10 places I want to visit before I die

 

Honestly, I’d like to visit everywhere.

There are very few places you could name on this globe that I would say no to visiting, I am very lucky and have done a fair amount of travelling in my life. I used to be that person that would never visit anywhere more than once – there was just too much world to see and it was pointless to keep going back to the same place. That plan began unraveling as I began making friends that lived in the towns and cities I’d visited – I then wanted to go back and see them. I am slowly making peace with the fact that I won’t see the whole world in my life time, but I do have certain places that I reeeeeally want to see before I die. I just need to find people to do them with.

So, here we have it…

 

 

10. Australia

This may seem weird seeing as I just gave up the opportunity to go and live there and experience it but just because my life direction has changed, doesn’t mean that I never want to visit. It just means I want to do it differently – give me good company, a car and a road trip. We can learn to surf, scuba dive off the great barrier reef, go swimming with sharks. IT’S WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF.

 

 

9. Hong Kong

 

China as a whole I find pretty fascinating but the more I read about Hong Kong the more I want to visit. The view from Victoria Peak is worth the flight itself, no? Hiring a Junk Boat, visiting the markets and temples, go and see the Buddha. Oh, and TEA – how could you visit China and not have afternoon tea?

I want to hike the Dragon’s back – WHO’S COMING WITH ME?

Also, can we also high five me for not mentioning (until now) that there is a Disneyland there too.

8. Tokyo

 

I want to walk over the rainbow. As in the bridge that is shaped like one. I want to learn to make sushi from the masters (and eat my weight in it too). The markets, the bars, the fashion… what is not to love? An old friend visited Tokyo a few years back and since then I have wanted to visit. His stories combined with his photos… what a place! There may also be another Disneyland just outside Tokyo… what?

 

7. Hawaii

This just looks the definition of paradise. In the words of every millennial I CAN’T EVEN. The obsession started when I watched Elvis in Paradise Hawaiian Style as a child – since then it’s always been on my list of places to visit. Of course there are multiple islands to visit and the things I’d like to do are dotted around the islands, the volcanoes park is a definite must, you can go out on a boat from Maui and humpback whale spot, Waimea Canyon looks like something out of someone’s imagination and not a real place that you can actually visit. Who wants to come with?

 

6. Amazon Rainforest

 

Most people, I think, associate the Amazon with Brazil because that is predominantly where it covers but you can also access it from Colombia, Peru and various other South American countries. Why do I want to visit the Amazon? It’s fascinating! 5.5 million-ish miles of rainforest, dating back at least 50 million years. Home to thousands of species of plants, animals and millions of insects… the list is endless. I mean, obviously I’d probably shit myself at the prospect of getting attacked by a jaguar or anaconda but I think the risk is worth it.

 

5. Lapland, Finland

 

Because… SANTA. But also, I’d love to see the Northern Lights. I have been to Finland before as my friend lives in Helsinki but never to Lapland.

 

4. Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland

 

I realise this changes to tone of this list a lot but it is somewhere that I feel I need to see before I die. I cannot explain why, I just feel it inside me that I need to. Like most people I remember learning about the atrocities that took place in WWII thanks to Hitler and the actions of others. I remember reading Anne Frank’s diary as a young girl myself and watching a film adaptation when I was around 12 years and being so distraught at the scene where Anne is separated from her father that my mum had to turn the film off and calm me down. All this happened not even 50 years before I was born, something that I cannot understand, even now. I have visited Anne Frank haus in Amsterdam and cried my way around the National Holocaust Museum in Washington and now I want to visit Auschwitz.

 

3. Vietnam

 

Their history is fascinating to me. A country that, 50 years ago, was in the midst of a war. They have come out the other side and are rebuilding their country on their terms. The differences in the north and south of the country, the landscapes, new species of animals that have been discovered in recent years; it all fascinates me. I can’t wait to one day discover it for myself.

 

2. Kenya

 

I need to go on an African safari in my lifetime. I need to. The idea of going almost brings me to (happy) tears. I would undoubtedly sob as I saw some of the most beautiful creatures in the world in the flesh – those I know that have been say that no number of David Attenborough documentaries can ever prepare you to see the animals in the flesh. It takes your breath away. I CAN’T WAIT. My reasons for choosing Kenya as the place to experience this is purely because of the research I have done into it – Kenya seems to be THE place.

