My 2019 Travel Plans

January is supposed to be one of the most popular months for booking holidays, it seems we're all struck with the January blues and itching to get away! I wouldn't say I have the travel bug but I definitely enjoy the time off (or time away I should say as I don't think I ever really take time off from work ever). Somehow I've ended up booking two trips so far this year and as if that wasn't enough, I'm also heading on a snowy getaway later on in the month! So 2019 is quickly filling up with travel plans which has been completely unexpected.

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I really didn't plan on travelling much this year especially after going over my Instagram statistics from 2018 (read more about that in my post: My Year (2018) On Instagram: The Statistics). Obviously it isn't something that is going to dictate my life but I just don't really have the desire to travel - or at least I didn't think I did - and so travelling hasn't been high on my radar. I'm also determined to buy a flat (fingers crossed) in London within the next couple of years so I really want to focus on saving. I'm such a homebody and I know how much I would value having my own space and honestly, I would happily forgo travelling for a year if it meant getting closer to my goal.

With that said, so many of my friends seem to have caught the travel bug this year and somehow I've ended up booking two trips already with friends - completely out of the blue - and both of which I had to book on impulse because I knew if I thought about it too much I'd probably end up changing my mind. So I'll be travelling to at least 4 different countries in 2019. Two of these are city breaks, a weekend in Amsterdam and another in Copenhagen! I'm not hugely into exploring new cities and city breaks in general to be honest. I genuinely think it's down to all the planning involved, I really don't enjoy researching trips and the thought of creating an itinerary is enough to put me off! But both of these destinations were suggestions from friends and I'll be travelling in groups so I'll definitely be leaving all the planning to my friends. At least as much as possible, I'm one of those people who enjoys planning things so this is quite a conflict of interests for me.

Anyway, I've been to Amsterdam once before on a work trip (in 2016 with Henry Holland and Debenhams, read more about that in my blog post #HenryInHolland The Reveal) and loved the short time I spent there. We didn't really get the opportunity to explore the city, only managing to squeeze in a canal tour during our few free hours on the trip, so there is still so much I want to do and see in Amsterdam. It was the first time I had ever been and I've been itching to go back ever since, so I'm really pleased to be heading there in June for a weekend with my boyfriend and our friends. I hope it's as good as I remember!

Copenhagen wasn't on my radar if I'm being completely honest but my best friend had her eyes set on Copenhagen and she was desperate to book a weekend city break so I caved and ended up buying the flight tickets myself (a very impulse decision). With the dates set and flights booked, now all that's left is finding a place to stay and begin planning our three days in the city. I really don't know much about Copenhagen but I hope I end up loving it! I'm going with two of my closest friends too, it will be the first time we go on holiday together which I'm really looking forward to.

Oh and seeing as I mentioned I'm going away later this month, I may as well fill you in on it! This was actually booked sometime last year. My auntie and uncle live in Scotland and my boyfriend and I have been meaning to visit for the longest time but finding dates that suited all four of us was a challenge. So when we finally settled on some dates we took the time off and booked the tickets! I haven't been in a few years (I can't actually remember the last time I went to Scotland, it's definitely been a few years) so I'm looking forward to visiting again and we have some exciting things planned for the week which I'll of course share with you once I'm back.

So those are my travel plans for 2019 so far. I'll probably be booking my annual trip to Portugal within the next few months, I don't really want to go for as long as I usually do. I typically go for around 3 weeks but this year I'm thinking about going for a slightly shorter time but we'll see! I want to go with my boyfriend and potentially fly to Lisbon and stay there a few days or do the usual flight to Porto but spend a few days there... but I also would like to fly straight to the Algarve for some time at the beach so currently the possibilities are endless!

What are your travel plans for 2019?