Travel: Destination anywhere

There is an old saying that if you want things to happen you should put them in writing. Over the years I have thought of the places I would to travel to, the cities I have yet to discover and journeys I have yet to make.

Before my son was born in 2008 traveling for me was a much more light-hearted affair. My desire to visit a certain destination was easily satiated by buying a cheap ticket, flinging a few bits of clothing in a suitcase or even just a rucksack and booking a cheap hotel online. Since my little boy arrived however, the trips started to involve visiting the granparents in London frequently (which we love) The costs doubled in terms of flights, baggage, food. And so naturally just jetting off and doing it often took a back seat.

I am a big fan of Easyjet. In fact when I book a trip within Europe I literally don't even research the prices of other airlines. Recently Easyjet have added quite a few exotic locations that leave from my closest airport, Geneva, Switzerland. I find it amazing that I can now get to Fez, Morrocco or Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt and still have change left over from 100 sfr (70 Euros) for a cafe at the airport.

Recently I took a look at all the places I could go to from Geneva with Easyjet. I wrote them down in my notepad and crossed out a few that didn't interest me for some reason or another.

Here are the destinations that made the cut:

Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Faro, Ibiza, Madrid, Stockholm, Rome

Paris.

It is always usually winter months that I crave freedom and adventure. It is lovely to look on the net or in books at breathtaking beaches, lovely old towns, to dream of spanish winter-sun.

It is fun to check flight prices and make a theoretical agenda. This time i decided to make an itinerary of a dream trip across europe. Not just look at flights but also find the best hotels or hostels in the area, and research the top ten things to do there and choose the ones that would interest my son and I the most. My little boy is 3 years old, so there are some options that are some-what limited (Going to the theatre, bars and clubs at night, shared dorm in a hostel) but I couldn't imagine leaving him behind with family. he makes each trip so special and is actually a wonderful and easy travel partner.

I am a Libran, so I tend to balance each option to anything in my mind and weigh up all the opinions, suggestions before ultimately arriving at a decision. The 'Dream Trip' project takes me a long time, even just for the initial rough outlines. For example, should I aim for 1 year? 6 months? 8 months? As you can imagine, financially there is a big difference in budget for each of these durations. Then comes another choice: to try and find work during the trip or some other way to fund it? Would I risk hostels with my son or should I stick to economy hotels?

Unless I win the lottery I am not quite ready to leave for the airport yet, to say the least. :-)

But one can dream......