The bucket list: Where will my next adventure take me?

It’s no secret that I am continuously planning my next trip away. I use my 28 days per year annual leave from work very cautiously – I will never use a holiday if I don’t intend to go somewhere, because wouldn’t that just be a waste? With it now being over half way through the year, 2017 has been average for travelling. I’ve ventured back to Eastern Europe to Budapest, I’ve just returned from a much needed break abroad to Lanzarote, and have explored the UK southern coast.

A couple of years ago, I made a goal to myself to visit at least two new countries every year, so I could scratch them from my travel map, which is currently staring at me from my wall, un-touched for the past three months. Thus, this year, I have only managed to visit one new country (Hungary), leaving my ambitions to run wild and start planning the next destination. So where has grabbed my attention the most?

Rome, Italy

I’ve wanted to go to Rome for as long as I can remember. Perhaps I was inspired by the romantic scenes of Lizzie McGuire at the Trevi Fountain (if you’re old enough to remember this movie) – who knows? I always been set on a huge Italian road trip including Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Venice and Milan, which as magnificent as it may be, is certainly not feasible for some time due to work, time-off and money. So why Rome? Rome is full of world-famous attractions, and I intend to cover every inch of them. My biggest must-see on my itinerary is arguably Italy’s most famous sight, a 2000-year-old Roman amphitheater, the Colosseum, followed by the Pantheon, at least one of the Catacombs Rome has to offer, and throwing my two coins into the Trevi Fountain. Another definite-do is to visit Vatican City. The Italian Renaissance Church of St. Peter’s Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo being the primary sights, however there are always fantastic museums to see in this area. Let’s not forget the food though, I think we all love the Italian cuisine with its breads, pastas and of course the pizza. When in Rome, it would be rude not to indulge in ridiculous amounts of fine foods. With only four days to spare for this trip, I’m nervous that it may potentially be a rush to squeeze everything in, and with the trip potentially being in October, I’m sure the rain will come to ruin it.. despite this I still think this is top of my 2017 list!

I’m pretty much sold on Italy being my second country to visit in 2017, although nothing is booked quite yet so perhaps another eastern Europe trip or a venture into Scandinavian could steal the title. With this, I’ve also been taking the next year into consideration, there’s so many places to go that it’s a shame I can’t have an unlimited pot of money and time. Here’s the other places that are top of my list:

Caribbean Coast, Mexico

For the past two years, we’ve been saying ‘next year we’ll go to Mexico’, and 2018 is the year that I’m determined to make this happen. I’m not entirely sure where about as of yet – somewhere with nice Mexican food and a pool is always a winner, but I’d like it to be the Caribbean Coast. Not only for the crystal-clear turquoise waters and white sands that I’m dying to revisit, but it must be within travelling distance of the Chichén Itzá. Chichén Itzá is a complex of Mayan ruins, originally an ancient Mayan city in the Yucatan peninsula, which is around 1500 years old – if there is any trip that I wish to take in Mexico, it will be this!

Scandinavia

I’ve left this one pretty open for the reason that I’m dying to visit all three countries and I just can’t decide which one I want to visit more. I’ve always wanted to visit Copenhagen in Denmark because it looks truly unique and beautiful, Sweden has won me over recently, not only for the cities but because of the glacier mountains and vast lakes, and of course Norway for the Northern Lights. I will definitely be making which ever place I choose a winter break, so still plenty of time to decide on this one!

Vienna, Austira and Bratislava, Slovakia

Originally, this trip was planned for April 2017 where I’d planned a 10 night trip to take me across three countries. Realising this was a little too ambitious in the time allocated, off we went to Budapest instead. Prior to booking that trip, I’d read all about what to do, see and eat in Vienna and Bratislava, and have since been excited ever since, which is why it is definitely on my list for next year.

So this is what I’ve so far planned for the next year. Read my blog in a couple of months, and I’m sure I will have added much much more to this, but for now I’m trying to keep it realistic. I’d be interested to see where you have planned for the next year, maybe it’ll inspire me and I could end up changing my entire list around, so, where is it that you’re going?