Y es, I gave in to the trend. As much as possible I can afford, I am now buying products that are certified eco-friendly, organic, sustainable, fair trade, you name it. What can I say? I have a soft spot for labels doing green marketing.

In the summer 2010 I went to Italy for my birthday sojourn, a tradition I’ve started when I moved to the Netherlands. Wanting to escape crowded Venice, I stayed at Lido Island, about 15 minutes away by vaporetto (water bus). Much as I wanted to stay at the Grand Hotel de Bains, the famous setting of Death in Venice, my budget settled me instead in a rather dingy hotel called Vime Byron, located few meters away from the beach.