloody long way up there.  The arena part in the middle had a floor and beneath were kept the animals (lions and tigers etc) which were used for feeding on Christians.  I’ll be sending in some newspaper clippings shortly of a letter to the editor re our school and a picture of the Viscount we flew to Italy in (in pieces).

Good to be back in London again and any day now the weather must improve.