Coast of Sicily
© Bev and Richard Martin

Life in Manchester has been cold and wet for most of the past few months and I've grown quite tired of it. So I've been planning to get away and spend a couple of weeks on the road.

Sicily is nice this time of year. The food is great. The beaches are warm and sunny. And while there are other tourists, it's easy to get away from the tourism crowd and either just be alone of just mingle with the local people.

Travel in Europe is usually at least a little cheaper if you're part of a group of some kind. Even if you can't get a discount, you can share some of the expenses involved in a vacation. The problem was that none of my mates wanted to make the trip. So I put up a few cheap flyers around my part of Manchester.

I was surprised at the response. I got 17 emails from people interested in the trip. I narrowed it down to three other people and met first with a university student named Philip. Major coup: he speaks Italian.

I was surprised to get responses from women who were interested in traveling with me. Philip and I met with two girls who sent me an email – roommates who work in the same office. So now the four of us are headed to Sicily next week.

Who knew that something as simple as flyer printing could make life so interesting…