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 Malta
Winter seems like it is going on forever – though by time I’ve finished writing this blog post about going to Malta, it will probably be September. Why Malta? I had two criteria for my holiday. I did at first consider going to the Caribbean or Mauritius, but decided spending that much money was daft when I am saving to buy a house. I also considered Dubai to visit a good friend of mine – but decided going when Ramadan was on wouldn’t be so conducive to fun. Which also then ruled out North Africa and the rest of the … Continued
I was at Luton Airport wondering why on earth I was catching the 9:40pm flight to Skopje. I needed a break from work, but why was I going to Skopje? Why didn’t I just stay in London and chill? Well, I wanted some warm sunshine, and Skopje I knew would be cheap – despite the collapsing pound. Plus I wanted to go to a new country – and I’d never been to North Macedonia (or maybe call it Macedonia…depending on who you want to upset). One of my goals for 2022 was to visit three new countries – and this … Continued
Copenhagen. Or Copenhahahagen as I was soon to rename it. For some reason I’ve wanted to go to Copenhagen for a little while, but I couldn’t quite remember why. Maybe it was the pretty houses? Originally the plan I had in my head was to go to Copenhagen for a couple of days, then get the train to Sweden for a couple of days – maybe go to Gothenburg. But as time went on, it was proving difficult to find an Airbnb in either Copenhagen or Gothenburg – or any other Swedish city closer to Denmark. In fact, we couldn’t … Continued
My sister recently announced that she had 3 holiday days left to take at work and wanted to go somewhere – I said I’m up for a holiday and we ended up booking a trip to Zadar. We had quite tight time schedules so wherever we were going to go was going to be a flying visit – after some research I had a shortlist of Naples, Bilbao and Zadar – all places we could fly to on the Tuesday after work and return on the Friday. But Zadar was the clear winner – who can resist £68 return flights, … Continued
Las Vegas was over, and it was time to get in the car and drive to San Diego. Why San Diego? Well, again, my sister had suggested it as she had already been to San Francisco – I might have chosen the latter. But as soon as I did the briefest amount of research on San Diego (basically finding out that it was the craft beer capital of USA plus lots of Latinos), I thought that it might really, really be my kind of place. And we did very limited research beforehand, as we both thought there was no point … Continued
I’ve never really been that bothered about going to Las Vegas. Well, maybe when I used to play a lot of online poker, say 15 years ago, but that was more the dream of qualifying for a major poker tournament in Las Vegas, than actually going to the place. I always had it in my mind as a bit pretentious, a bit fake-glam – and that isn’t me. If I’m going out to a bar, then I’ll always choose a graffitied shithole, over an Instagrammy glam bar. And the same applies to my holidays – they are booked in places … Continued
James Went To The Lake District
It looked like I would have to eschew foreign holidays again this year, so myself and two of my closest advisors decided a couple of months back to book a staycation, and the Lake District was a fairly clear choice of preference. We booked a cottage on Airbnb that was pretty much in the sticks, near the west of the Lake District. I didn’t need to look at any other properties as soon as I was sent the link, my response being, “BOOK IT NOW” – 3 double bedrooms, a very large kitchen, a large living room, a huge garden … Continued
James Went To Stratford. Upon Avon.
I don’t count my blessings every day, but I do count them at times. One such blessing could be that Covid-19 hasn’t affected my health or the health of those close to me. It has, however, affected my social life, my roast dinners, my holidays – in May I was due to visit Japan and were life normal I’m sure I would have had a weekend away in some random European country that only Eurovision Song Contest viewers have heard of. I was also due to go watch the cricket last weekend, England vs Pakistan at Lords. And actually had … Continued
Why Albania? Good question. I wanted some sunshine and I wanted to be near the coast. It had to be a country that I had never visited before and also had to be fairly affordable – I had not long since started at M&S so though it didn’t need to be mega-cheap, there certainly were some constraints – Caribbean destinations definitely weren’t on the cards. Also I was going by myself. Which makes hotels and stuff much less affordable, given that I couldn’t share the cost. And I wanted something nice. I considered Malta and Montenegro, before almost accidentally discovering … Continued
One Night In Corfu, One Night In Corfu
I’ve always lumped Corfu in with the likes of Magaluf and Faliraki. It is an island that I would likely never have visited were it not for the requirement to get the ferry to my end destination, Ksamil in Albania, from Corfu. Whilst I could have arrived early and gone straight to the ferry to go to Albania, I decided to be a bit more leisurely and have an evening in Corfu Town itself. My Airbnb was top notch, in terms of affordability, location and charm. I could quite happily have stayed there longer, and even more important, it was … Continued