Wishing on a star – 2016 travel

Limited hours of daylight and plenty of rain and cold.  Winter is definitely here, and here for a while yet! This is always the time of year when alongside enjoying the festivities it is a good time to start to think about where the year ahead may take us.  Top of this list is normally somewhere warm strangely enough!

One thing I love about the blogging community it is the non-stop inspiration from others – there is always somewhere new to discover and so my travel bucket list is forever changing (growing).  This time last year I would say my wish list was pretty standard, but my choices have developed and are very interesting indeed (and there are more ‘thanks’ to the magic (wretched) Pinterest button)!

The Azores

“I think the Azores must be very little known in America. Out of our whole ship’s company there was not a solitary individual who knew anything whatever about them. How many people know much more about these islands today?” Mark Twain

I really enjoy a beach holiday but more so I revel in being on the beach for a few days but then able to explore the middle of nowhere – enjoying vibrant and untouched scenery and being offline.  The Azores are surprisingly enough only 4 hours from the UK (with TAP or Ryanair I believe) but yet so different to the Canaries, Cape Verde or Madeira which are far busier.  The islands are a long way out in to the Atlantic – they’d be an incredible place to sail in to.  Mr P got to visit Porto Santo a while back with work – it’ll take some convincing for us to head here instead, but I think for variety and to appeal to our love of the outdoors, the Azores are the perfect place (maybe with a stop off in Madeira too).

Austria

“Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever. Edelweiss, Edelweiss, bless my homeland forever” The Sound of Music

We have friends in Vienna and visit regularly – the city is gorgeous in winter and summer.  I would love to explore the country further – to see the mountains, the vineyards, Salzburg and some castles.  Everything is tidy, well kept and gorgeous and there is such a lot more for us to see.  I want to run across fields full of mountain goats just like Maria did in the Sound of Music!

Israel

“I love Israel, I think it is a great, great country, I think that through all the difficulties, and all the pain that Israel has suffered in the past and will in the future, the great thing that Israel has is Israelis, and they will guide it through.” Helen Mirren

I can’t help myself with the pretty pictures on Pinterest of this stunning and tiny country.  I have been sent a calendar with 352 pictures of Israel on it – stunning!  I can’t wait to discover it.  We are intending to visit in late April to see friends and so will have the best tour guides and advisors for our stay.  An incredible country, despite all its difficulties, full of history, beauty and culture.

The Midnight sun in Norway

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day”

Vincent Van Gogh

Most people want to head into the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights, and I certainly do too.  But I really want to see the midnight sun – this fascinates me more.  I can’t quite imagine the sun dipping to the horizon and coming straight back up again.  I was amazed on a recent trip to Finland how late the sun was setting in April – but in Svalbard apparently the sun doesn’t set from mid April to mid August, at all.  Quite incredible.  So much more to see in Norway – another incredibly beautiful country to explore.  Mr P spends a fair amount of time in Stockholm with work so I can see a long weekend plan shaping up with us meeting in Norway this summer!

Greece

“There is so much of Greece you can’t know even if you’re Greek… It’s already a secret place wherever you go… The place enchanted me” Joanna Lumley

The place enchanted me too!  We spent a week in the Peloponnese in 2014 and it was love at first sight.  I am desperate to return.  It has hard to decide where to though – the mainland continues to appeal as it is far less discovered, and there are magnificent areas of scenery such as Meteora.  The islands also appeal – they look idyllic and there are some incredible hotels and private pool villas that keep catching my eye!  We were there in October before and it was plenty warm enough for pool time as well as exploring – perhaps a late summer trip again?

Amalfi Coast

“You may have the universe if I may have Italy” Giuseppe Verdi

The Amalfi Coast is somewhere that we really want to explore – perfect climate, amazing choice of hotels, gorgeous scenery and quaint little waterside towns.  I don’t think I have ever seen a bad picture from this part of Italy so I can only imagine what it is like to enjoy it with one’s own eyes.  I think this would be an area to visit out of school holidays as it seems to be on the tourist trail.  Speaking of which – Cinque Terre in the north is another place I am fascinated to visit, and Tuscany and Sicily.  The more time I spend looking at the map of Italy the more I realise that many years worth of holidays could be filled with mini-breaks in Italy!

Inis Meain

“My heart is quite calm now. I will go back.” James Joyce

Off the coast of Galway are the Aran Islands – which I must confess I thought were off Scotland until recently… I have loved previous visits to Donegal and Dingle and the scenery along the Wild Atlantic Way is outstanding.  Simon Reeve’s Ireland documentary did a very good job at reminding me of that.  What appeals about Aran is the remoteness, the wildness and the ability to go back to basics and disconnect from the outside world.  Whilst enjoying Guinness, Magners Irish Cider and craic.

Porquerolles

“He thought of the Riviera, as it was then before it had all been built up, with the lovely stretches of blue sea and the sand beaches and the stretches of pine woods and the mountains” Ernest Hemingway

This is somewhere Mr P mentioned before that I hadn’t thought much of until recently when I was wondering if there were other quiet corners of the Cote d’Azur that might suit us to explore.  Apparently it has 275 days of sunshine a year, a vineyard and some fancy hotels.  There are also gorgeous beaches and surrounded by sea it is definitely going to keep the crowds away.

Seattle

“This is what we see when we look up at Rainier, the beauty, the horror, the awe the unbelievability of size that confirms our own consequence on this earth” Bruce Barcott

When I say Seattle I really mean that I just want to ogle Mount Rainier.  It is a stunning mountain and I love how it just pops up behind the city.  I suspect it is why Seattle is known as the rainy city, with funny winds around it?  Mount Rainer is almost 15,000 feet so I don’t think we’d be climbing it during a holiday there, but Washington state is massive – it would be incredible to explore, perhaps flying in to Seattle for a weekend and out of Portland (which I keep hearing great things about too).  There’s also Montana nearby that is full of incredible scenery too.

Patagonia

“Nowhere is there an area of 100,000 square miles which you may gallop over, and where, whilst enjoying a healthy, bracing climate, you are safe from the persecutions of fevers, friends, savage tribes, obnoxious animals, telegrams, letters and every other nuisance…” Lady Florence Dixie

This isn’t going to be one for 2015 but isn’t going to fall off the bucket list until it has been ticked off.  I would love to explore South America – the pinnacles are just one landmark that I really want to see.  They are magnificent and exploring the Torres del Paine National Park would be a real treat. Throw in the salt pans in Bolivia, wine tasting in Argentina, Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego and the Galapagos – yes that would be quite the mid-life crisis escape.  I should start planning it now in preparation!

Caribbean

“Wherever we want to go, we go.  That’s what a ship is you know” Jack Sparrow

Bare boat yacht charter in the Grenadines – a must.  I was just chatting Mr P through my 10 and he pointed out I’d missed his #1 choice (that we need to do ASAP apparently).  That is to use our skills and charter a yacht and cruise around the stunning islands and azure seas of the caribbean.  I think it would be incredible – gorgeous breezes every day and the chance to go where we please.  As competent as we are at sailing and helming yachts, I rather think we should charter a bigger boat and go with friends – that way I get to sunbathe on deck and the angst during anchoring is much reduced!

Somehow India and Namibia haven’t made it onto the top 10, but they are still lurking and not forgotten!  So is Gozo (a near miss this year), California, Champagne (obvs)… This list isn’t going to get any shorter even if we get to a couple of places above in the next 12 months!

Stay tuned to see what where we go in the next 12 months – I’m excited already and nothing is even booked yet! 

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do….