6 trips for me to take: a travel bucket list

 

1. Portscatho in Cornwall.  This lovely little harbour village on Cornwall's pretty Roseland Peninsula close to St. Mawes has a special place in my heart.  I went there many times, when my English Family were kids, and despite weather that could be questionable - scorching hot in the morning, wet in the afternoon and cold at night (all on the same August day...) - we always had a good time.  We camped on an official site and in a friendly farmer's cliff-top field; we rented an apartment in the centre of the village, across the street from the little harbour beach; we rented wooden chalets in a site a couple of miles away; and a cottage a couple of miles away in the opposite direction.  We used many beaches, some quite crowded and some deserted; we toured the county as far as Land's End and Tintagel; we got sun-burned and washed out of our camp site in torrential rain that dumped an average month's worth of the stuff overnight.  We laughed and cried, ate too much and drank not enough.  I haven't been there for a good 30 years, and it's probably changed a bit (although the Google Maps satellite images suggest it remains quite unspoiled), but I want to take my Polish family there too and show them that not all English seaside places are awful.
2. Bermuda.  I worked there for six months a few years ago, my second project as a self-employed contractor, and enjoyed it.  It's a lovely island with a unique character. Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to do much exploring - partly because we had to do a bit of weekend work and partly because I couldn't be arsed to trudge around the place on my own (most of the team had family there and I didn't want to intrude).  I also managed to rupture ankle ligaments the day before I flew back for my last three week visit and was hampered by a heavy orthopeadic boot.  I want to see more of the place, and find out a more local perspective on the famous (or infamous...) Bermuda Triangle - I watched a documentary a while ago that was really interesting.
3. Crete and Santorini.  We took my youngest son there when he was about 10 months old, still crawling, his first overseas trip.  He was great, and amazingly slept through both flights.  We had a great time, and fell in love with the place, but oddly have never been back.  The beaches were fine, and in our hired car we made some lovely exploratory drives.  The one across the mountains at the western end of the island, from Chania, where we were staying, to Elaffonissi, the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, was the highlight: the road winds spectacularly round a succession of hairpin bends and through tunnels, and I've never had to change gear so many times in one drive in my life.  Santorini is about a four hour ferry ride away, but would be worth the trip.  It's the site of a now extinct volcano, called Thera, that exploded some 3,600 years ago in one of the biggest volcanic explosions in history.  The tidal wave washed right across Crete and destroyed the then powerful Minoan civilization that ruled from there, and gave rise to both the Biblical story of the Great Flood (Noah's Ark and all that) and the legend of Atlantis.  I read a book many years ago that followed an archaeological expedition to Santorini (years before it became a leading tourist destination) that attempted to prove that Thera was indeed Atlantis.  I want to see for myself.
4. Menorca.  I've been to the bigger Majorca a couple of times, nearly 50 years ago now, and enjoyed myself.  The clubby Ibiza holds no interest.  But Menorca, from all I've seen and read, looks to be the greenest and quietest of the Balearics.  It must be worth a visit.  As an alternative: Gran Canaria or Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
5. Croatia.  We went there in 2018, just before I retired, and fell in love with the place - it was one of the best holidays I've ever had (despite being forced to miss the first week due to work pressures - I was NOT happy).  We booked to return the following year but were badly let down by our airbnb host who cancelled our booking six weeks before travel: then came the Pandemic.  I want to go back and have a proper look around the Kornati National Park, amongst other beauties.  The drive from Warsaw is a pleasure too, through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia, and through some gorgeous mountain scenery that continues through Croatia itself to the coast.  Fantastic.
6. A decent long distance train ride.  This could be the biggy - it will certainly take a bit of planning.  I like long train trips - I've done both London to Warsaw and Amsterdam to Warsaw at different times and for differing reasons and they were fun and something out of the ordinary.  Europe these days has a decent Eurorail service where long trips including sleeper services criss-cross the continent and link the sunny Mediterranean with the cooler northern areas, and there are many terrific routes.  As yet, Polish Railways is not part of the co-operative network so it's more tricky to book - hopefully that will change as there was talk recently of their joining.  Warsaw to Palermo (Sicily) might be fun.....  Alternatively, but no doubt much more expensive, might be a major transAtlantic trip - there is a spectacular route from LA, up the West Coast to Seattle, then across the border to Vancouver and up into the Rocky Mountains, that ends (from memory) in Calgary (or maybe Whistler).   The scenery for that journey must be totally awesome.....hence the many observation cars in each train.   It would also give me a chance to stop off in Vancouver and visit family.  Might have to come up on the Euomillions lottery to fund it, but I'll add it to the List anyway.

Thailand would be nice, also Australia and New Zealand, places I've never been to but always quite fancied.  I'd like to see more of Scotland - Edinburgh was a good trip some years back (twice in fact), but I'd like to visit the Highlands and Islands.  France too has its appeals - apart from some business trips and a birthday weekend to Paris a few years back, plus two school day trips to Calais sixty odd years ago, I've seen nothing of the country.

Ah, well......we will see what the future brings.  in the meantime, stay safe and happy travellin'.