The Grand Tour or Why I Spend Lunchbreaks Daydreaming

I've had a bit of a travelling bug for years. I enjoy seeing new places, learning new things. It's not a case of seeing as much as I can just for the sake of saying I've been there. It's an innate curiosity about how things work, why things are the way they are...

God, that sounds so... rah.. Oh, yah, I'm like, totally in love with, like, travelling. Yah.

Let's try again, shall we? When I go on holiday, I like to do things. I've been on an entire ONE beach holiday in my entire life and I spent a large part of that snorkelling and feeding breadsticks to tiny fish. I can't just go somewhere and sit still. Not all day every day for a week. When I was a kid, holidays consisted of a week or so on a farm or in a little cottage with walking and museums and castles. Not lounging around on a beach all day.

Let's face it, though, sunbathing isn't a good thing with my genes anyway. Sunburn with a side of ouch, anyone?

Point is, by the time I trotted off to uni, I'd visited maybe... a dozen or so counties in England, plus a couple of holidays to Scotland and another couple to Wales. In 18 years. There's still vast tracts of Scotland and Wales to visit, nevermind the great swathe of Home Counties and Welsh Marches. This is the thing, really - I have lived in the UK my entire life (save for a year in Australia, but more on that in a mo) and there are still so many places within my home country that I haven't been. There will always be places here that I want to explore. I'm thinking Stonehenge at Summer Solstice and an island hop around the Hebrides. At the very least.

And then there's all the places around the world that I want to visit. I studied in Australia for a year while I was at uni. Lived in Hobart, Tasmania, which is a lovely little place. Let's just say that again - A YEAR. I barely covered the eastern half of Tasmania, which is, aside from being lovely, really rather small by Aussie standards. Half an island in a year. And don't get me started on the Mainland. I went gadding off with a friend over the summer and then later with my family. Nearly 5 weeks all told. Guess how much I covered?

More than 10,000km. Including flights. It's huge. And that only included a trip to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns. It is INSANELY HUGE.

So huge, in fact, that I couldn't even begin to cover Western Australia or the Top End around Darwin. So I need to go back.

And then there's New Zealand. I took a trip there last year with my best friend and my sister. It's why I started this blog in the first place - just as a record of all the stupid, amazing things we did. Three weeks, we gave ourselves. Thought that'd be enough to cover the highlights.

Turns out, three weeks is probably enough time to do a half-decent job of just one of the two main islands. So I need to go back there as well.

Oh, and then I went to Iceland. In winter. So barely got out of Reykjavik. Surprisingly big place, Iceland. Loads of amazing things to see - glaciers, lagoons of icebergs, volcanoes that wiped out vast chunks of 18th Century Iceland...

Yeah. Need to go back there. In summer when the roads are open.

Iceland's probably a good example of how my brain approaches travelling, really. It was a cloudy flight on the way in, but just as we came in towards Keflavik Airport the coastline came into view for a few minutes and, well, it was amazing. Of course, I'm sure my first thought was "wow", but pretty soon my brain toddled off on a tangent along the lines of "well, that's clearly volcanic. I wonder where the volcano is/was that made it?"

It's probably a bit sad and overly geeky, but these things really fascinate me. I like knowing how things work. I like the science, the history and the myth behind things.

And there's so much more to discover. There always will be more to discover.

To which end, I have decided that I need to undertake a grand tour. Not the faffy nonsense all those noble types used to do around Europe, but a real grand tour. Taking in as much as possible, without blowing the bank and without rushing things.

I figure this means at least a year of travelling. I want to take in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, plus part of the US, all of which are enormous places that you can't do in a week. And they're just the big bits - there's all sorts of other plans taking shape. Things like rail-tripping around Europe, sailing around Tierra Del Fuego and seeing sunrise and sunset over as many places as I can because, let's face it, there are few things more beautiful than the light as the sun hits the horizon.

If I could, I'd pack up and leave now, but I'm just not that spontaneous a person. I'd love to think I am, but it's a lie. I like order and routine (although my parents would tell you otherwise regarding my tidiness...) and more than that, I actually enjoy the planning that goes into a trip.

So I have a notebook (or 3), a budgetting spreadsheet and a wishlist of travel guides. This time next year - that's it. I'm off. Out of here. Adios.