Post written by Laura
Happy New Year once more 🙂
The years definitely seem to be accelerating… it doesn’t seem long at all since we published ‘Travel Plans for 2023‘ and here I am once again at the beginning of another new year and getting excited about a fun and adventure packed 2024.
For the beginning of this new year, we have a few more trips than usual already booked. The hesitancy of booking too many trips as we all experienced 2 or 3 years ago has been all but forgotten.
Here is a line up of our grand travel plans for 2024:
- 4 nights in Tunisia as a short winter sun break
- Weekend of wine tasting in Oxfordshire
- 2 weeks in India (Laura solo trip)
- 2 weeks in Borneo for us both
- 1 week in Tromso in the far north of Norway
As well as the above we have a couple more in the pipeline… we are finalising dates and details for a trip to the Lake District and another stint of Italy’s Via Francigena.
I have been to Tunisia before and had a lovely family holiday spending 2 weeks in Sousse in August 2002. This time the plan is for Chris and I to stay in Hammamet which is further to the north and close to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
I am incredibly excited to be visiting India for the first time, somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for many years. India is such a vast country and as I only have 2 weeks my first priority is to begin in Delhi and to focus on the north. I booked this adventure with Intrepid which is coming up in a couple of months. The trip involves long train journey’s up into the foothills of the Himalayas and visits to some amazing places such as the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Dharmasala, the home of the Dalai Lama.
The other main far flung adventure is to Malaysian Borneo! Finally 🙂 Chris and I first had this planned for our 10th wedding anniversary but that was in 2020 and that plan was soon scuppered by the pandemic. We both loved our first visit to Malaysia back in November 2013 and are very much looking forward to exploring a different part of this fascinating and diverse country. We are doing this completely independently and we’ve booked all of the flights and most of the accommodations so far.
This will be my 4th visit to Norway having previously had long weekends in Oslo, the Trolltunga and Haugesund back in 2005. This will be the first time as a holiday rather than a short break so I’m looking forward to a slightly more extended time to explore a small corner in the north of this beautiful country.
One big source of inspiration is my annual visit to the Destinations and Travel Show at Olympia every February. This is an extensive travel show where all of the main tour companies exhibit and where you can also pick up a bargain. I booked my trip to Armenia and Georgia while at the show last year and received a 20% discount from G Adventures.
My travel plans may seem excessive to some and at times people comment on the number of trips I take. As mentioned before, this is a lifestyle choice and living a modest life in an apartment and driving an old car frees up the means to do so. While I am currently in good health I feel it’s essential to take this opportunity to fit in as many adventures as I can afford and to travel as far and as widely as possible within the constraints of my full time job. Who knows that the future holds and for how long this will be possible?
Inspirational advice I found on social media from an 80 year old sums this up very nicely:
“The last quarter comes faster than you can anticipate. Do the things you still want to do as soon as possible. Live for today as there is no promise you will see tomorrow. Life is truly a gift. Your choice. Be happy.”
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