At the start of the year my feet get itchy to travel and my fingers get twitchy to get online and book, book, book. I love having travel adventures to look forward to, especially in the darker, greyer months of January and February. Happily, even before 2018 was finished we’d already booked our ski holiday and summer was partially planned and even partially booked.
2018’s adventures…
Last year was a big year for us as we renovated our house, so in the early part of the year I made plans to escape as much as the school term would allow us. We spent time in London with grandparents and friends, visited North Yorkshire and went to France where we spent a week at the family home in the Lot and a week discovering the Ile de Re.
There was one great camping trip with friends, though we would have liked to do more of that. With the build complete we spent much of Autumn at home, enjoying our ‘new’ house, though we did escape for a few days to Venice over October half-term.
With my Little Trekkers hat on we had many adventures closer to home, getting out and about exploring our local area. It’s been really fun to have an impetus to do more on our doorstep.
In 2019 we’ll be having grand adventures in…
So where will 2019 take us? Our ski holiday in March will see us returning to Belle Plagne with Esprit. No plans for Easter, the May bank holidays or half-term yet but I’m hoping we’ll find a way to have some UK adventures, by the coast perhaps (hoping North Norfolk) and a spot of camping.
The summer sees us taking a family holiday in Austria to celebrate one of the grandparent’s big birthdays! We’ll be spending nearly a week on Mondsee, in the Salzkammergut – an area of lakes and mountains near Salzburg – with my brothers and their families too . When I was growing up my grandparents lived in Salzburg, so this will be a sort of homecoming for me. I’m looking forward to introducing the boys to this type of holiday and taking them to some of my favourite places in the city and the surrounding area. I often travelled to Salzburg by train when I was younger and excitingly, we are doing just that with our children. We’ve booked interrail passes (children under 12 travel free), so will walk from our house to the train station in our village to head to London and the Eurostar. A night train will get us to Austria. After our week on the lake we’ll jump back on the train to get to St Anton am Arlberg for a few days in the high mountains before heading to Paris for a spot of city sightseeing. It will be a challenge travelling for two weeks with reduced luggage (we’re used to throwing everything into the boot of the car) but I’m ready to embrace that.
If time and money allow, we’d also like to have a city-break in Lisbon. I’ve wanted to go there for years (not just for the pasteis de nata, I promise) and I’m hoping this will be the year.
Do you prefer to plan in advance or keep things spontaneous? Are you sticking to Europe and the UK, or have you got a long-haul trip in your sights? Where will 2019 take you?