 

1. Machu Picchu, Peru

 

I do not know where my fascination with this place has come from. There is no specific time that I can recall it starting, I just know that for as long as I can remember I always wanted to visit it. That magical city above Peru. We can hike some of the Inca Trail, maybe take a train some of the way. It’s gotta happen.

 

There is so much world to see.

“Travelling leaves you speechless and turns you into a storyteller”

 

Feck it, it’s 2017

Date: 14/12/16

Time: 8:27am

Where I am : On a train somewhere between Southampton and Weymouth

What I’m listening to: The Overtones ‘You’ve lost that loving feeling’ and anything else that Lachie sings lead on because THAT VOICE (insert heart eye emoji)

 

 

 

Hullo to you my lovely reader. It’s been a while hasn’t it. I hope this finds you all well and full of festive cheer. Christmas time, as a lot of you know, is one of my favourite times of the year – or at least the build up to it. Christmas day is normally a bit of a let down – everyone eats and drinks until they hate themselves and then there is an argument over who cheated at Monopoly. This year though, I am not as in to it as normal and that may be because I have something bigger to focus on.

 

January 1st.

 

No no, not that ‘new year, new me’ tosh.

January 1st I’m leaving the homeland for adventures with no return date.

Solo.

Alone.

All by myself. (you have to sing that one)

 

 

Am I excited? Yes.

Am I crazy? Most definitely.

Am I scared? Hell yes, but as someone once told me – if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

 

Doing the Australia work/travel thing is something that I have been talking/ dreaming about for 7 years now. Yep. SEVEN years. Almost a decade. It’s been 5 years since my old boss Mrs T (who currently resides there) told me to get my butt over there. “Give me a few years” I said… 5 years later…oops. There was always something in the way – there was the epic summer of ’13 in the States, then there was my sister’s wedding. Then I was petrified something would happen to my Grandad and I wouldn’t be here – October 2014 saw that horror realised. Then my sister got pregnant, my friend Amy got engaged and wanted me to write for the wedding and be in the wedding party… after that I ran out of excuses. They were all excuses too – the things I listed there (all bar the American Summer) would have happened regardless of me being in England or not. I could have gone and come back for those things but the truth is, I wasn’t brave enough to go. I was so used to relying on other people to keep me company, to take care of me and guide me that I would never have survived travelling alone. The loneliness would have killed me.

 

Now I figure, feck it. You can be lonely no matter where you are, so where better to be lonely than on a beach in Aus whilst topping up your vitamin D levels? Of course there is the possibility that I will not like it, I may find that the grass isn’t greener and home really is where the heart is. I’ve said for the last few years now, the more I travel the more I realise that London is the best city in the world – and it is right on my doorstep. Maybe I am silly for jumping ship across the world and leaving that behind. However, the beauty of the year 2017 is that I can come back whenever I want.

 

My visa is currently 6 months, with the option to stay on a work/travel visa in Aus for up to 2 years. The majority of my friends seem to think that I won’t come back – as my friend Amy put it “You’ll either hate it and be back within a week, or you’ll love it and we’ll never see you again”. It’s true, there rarely is grey area with me in anything I do. The idea that I may not come back probably goes someway to explaining why, when I talk to people, it feels like I’m dying “Oh I need to see you before you go!” “I can’t believe you’re not going to be here” and so on and so forth. I’m not dying people, I’m just going to see what the land down under has to offer for a wee while. Calm yourselves. Of course it’s nice people want to see me (I like being liked) but I don’t like a fuss and I feel that there is massive ‘fuss’ potential in this move, if that makes any sense? Probably not, I’ve had about 90 mins sleep in the last 24 hours so I apologise if it doesn’t make sense.

 

Truth be told I don’t know what is going to happen when I am away. I don’t know if I will love or hate it. I don’t have a plan on how long I will be there because of this. Maybe I’ll end up somewhere else. Who knows what could happen? So long as I am happy and healthy I’ll go wherever the wind takes me. The uncertainty is part of the adventure and, I may as well do it now because, why not? To quote the great philosopher Drake “YOLO”.

 

YOLO, that’s the motto.

 

xoxo

 

Micks

 

P.S if y’all have any recommendations for me of what to do/see in Aus then by all means let me know! I’d love to hear them.