From Paris to Rome, inhaling as you go

How do we decide between the most loved, well-known destinations or attractions and discovering our own in France and Italy when we have only one week in each country next April? This is the first time my husband and I have travelled overseas. We'll be driving with another couple. Our loose plan is Paris, Avignon, Florence, Rome and Britain. What shouldn't we miss? We want to live it, not just look at it.

- J. King, Gloucester, NSW.

Because this is your first time overseas, pretty much everything you see, taste, smell and hear in your Franco-Italian jaunt will be a revelation. From the first cornetto at breakfast time until you stagger back along the cobblestones to your hotel late at night, you will hardly experience a mundane moment.

It doesn't matter too much that you're travelling a path already well trodden when Julius Caesar marched through with his armies - and a week in each country will not allow you to do much more than graze the surface. This is not a problem. Install yourself at a cafe on the Ile St-Louis in Paris; roll down the windows and inhale when you drive through the lavender fields of Provence; and touch the stones that were once washed with the blood of gladiators in the Colosseum.

A rich feast of sensations awaits. Sit yourselves down and tuck in. What shouldn't you miss? Home.