Places I've Been

A while ago, I wrote a blog post on the places I'd like to visit. Since I don't think I'll be able to travel anywhere this year, I thought I'd create a blog post on some of the places I've been to in the past. I haven't been to lots of different countries or travelled the world or anything like that (although I think that would be pretty cool), but I have seen some sights and been to some pretty cool places so I thought it could be nice to share them here. I've gathered a selection of a few of the most memorable places I've been over the years.

Disneyland Paris (2009)

In 2009, my family and I went to Disneyland Paris and to this day I still think that it was one of my all time favourite holidays. It truly felt so magical and like stepping into the set of a movie. I loved the actual theme park itself but I also loved the studios. Seeing the behind-the-scenes on movies has been something which has always fascinated me so to see some behind-the-scenes things for Disney movies amazed my little nine year old self immensely. We would arrive pretty much as soon as the park opened and then stay until it was closing. This was the holiday where I started keeping a 'holiday journal' because I never wanted to forget the trip to Disneyland Paris and had wanted to remember every little moment. Before going to Disneyland, we had already been in France for about three weeks - we had stayed in a cute cottage for two weeks and then went to a place with a pool for a week before driving to Paris. We were only at Disneyland for three days but they were three of the most fun-filled, magical days ever. I'd really love to go back one day and experience that Disney magic once again.

Tenerife (2012)

Back in 2012, I went on a big family holiday to Tenerife (when I saw "big family holiday" I mean that there were my brother, parents, aunty, uncle, two of my cousins and my Gran and Grandad all together in the one house in Tenerife for a week). We went for my Grandparents Golden wedding anniversary - although we went a couple years earlier than the actual Golden wedding year as my Grandad seemed to be convinced that he wouldn't actually make it till then yet he's still alive and kicking in 2020😄. This was the first (and only) holiday we all ever went on together and it was great! We went in October but the weather was amazing and I loved the black sand beach that was close to the house we were staying in. We went everywhere on foot but everything was close so it was no problem. There were lots of amazing restaurants and cute little places round about.

Spain (2014)

I went to Spain in 2013 and 2014 but the 2014 holiday has a special place in my memories for all of the amazing sunrises I saw while there. I'd set my alarm for 5.50am every morning in the hopes that I'd see the beautiful sunrises. The view from our little villa was amazing, we could see right out to all the hills and it was the perfect place to watch the sunrise. There was a little stray cat that lived near and he was mean and grumpy to everyone if he saw you during the day, but in the early hours of the morning he would come and sit with me and watch the sunset (I'm very allergic to cats, but I honestly didn't even care😄). It was beautiful and the outside always smelled so lovely early in the morning from all the flowers opening back up again.

Italy (2015)

There were so many little things about my trip to Italy that could have made it a not-so-enjoyable trip, but there were also lots of moments that made it a really great holiday overall. The house we were staying in was practically in the middle of nowhere and there was an abandoned restaurant nearby. I had joked that there were Vampires living in it since there were old cloves of garlic strung along the front gates of the house, then one evening my brother and i saw bats flying from the direction of the old restaurant😄. My family and I had also stumbled across the Leaning Tower of Pisa by accident - we had wanted to see it but had thought that it was going to be really difficult to get to and dad was already nervous about driving around Italy (after multiple near misses with people driving around the Italian hills). One day we were coming back from somewhere (I can't even remember where now) and we saw a market going on near the side of the road and one of my favourite things to do on holiday is wander around the little market stalls, so we stopped to have a look. The market itself was pretty large so we just thought we were getting deeper and deeper into it all and then all of a sudden, through a little archway, my dad spotted the tower. We thought it wasn't actually the real one to begin with since it had taken us all by surprise but low and behold, there it was!

Majorca (2016)

Majorca is actually the first ever place I had been to abroad. It was where myself and my family would go every October break. We went for five consecutive years and then began holiday-ing in the summer instead but we went elsewhere since Majorca was just a little too expensive to go to during summer time. Back in 2016, we decided to go again in October. My dad had been ill that summer so we weren't even sure if we'd be able to go on holiday so being able to go in October was amazing. It was also a little strange going back to Majorca, we went to the same area we'd always gone to in the past but I was now seeing it through older eyes. Trying to put the images and memories I had in my head of Majorca to what I was seeing while there was odd but also nostalgic. I could remember the beach and the little town and it's local restaurants but yet it still seemed like a whole other place (which was great because it meant that it felt like I was experiencing everything for the first time again just like when I was younger). Majorca is such a nice place to visit and it definitely has the holiday vibes I always think of when I think of holidays.

London (2016)

In December of 2016, I went on a trip to London with my school. I was in my last year of high school and was determined to do something that I would have held myself back from in previous years at school and so, to push myself out of my comfort zone, I signed up for the London trip with my psychology class. The trip was for psychology and history students. I'm going to be honest, I didn't 100% enjoy the trip - I wasn't with close friends since they didn't take psychology or history and I was feeling really socially anxious the whole trip which made it difficult for me to talk to the people I was there with. However, there were some good moments such as watching The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre (it was amazing! One of the best musical shows I've seen live). On the last day of the trip, we were allowed three hours to shop and explore in London which actually turned out to be pretty fun. Since we went in December, everywhere was Christmassy which of course I loved. I'd really love to go back to London and see some proper sights and go to the Harry potter Studios.

Aviemore (2017)

I went to Aviemore with my group of friends not long after we had finished up high school. We decided that we'd rather do an active/exploring holiday and one that we could drive around so we chose to go to Aviemore which was a four hour car journey away from our hometown (so we were close to home, but still far enough away that it felt like we were somewhere else entirely). The weather was amazing when we went so it actually felt like we were abroad. We packed so much into our short week there. We went to Landmark, TreeZone, a river to swim in, the woods to explore. There was nine of us and we rented a large house for the week. It was one of the best weeks ever. Under the same roof, with all of my closest friends, having a blast because we were feeling the freedom of high school being over. It was amazing and I really hope that we get the chance to do something like it again in the future.

France (2019)

I feel like I've spoken about this trip so many times on my blog but it was honestly the number one best holiday I've ever been on (and that's saying something😄). We spent the full month of July 2019 in France. I've been to France six times in my life. I love it there. There's so many places to see and visit and explore and so many places there that I would love to go. We had plans to go again this July but I'm hopeful that we'll be back again at some point or another.

Where have been some of your favourite places to visit?

Bye for now, xo