First comes the list of places that I want to go...later comes the places where I have been
Where I Want To Visit:
These are the places in the world that I want to visit. In no particular order - though Japan is top:
1. Japan
2. Tornado Alley
3. Cuba
4. St Petersburg
5. Melbourne
6. Dubai
7. Seoul
8. Iceland (Northern Lights)
9. Chile
10. Falkland Islands
11. Iran
12. Beirut
13. Detroit
14. Canada
15. Ukraine (Chernobyl in particular)
16. Athens
17. Belfast
18. Orkney
19. Hong Kong
20. Galicia
21. Zimbabwe
22. Costa Rica
23. Lake Bohinj, Slovenia24. Belgrade
25. Ronda, Spain
26. Tbilisi
27. Tirana
28. Gothenburg
29. Malta
30. Luxembourg
31. Granada
32. Valencia
33. San Sebastien
34. Cordoba
35. Ronda
36. Bilbao
37. Naples
38. Florence
39. Saltzberg
40. Sarajevo
41. Odessa
42. Fareo Isles
Where I Have Been:
James Went To Metz
After falling in love with Strasbourg, it was time to head to my next destination, Metz. Metz wasn’t somewhere I was particularly bothered about visiting, the reason I was there was that I wanted to go to Luxembourg yet was put off by paying £130 a night for a hotel, so thought I could travel there from Metz – which was 50 minutes on the train, and half the price in a hotel. I soon found myself in a pretty town, of old stone buildings. But where were the people? Everywhere was quiet. I’d gone from buzzy Strasbourg to boring … Continued
Continuing my lookback at my European train adventure in June, my next stop after Basel and Liechtenstein, was Strasbourg. Let me set the scene for you. I’d spent 3 nights in Basel, in Basel there was nobody homeless, nobody edgy, the weather was poor and the people were all fairly identikit – no punks, no goths, no hot women – everyone kind of dressed the same in 1980’s M&S clothing. Everything was expensive, I didn’t have any especially good food, the trams were all on time. Everything was just very regular. Upon arrival in Strasbourg, it was hot and sunny! … Continued
I’m not entirely sure why I decided to go to Basel, it certainly wasn’t on my list of places to visit, unlike say, Lucerne. Basically I decided to get some trains across Europe for a week, and tick off two new countries – Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Staying anywhere in Switzerland is like £100+ a night for a half-decent place, but I could stay in Saint-Louis, over the border in France but on the tram lines of Basel, for £70 a night. Sounded like a deal. Annoyingly it was the first warm and sunny weekend in London for ages, and it … Continued
It was was time for a day trip to Liechtenstein – the smallest country that I have been to. Just the 6th smallest country in the world. Let’s see if I can write this in the time it takes to get from Basel to Strasbourg, for the next stage of my adventure. Doing some research beforehand, a lot of Swiss people seem to think going to Liechtenstein is weird – because there is little there, and what there is there are better versions of in Switzerland (ie mountains, forests, galleries, etc). So I went with the idea that maybe I’d … Continued
Why Bilbao? We kind of picked Bilbao at random – it was to be the first holiday with my folks since 2018-ish. Somewhere not too expensive, somewhere walkable, somewhere with good food, and hopefully good weather in June. Ah. The rain in Spain falls mainly in Bilbao? Actually it poured down elsewhere in Spain, and was more intermittent in Bilbao, but hey, I wanted sunshine. Something About Bilbao It likely won’t have missed your attention that some places in Spain are protesting about “mass tourism”, which possibly boils down to not building enough homes for locals – Ibiza is a … Continued
I realised that I’ve been meaning to finish this post about Málaga for 6 months now…and I’m about to go to España once more. Last October I moved to Spain. Alas, only for 4 ish weeks until my flat purchase completed, but it was an opportunity to live one of my dreams. Most of the time I stayed down the coast in Benalmádena, but I did also spend a week in Málaga, and had multiple evenings there too. Why not?! Doing Tourist Stuff I always used to have Málaga down as being a bit basic – an association due it … Continued
And finally I start writing about my holiday to Palermo, in Sicily. I’ve got into this groove of going away late March, to celebrate the end of my detox, and also to try to find some warm sunshine. In 2022, there was no shortage of sunshine in Las Vegas and San Diego. In 2023 there was likewise no shortage of sunshine in Malta. Yet there is no guarantee of warm sunshine anywhere in Europe in late March…it needs a bit of luck, and a good weather forecast. Having just had a sudden stratospheric warming, I thought this ruled out Spain … Continued
James Went To Benalmádena (on the Costa Del Sol)
It feels like ages ago, though was only towards the end of October, in the week before the clocks went back, that I went to Benalmádena. Why Benalmádena? Well, I needed somewhere fairly cheap to stay as I was being evicted from my old place, and the flat I was buying in Croydon was still 2, 3, 4, 178, fuck knows weeks away from completion. An Airbnb in London was like £100 a night, an Airbnb on the Costa Del Sol was £40 a night. I expected to be 3-4 weeks in Spain at a minimum, so I needed somewhere … Continued
There’s going to be a few of these. James went to Gandia. James went to Valencia. James went to Benalmádena. James went to Malaga. Who knows, I might even get some more places ticked off by time my solicitors and the management company decide that I can buy the flat that I put an offer in for 7 MONTHS AGO. Firstly, don’t go to Gandia. The city, that is. I had a wander through Google Street View before we went on holiday, and crowned Gandia as the “Slough of Spain”. And then I found out a TV programme that was … Continued
Third time’s a charm, right? I think this was my third trip to Paris anyway, though possibly fourth if I’ve forgotten one. And it was kind of special to be going there with my sister after the challenges of this year – if you know, you know. Eurostar was the choice – I had 23 year’s worth of Nectar points that I could use, so that covered most of the ticket price. Our hotel was a CitizenM – a compact room but with air conditioning that you control, lighting, a really comfortable bed, a powerful shower – and was designed … Continued