January is a great time of year – the days start getting longer, everyone is full of motivation and, best of all, I get 25 shiny new days of holiday to use.
For me this January is a time for planning. And I LOVE planning. In fact, I spend a lot of time planning trips I’m not even going on or trips I know are unlikely to come to fruition, just to research destinations, routes and cities and expand my knowledge of Europe.
I am also a self-confessed guidebook hoarder and have added two more to my collection this year already.
I do genuinely believe planning can be just as fun and rewarding as the actual trip itself, so I thought I would share some of my current plans.
When in doubt, buy a Lonely Planet
My aims
While I didn’t make any travel-related New Year’s resolutions for 2014, I do have two general aims.
Do more UK day-trips
It seems I vow to do more of this on an annual basis, but it’s something I really need to prioritise, not just as a cheaper way to travel, but also to see more of England and the UK.
One area I have in my sights is Lancashire. Manchester was a part of Lancashire until 1974 when Greater Manchester was created, and while I’ve seen my fair share of the latter (including far too many trips to Wigan), I’ve seen relatively little of the former. Lancashire gave the world the industrial revolution and has had a huge influence on Britain throughout history; I’m hoping trips to Lancaster in February and Blackpool later in the year will help me understand why.
Visit as many new countries as possible
It’s been a long-standing goal of mine to visit every country that has a capital city on European soil before I reach the age of 30. This seemed an easier quest in 2011 when I visited five new countries, but I have only managed to add another four in the two years since, leaving me with 26 new countries (27 including Iceland and 28 if you count the Faroe Islands) to visit before 9th May 2020. Therefore, I have plans this year to hit some regions of Europe I’ve never explored.
So many countries, so little time
My plans
January/February
I am very excited to say that I will be heading off very shortly on my first visit to Switzerland. At the end of the month, I will be flying into Zürich and heading to a small town near the border with Austria for work (so near, in fact, that we’ll be staying at a hotel in Austria and crossing the border into Switzerland every day – life on the continent, eh?). After my work duties end, I will be spending my first bit of 2014 holiday time by first travelling to everyone’s favourite principality, Liechtenstein, and then back to Zürich for a day and half.
My only concrete plans in Switzerland so far consist of tracking down Lenin’s old house and seeing some cracking Dadaist artwork at the Kunsthaus. Suggestions are welcome as always!
Zurich
March
March will mark the five-year anniversary of my trip to Beijing, which completely opened my eyes to travel and proved a huge turning point in my life. Unfortunately, an anniversary trip with close friends I met there has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts and so will most likely take place in September instead.
However it’s not all bad news, as I am currently in the throes of organising a weekend break to Copenhagen with the biggest Scandi-noir fan I know. I’ve wanted to take advantage of easyJet’s great value Manchester-Copenhagen flights for over a year now so I’m excited to be finally visiting Denmark – the last country on my Scandinavian list.
March will also mark Continental Breakfast Travel’s first Birthday, so I will have to think of a special way to celebrate!
Copenhagen
May
Much like May 2013, May 2014 will be a big month for the blog.
The weekend of 10th May will be a heavy one as my housemate and I combine our joint birthday celebrations (on the 9th and 10th May respectively) with our annual Eurovision party – the final of which will be held on 10th. (Anyone willing to bet on a UK-victory?)
Then in mid-May I’ll be heading off on what is likely to be my biggest trip of the year. I’ll finally be heading to the Balkans and getting my first taste of former Yugoslavia, where I’ll be taking in Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and possibly Montenegro. The exact itinerary hasn’t been nailed down yet, but this is an area I’ve been dying to see for a long time.
I bought my first guidebook for the Western Balkans back in summer 2011, and after studying the break-up of Yugoslavia in my final year of uni, I planned an extended tour around the region – a trip which never came to fruition for the best possible reason – I was offered my job. In the time since then I’ve clocked up two more guidebooks on the Balkans and am happy to say I will, at long last, be able to see the cities I studied in the flesh.
It’s all in the planning
So there you have it – the fruits of my beloved planning so far. Of course, it’s possible these plans will change, but right now, this is what I’m hoping for up to May. As ever, if you have been to any of these regions, comments and suggestions are more welcome!
Exciting stuff! If you go to Mostar, stay the night. I went on a daytrip and loved it, but regret not staying over. You can have the old bridge all to yourself in the morning before all the tour groups arrive.
Thanks for the tip – plan at the minute is to stay for two nights – read about some incredible tours around buildings damaged by the wars – can’t wait!
How do you usually do UK day trips? Do you plan/do them yourself or go with companies? I’d love to hear any recommendations you have.
I normally just head out by myself. I live in Manchester and have a lot of friends based around the country so it’s not too difficult for me to get around 🙂
Your plans sound amazing, I am incredibly jealous!! I’m sure that you will absolutely love the Balkans in particular, they are my favourite region of Europe that I’ve visited so far… enjoy!!
It’s not quite on the same scale of your epic adventure! (Did you get round to posting a map of your travels?)
I’m so excited to get to the Balkans. I had plans to see all of it in huge detail on my big trip, but hopefully will manage to cover the same ground in smaller doses instead.
Some great plans there – I spent a week in Montenegro last year and have definitely got the taste for exploring more of the Balkans now, so look forward to reading about how you get on.
I’m another travel guide/planning fan – thought I had my plans for the start of the year fairly sorted but they’re all a bit up in the air now, though that does mean a bit more planning to be done!
Can never go wrong with more planning!
How did you find Montenegro? Is it easy enough to get around – would only be there for 3 days if we did go and I’d be eager to get to Cetinje and Sveti Stefan from Kotor in that time.
We stayed in Kotor and had a car so did trips out from there (though you can also see some of the other towns in the valley and the islands by boat) – Sveti Stefan is only about 40 mins away from Kotor and Cetinje an hour or so from either Sveti Stefan or Kotor (via the mountain road), so you could easily do the two in a circuit on one day.
Day Tripping is an underrated treasure. It’s one of my Moscow resolutions for 2014 – I’ve been to so few amazing places around here, just bc I am lazy. I’ve already done two over my January break 🙂
I couldn’t agree more – have done a few here and there, but have lapsed recently. Manchester is so well connected it’s a shame not to!