In my 20s, my idea of a fun holiday was taking off to Bali or Thailand with girlfriends, packing our cutest bikinis and summer frocks, renting a moped and burning around to the coolest beaches and the hottest parties. Now in my 30s, I recently decided to take a trip to Italy with my Mum and can honestly say it was the best holiday I’ve ever had. Oh how times have changed!

We left on a mission to get our carb on. Did you know there are 200 different types of pasta in Italy? Sadly, we only managed to sample about 50 per cent, worried that the extra kilos might count as oversized baggage at the airport.

Rome was our first port of call, and there wasn’t an inch of the historic city that we overlooked. The weather was perfect, the men were overly attentive (it was fun in the beginning) and Mum and I bonded like never before.

We caught the train down to Naples and ferried out to Positano, bought terrible floaty dresses that suited the time and place (what were we thinking?), drank limoncello like it was going out of fashion and made the most of the stunning coastline. I even got Mum out to Music on the Rocks, the small town’s one and only nightclub.

We drank homemade wine with the locals in Capri (it tasted much better after a few glasses) before heading back inland to Florence. But by far the most interesting ‘bonding experience’ was driving through Tuscany with no GPS. Oh boy. Trying times with the tiny, windy, unmarked roads, but we got there in the end.

After several days of getting thoroughly lost, we arrived in Cinque Terre. It was like we’d died and gone to heaven – one of the most picturesque places in the world! We thought we’d wing it with the accommodation, and, after knocking on several doors, managed to find a room with a little old lady who didn’t speak a word of English.

Our last stop was Lake Como – such a vast change of scenery, but equally as beautiful. Our B&B came with a resident cat and a couple of jars of homemade pesto, and one of our best nights was spent cooking pasta, cracking a bottle of Chianti and sitting with our rent-a-pet overlooking the heavenly lake that George Clooney calls home.

Turns out Mum was the best travel partner of all time, and we’re already planning out next trip together… perhaps somewhere tropical?