Oh, The Places I'll Go (I Hope)

I only really started travelling last year. I have anxiety about only a few things, but those things include: missing transport, getting lost, and big events. That pretty much sums up going on holiday. But at the end of 2014, I realised that I really wanted to focus on experiences, rather than things. Materialism wasn't making me all that happy, so I made a conscious effort to move into experience-driven purchasing, and a big part of this is holidays.

My boyfriend and I started small: a long weekend in Edinburgh. You get a train there, it takes 3 hours (from Manchester) you don't need a passport, no language barrier, your 3G works. We moved onto Paris in June last year: another train, this one actually shorter but with security and passports required. We caved and bought internet for Googlemaps after some navigating woes. I realised I really like going away. Since then, my boyfriend and I have been to Athens, I've been back to Paris with a friend and last month I went to visit a friend in Stockholm. My boyfriend and I have a trip to Berlin booked for October.

There are so many places I want to go, things I want to see. Here are some of them.

ROME

The reason Athens was our second holiday is that my boyfriend and I both love ancient history and myths. Going to see the Parthenon was a life goal for both of us and a really profound moment. So top of our travel list is Rome: all those ancient ruins, beautiful churches and buildings. Perfetto.

image source

BUDAPEST

They have a whole museum dedicated to Paprika, a beautiful cemetery and a park full of Communist statues. Plus, thermal baths. Budapest is definitely somewhere I want to go.

image source

JERUSALEM

My obsession with the ancient extends to Jerusalem, one of the oldest cities in the world. Also one of the holiest, and while neither my boyfriend nor I are religious, we're pretty obsessed with religious sites, buildings, atmosphere and Jerusalem certainly has plenty of all.  A friend recommended that I also visit Tel-Aviv, so it'd be great to combine them both!

image source

LISBON

Oldest. Bookshop. In. The. World. Nuff said, really. 

image source

NEW YORK

I'm a city girl and New York is the ultimate city. There's just so much I want to do/see here that I can't even begin to list things.

image source

COPENHAGEN

As you may have seen, I went to Stockholm recently and had a great time, so I'd love to experience more Scandinavian cities. Copenhagen is next on my Scandi list!

 image source

ST PETERSBURG

I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with Russian history, especially the Romanov era. Why St Petersburg? 2 words: Winter Palace 

image source

GIZA

My ancient fascination doesn't quite spread to the Egyptians, but who doesn't want to see the pyramids at least once in their lifetime?

image source

BRUGES

This one is mainly for my boyfriend, who is obsessed with going. However I did recently discover you can get a boat there from Hull and have a little mini cruise and I really like the idea of that.

image source

MARRAKECH

Marrakech has always seemed really exotic to me...I love the idea of wandering around the souks, drinking sweet Moroccan mint tea, visiting a Hammam, taking an excursion to the Atlas mountains. Bliss.

image source

Are any of these places on your travel wishlist>