A new year brings anticipation for the year ahead and January is certainly the time to start looking towards any travel plans or holidays for the year. Just after Christmas is the best time to start researching, mapping out any savings plans and, quite possibly, booking up any deals that may be discounted. I’ve thought a lot about my travel adventures in 2018 lately and although I’m still looking for some inspiration, here’s what I’m set on.
BERLIN
Much like many other travel bloggers, I have plans to cut back and budget my money/travelling better this year by doing lots of smaller short breaks if possible. First up is Berlin at the end of the month which is already booked thanks to a cheap deal discovered on Wowcher. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to go for around a year now but when I saw the deal included entry into Tropical Islands – an amazing indoor faux beach with real sand and summer-like temperatures, I was sold. I’ve wanted to go to Tropical Islands for years now, so that’ll be another thing booked off my bucket list within the first month of 2018!
ICELAND
Iceland seems doable this year if I budget right. I haven’t researched a lot into this but I know I definitely want to visit Blue Lagoon and, if travelling in a couple, I’d like to pencil in a couple of nights in one of the transparent igloos in the hope of spotting the Northern Lights.
ROMANIA
Being that my week off at the end of the month was meant to be spent in Romania (now that I’m no longer going, I booked Berlin instead!), I still really want to go, perhaps in the summer. I’ll be sad to miss visiting the beautiful country in the snow, but after our adventures there last year, I feel like I know enough to navigate the cities alone. We saw a taster of a lot of places in the summer of 2017, so this year I might split it up and fly out two times a year for long weekends in a different city each time. LuckyTrip has tons of recommendations, but from past experiences I’d love to visit Bran and Cluj-Napoca again.
UP NORTH
Vague, I know! Although I’m in no rush to visit my old uni town particularly again (since myself and a friend visited a couple of summers ago), there is a lot I’d like to see and re-visit ‘up north’ and in Tyne and Wear/surrounding areas. I’d like to spend a little longer in Newcastle and spend some time in Durham, as well as fit in a visit to Alnwick Castle again. I’d really like to visit Beamish too, and The Forbidden Corner, as both of these places I wanted to visit when I was studying in Sunderland but never got the chance to.
EUROPE, IN GENERAL
Another vague one, but I’d like to visit some more places in Europe like Dublin, Budapest, Amsterdam etc. I’m set on visiting Edinburgh for next New Year’s Eve, but I’m hoping if I can budget probably I can maybe do a little bit of interrailing, if not this summer then next.
I’ve gone for the more cheaper ideas for 2018 and haven’t even thought about a ‘proper’ summer holiday, as I think smaller city breaks are going to be ideal for me this year. I think I’ll get some sun when I visit Romania but as a whole, smaller and budget adventures are appealing to me a lot more right now, as opposed to lavish beach holidays! Still, I am keeping my eye out on anymore TrekAmerica tours too!
What are your travel plans for 2018? Let me know!
