One of my New Year’s resolutions was to prioritise how I spend my money. Less buying clothes I’ll wear a handful of times (coinciding nicely with my Topshop prohibition) and more investing in travel and memories that will last longer than poly-blend knitwear. It’s now late January and even though the ‘detox’ has officially been abandoned (I was only fooling myself) I’m resolute that this particular commitment will hold fast. Also while the Memories are paramount here, there’s nothing like a glance at cement-washed skin to give you a shove in the right direction.
After saying to a friend that a far-flung destination warranted more than a two week visit, I realised I need to push through the student approach to travelling. As much as I wish I were a lets-jack-it-all-in kind of girl, work will always be that necessity I have to plan around. How dully predictable…
So, incorporating the work factor means 2012 will be the year of the city break. Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Krakow have been target destinations for a while and I’ve had little excuse for not swiping up a cheap deal and hot-footing it for a weekend of culture.
The obligatory mad dash for sun will be taking me to either Kalkan in Turkey, Bali (after reading Eat Pray Love too many times) or Morocco/Madeira Island. I’m desperate to visit Japan, Peru and New Zealand but only after many more months of high street-free spending. Watch this space…
Sites I’m using for inspiration are: Gogobot (the Twitter-like social site for trip planning), The Cool Hunter (guide to all things, well, cool), Lonely Planet (best for research and info) and the HiP Paris Blog (divine pictures and ideas – lovelovelove).
Images courtesy of Lonely Planet (Amsterdam) /Inzumi (Bali) / MedicalTourism (Paris) / Kalkan Turkey (Kalkan)
Also – Lonely Planet have a travel forum called Thorn Tree – where you can ask all sorts of questions to people in that country, who have travelled or who also need inspiration…. if you need tips for Bali, walk this way…! Xx