by Rosi
Hi all,
Long time no post! It’s been a chaotic few months with sadly minimal travel, but I’m trying desperately to rectify this through some classic el-cheapo flight purchases… here’s the plan of attack for the next few months…
* April 12th-15th : Monaco
* April 21st-28th : New York
* April 23rd-24th : Fredericksburg, Virginia
* May 19th-20th : Luxembourg (FINALLY)
I’m trying to decide between Slovakia (Bratislava), Slovenia (Ljubljana) and Latvia (Riga) for the end of May, so any thoughts on that would be appreciated too. I haven’t done too much of Eastern Europe, and it’s an area I really want to explore more, given that it’s cheap to get to (thanks, plethora of Ryanair bases) and relatively unexplored by most British tour groups, in comparison to most European cities and destinations. There’s nothing I hate more than being on a Sleazyjet flight surrounded by stag dos chugging Stella Artois in low-cut nipple-exposing tank tops. No thank you, I’m over it.
In related news, I saw the following news article recently (apologies that it’s The Sun, it pains me as much as it does you):
Brits have travelled to this many countries on average – how do you compare?
If you thought the average number of countries visited by Brits was less than 10, you’d be spot on. If we break it down even further, using this Torygraph article (shudder), these countries mostly, on average, comprise of the following:
Look guys, I get it. Spain is sunny, it’s relatively inexpensive, and it’s sadly now full of fellow Brits who have built Wetherspoons, Greggs, and the occasional Iceland. For the most part, it’s Britain for people who want warmth and cheap stuff (which kills me, but that’s a separate post altogether). But do we really want that on holiday? Do we really want to be surrounded by each other, seeing the same stuff, chatting the same chat (in English, of course), only to get back to a…relatively similar existence?
The whole point of a holiday is a break away from the norm – to experience new things and broaden your horizons. It’s kinda hard to do that when you’re surrounded by everything you’re familiar with.
So this year, I dare you. I dare you to go somewhere you’d never have considered before. Raise that number of countries visited. Go and experience some truly different cultures. Eat stuff you don’t feel wholly comfortable with. Try and speak in a different language. Chat with locals. Get another perspective. You’ll feel much better for it, I promise.
(And if you’re wondering, my number’s 26 – soon to be 28! Come on, 30!)
R xx
rosi roams 