A colleague recently commented that if the weather in this country could be guaranteed to be hot and sunny, as it has been recently, there would be no need to go abroad.
Au contraire, mon ami. Irrespective of the weather we would still be looking to go abroad and it isn't (for me and my family) just for the weather. Of course the sun and good weather is appealing for anyone living in a country whose skies are generally 50 shades of grey, but surely that misses the point of what else you get from being abroad.
Experiencing other cultures, climates, customs and cuisine does broaden the mind; you see life from other perspectives (that of being the foreigner, for one) and by definition you really are away from 'it all' whatever that means to people if you are not surrounded by familiarity.
This year we're heading to the shores of Lake Geneva and having just checked Météo France's website the local temperature is going to be up in the early-mid 30s. There will be some storms, as we have experienced at other French lakes, especially as the site is over 300 metres above sea level and the surrounding mountains of the Haute-Savoie region (rising up to the heights of Mont Blanc (5,600m) the highest mountain range in Western Europe) provide the perfect geography for thunder storms (albeit, short-lived).
At the time of writing, and looking forward to being away, the heavens have opened and there's a thunder storm raging; no idea if and when the sun will re-appear but there are certainly no doubts in this household about heading across la Manche this year.
Bon voyage.
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