The first European capital city we visited was Athens which consisted of a (long) day trip from Skiathos on the 23rd June 1996. This was followed by a 4 day trip to Paris in October 2007 to watch the prix de l’arc de triomphe.

After many years of visiting Greek islands we ventured further a field in 2008 and took a package tour to Canada. This left us with a feeling that we wanted to get more out of our holidays. So the next year (2009) we took the brave step of leaving the package tour behind and making our own tailor made tour to Halifax, Quebec City and Toronto in Canada. This holiday made us realise that in most places you can easily make your way around and do your own thing. Another do it yourself tour of Canada in 2010 and we were ready to venture further a field.  We visited China in 2011 but decided that a solo tour to a vast country with a different was a step too far and so we opted for an escorted tour. This for me, Keith, was one country as a child that fascinated me probably because it was effectively closed and therefore mysterious but also because of its vast size and the famous sites including the great wall and terracotta army.

There are places that we always wanted to visit  and, after reading a book about Tallinn, we realised that this was one of the those places. When we first looked flights were expensive and not direct so this was put on the back burner until Heather uttered those immortal words “You can fly direct to Tallinn from Liverpool cheaply”. After some swift internet action the deed was done and Tallinn was booked in August 2011 and we were ready to go. This felt like a big step visiting a former communist state. Would people understand English, would there be any vegetarian food. At this stage the idea of visiting every European Capital was still miles away from our thoughts.

The next great short break opportunity occurred with the Queens Golden Jubilee, two days off work and where can we go. If we stay in the UK accommodation is expensive and limited so we looked further a field and ended up in Vilnius in Lithuania in June 2012.

The same year we decided for my 50th to visit Australia which was my treat. I let Heather decide where she wanted to go for her 40th birthday and, as she likes old relics, we visited Italy starting in Verona and then going to Rome. This was when we thought short city breaks were great for us and when we decided on this amazing challenge.

The capital cities that we have visited were all different, Athens and Rome are ancient, Tallinn is medieval, and Paris and Vilnius are much newer.

The challenge has meant that there are places that we would never in a million years have thought about visiting. There are places that few tourists would (dare to or) never go to Chisinau (Moldova) and Minsk (Belarus). The former has probably in our opinion the best wine in the world.

Sometimes you need to move out of your comfort zone to get the best travel experiences, at least when we get old we will have the most amazing memories.