Winter is the time to update the travel bucket list

It’s amazing how much a travel bucket list can change, even since I started writing this blog!  Granted I have checked off a few places that had been on the hit-list for a while (Greece, Sardinia, the Giants Causeway), but the list changes depending on what we see and enjoy from our travels, and what we learn about new places others have visited.  Being part of the travel blogging community is very effectively introducing me to many, many more places that I’m now desperate to visit!  But as someone said, travel is the only thing you can spend money on that makes you richer…  And this is the time of the year when I start thinking about just that!  So, without further ado, this is how the Parker wish-list currently stands…

Greece – I hadn’t been to Greece until October this year, and then when I was researching what to see during our visit I stumbled across Meteora and it looks quite incredible, but it was too far from our location on our Autumn visit to allow a day trip. Since we have got back I think it is fair to say that a love affair with the country has begun, I think we were lucky to be off the beaten track away from other tourists, but from the little bit of research I have done there is plenty more to see, beyond just Meteora! Meis Island is another place I have stumbled across that looks quite incredible and Travel with Kat is doing a good job at making me realise there is more to Santorini than Oia! Thirassia really appeals. Then there is Lake Vougliameni that looks like another slice of heaven! The list goes on!

Gozo – quite a few of my trips and ideas are based on photos I have seen in Original Travel’s The Big Short Break and Gozo is no exception.  Another short flight from home across to Malta and then I assume a boat ride.  The colours have sold it to me, and as with Greece, visiting somewhere a little bit more difficult to get to than the obvious definitely appeals for picture perfect beauty and a lot less people to share it with!

California – this has long been on the list, and we will need at least a few weeks to visit San Francisco, Yosemite, Sonoma and Napa, the Grand Canyon, my cousins wine bar in Sacramento (visit House of Oliver if you are in town), and drive the pacific coast highway in a convertible.  That’s just what I want to do without actually have done any research!  Mr P has been to San Fran countless times with work and has sold it to me, both the city and the rest of the area.

Patagonia – I’m not quite sure when I first came across this area, perhaps in a book my parents have at home.  I don’t think it is possible to get much more remote than this on a holiday!  I like the idea of mountains, glaciers, salt pans, deserts etc.  I think a trip down to this part of the Southern hemisphere would definitely need to include some of the other wonders of south America too!

Atlas – I enjoyed a little dabble into Morocco a few years ago, and because I didn’t see a snake, I can dare to visit again.  Since we went the boutique riad scene has definitely developed – meaning gorgeous surroundings, that are private and small with a rustic and local feel.

Scotland – so close, but yet apparently so far that I have been there just once for a sailing regatta and saw more of the water than anything else!!  We love nothing better than a week away in a cottage, packing our walking boots and outdoor clothes, and plenty of winter woollies!   Having been up Snowdonia and Scafell Pike, it seems only fair that we need to complete the 3 UK peaks with a yomp up Ben Nevis.  I’d also love to visit Edinburgh across a weekend.

Maldives – until recently I didn’t really see myself as someone who likes to languish in the sunshine doing little more than reading a book, going for a swim and sipping (expensive) champagne.  Clearly I enjoy all 3, but on holidays I have always liked to see new things day in day out.  However life just gets busier and busier and there is certainly a time and a place for the active and cultural holiday, but there is also a need to do as little as possible from time to time, in the lap of luxury.  I have tasked Mr P with taking me there for my 40^th birthday (still a fair way off I might add) but whether I will hold out until then I don’t know?I keep getting drawn to researching different resorts, and with so much choice, it might take that long to choose where we would like to visit!

Spring blossom – I love the spring blooms in the UK but further afield there are some incredible places to really enjoy the blossom, be that Japan, South Africa or Kenya.  Happily spring is at a different time of year in each of those.  Spring is also a great time to visit any country – in the shoulder season everywhere is just that little bit quieter, perhaps the weather may not be so reliable, but if it isn’t a beach break that we are after then it doesn’t matter so much as with milder temperatures it is easier to do lots of visiting!

Cappadocia – I had suggested we visit here next year, as I am awe-inspired by the pictures of caves and hot air balloons, it really looks quite incredible.  Every time I see another photo it reminds me how beautiful it is – so I have added it to this list as a mark in the sand!  As risk-averse accountant I think I will hold-fire and visit at a later time when hopefully the situation with neighbouring countries is less fraught.

Epernay and Reims – need I say much!  My favourite drink is champagne (although I have a liking for British and Austrian sparkling wine now…) and so I must go to champagne!  I think Bordeaux would also make a lovely mini-break and I happen to have noticed a charming spa hotel with vino-therapy.  Both of these places are calling out to the Parkers!  We’d need to go in the summer and take the ferry and drive down with our convertible and our bikes.  Writing this now I am struggling to understand why we haven’t yet been!

Isles of Scilly – I’m not sure I can claim to be Cornish if I haven’t visited the Scillies, granted I have sailed past them a fair few times, but I have never stopped!  A perfect spot to visit before Easter because the climate is notably warmer than mainland GB and so all the bulbs will be flowering and it will be quite stunning!  I read the travel brochure for the Scillies each year, I just need to get on an book!

Washington and the Carolina’s – I have been to DC a fair few times with work now and I love the city – it is clean, if feels safe, has some great hotels and has so much to visit – memorials, museums and great outdoor space.  For early summer or early autumn I would love to extend a trip into the Carolina’s and visit the city and the area with my husband too.  As a fan of Cape Cod this is a warmer version and includes the famous ‘southern’ welcome too!  And in all the time I have spent over in DC all I have ever seen in blue skies.. bodes well!

Bequia – we are very fond of the Caribbean – warm weather in UK winters and strong breezes which means that it is rarely too hot.  We loved Jamaica, so much more than some of the more popular islands we’d visited before, but even Jamaica has large scale hotels and so it is harder to find something small, local and charming.  Bequia is just a short hop from Barbados with an internal flight and is a world away from the business but also not ludicrously expensive like neighbouring Mustique.

Also on the longer list: bareboat yacht charter; Namibia; Tanzania; Blue Train in South Africa; Corsica; more of Sardinia; Kuala Lumpa and a tropical island; the Inca coast in Mexico … It goes on!…

Plenty to look forward to, with very few plans set for 2015 I hope we can fit in something from this list!

What’s on your bucket list?  Any more ideas for me based on the suggestions?   Here’s a few other ideas to tickle your fancy!

Photo credits:

photo credit Meteora: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/27382580@N02/10673434515/”>mateuspabst</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Gozo: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcampy/3625720221/”>Paul Campy</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit California: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/warzauwynn/2173383575/”>WarzauWynn</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Patagonia: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/3892139852/”>Stuck in Customs</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Scotland: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulconcannon/14533408539/”>Paul Concannon</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Maldives: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/muha/3531284743/”>muha…</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Japan: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/mino64/8615395867/”>mino2006</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Turkey: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/vin60/5036772208/”>Vin on the move</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Epernay: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcveraart/4723149849/”>Marc Veraart</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Scillies: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/swiv/566327063/”>Swiv</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

photo credit Bequia: photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/waxident/8786111994/”>Globalgrasshopr</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>