This week I’ve absolutely loved looking back over old photos and reminiscing about all the lovely places I’ve been fortunate to have visited over the years.
It turns out I’ve been tagged by the lovely Sarah of Extraordinary Chaos to write down the top five places I’d like to travel to or visit.
Ok – so which bright spark said to whittle it down to only five then?!
How on earth am I meant to choose such a measly amount when the world is so vast and there are still so many beautiful and interesting places for me to go and see!
Travel really is such a wonderful thing isn’t it.
Whether you visit far flung places dotted all around the globe, or just hop a short distance to somewhere a little more local in your own country, it’s all one big adventure.
It opens our eyes up to experience other cultures, religions and beliefs; to learn of a places heritage, to travel back in time and visit centuries old ruins or to climb to the 10,000th step of the tallest and most modern and advanced architectural building in the world, to watch and study different animals in their native habitats, or to gaze in awe at the natural geographical wonders of the world.
Plus, aside from all the learning – it’s so damn fun and exciting!
There really is somewhere out there for everyone don’t you think?
Especially in this day and age where everywhere is so accessible too! Hooray!
Having a yearly break or holiday is just so important to my family and I. Holidaying and seeing the world, is most certainly one of the reasons I go to work every day – to enable us to save up our pennies and visit as many places as we possibly can, just to spend time somewhere other than home to break up the norm a little bit.
It’s my break, my downtime, my reward to myself and to my children.
And it’s so wonderful sometimes to be able to share these experiences with family and friends too, and to introduce little ones to the wondrous big wide world out there.
There’s just so many options out there… city breaks, beach holidays, ski resorts, sports & activity breaks, camping holidays, safaris and wildlife holidays, sailing holidays etc the list is endless as to what you can do
My husband and I have both been really quite lucky in our lives, both as children with our parents on family holidays; on our own with each other as a couple; and now as a family of four with our two little ones.
And as such we’ve had the opportunity to stay in some really rather wonderful places already.
As a child I remember our camping trips in Devon, The New Forest, the South of France and in Spain, and the good old package holidays to the Balearics and the Canary Islands.
And, since meeting on the beautiful island of Kefalonia, Greece back in 2002, and then working together in Bodrum, Turkey for a few years after that, we’ve since had the pleasure of holidaying in other lovely places too.
Between us, some of the places I can list are:
Mexico, Iceland, Maldives, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Antigua, Thailand, Tunisia, British Virgin Islands, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Canary Islands, Malta, Morocco, Andorra
But, from my own experience, the most incredible and memorable of these were:
Our Honeymoon to The Maldives
South Africa with a Luxury Safari
Bare-boating around the BVI’s
Backpacking around Thailand with a group of friends
My first ski trip to Zermatt in Switzerland
Our first holiday as a family to Cornwall
I also believe it’s so important to visit places nearer to home though too, and one of my favorite ever holidays was in Cornwall after we’d just had Holly. It is etched in my memory for life as we had such a lovely time. There are still a great many places in the UK I’ve not been too which I would love to visit one day.
So anyway, back to the purpose of this where I have to choose just five places I’d love to go. So, after racking my brain, I think these are probably the ones which most spring to my mind ……
My Top Five (if I really HAVE to choose!)
Bora Bora
it just looks stunning! The azure blue waters, the lush green foliage and the idyllic little archipelagos. I did want to have our honeymoon here but it just worked out to expensive, so will always be a place I woud still like to tick off
Costa Rica
Or in fact anywhere with deep and lush jungle vegetation, flora and fauna. Although I’m a bit of a nightmare, and would probably ju,p a mile if I came face to face with some of the creatures and critters, the natural world fascinates me and I’ve always been interested int it. So, though this would be somes idea of a nightmare, I would absolutely love to trek though a jungle and see brightly coloured birds flying above me. In particularly wild macaws. (I’d also love to see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and the Orangutangs of Borneo, wild wolves in and bears in Canada – but hey – I can’t fit them on this post!)
Australia
Mikey has already been to Australia, but the rest of us haven’t and want to go too! We have family over there so it would just be wonderful to visit them one day. To be honest though, if we were travelling this distance with the girls, I think I would need about a month or more to really see all I needed to see, as it just seems to have so much to offer. And I suppose while you’re there, you may as well pop over to New Zealand while you’re at it!
Disneyland
This one would mainly be for the girls, but who doesn’t love a bit of Disney!! It’s just so magical and seems like such a happy place. It’s something we’ve already discussed as a holiday option, but for perhaps in about five years time, as if we’re going to go, we need to save A LOT of pennies, and do it well. It all looks fabulous, but SO expensive! I particularly love the look of the African Reserve on site hotel, but again, this seems to be the most expensive!
Kefalonia
As I mentioned above, this is where Mikey and I met all those many years ago (read here). The actual resort we worked in doesn’t exist anymore, but one of my wishes is to return to the beautiful island as a family and show our girls where the story started for mummy and daddy.
Now for a little bit of a cheating, which is why its small…… I’d also love to go on an African safari in one of the main national parks, to Portugal, back to the Maldives, Santorini, Hawaii, Italy, Borneo, Bali, Canada, and lots of lovely city breaks.
To be honest – I think it would be best if I won the lottery, bought a massive yacht and just sailed around the world!
Who’s coming with me???
Five favourite places I’ve been to: Sydney, Rome, San Francisco, Vancouver/British Columbia/Canadian Rockies, China.
Five places at the top of my to-do list: Uluru/Alice Springs, Peru, Monument Valley, see the Northern Lights, Hawaii.
Oh Steph, your photos are gorgeous. Those places look and sound stunning. I’m so rubbish, I’ve never travelled. I went to the Caribbean fit a holiday once but I’ve never been any further. I do regret not travelling but I went straight to uni and straight into teaching. No chance now with children! Maybe when they are older and left home, hey? (Ah that thought makes me want to cry!!) xx
I love travelling and I love the photos from your holidays! I don’t think I could choose 5, there’s way too many. I’d love to drive across the US, go whale watching in Greenland, visit Iceland, travel around South America and New Zealand, etc etc. my list could go on and on. If you do win that lottery I’ll definitely come with you 🙂 x #ThisWeekIveLoved
Wow your so lucky to have visited all those places! Iceland is top of my list I want to check out the northern lights and go whale watching as well as the natural mud spa place. We’re booked to do the Giants Causeway in Ireland next year another one off my bucket list I can’t wait. Thanks for sharing #thisweekiveloved
wow steph you have already visited such amazing places I would love to go to the Maldives its so beautiful. Great list xx