It’s mid November, it’s very wet and I’m mildly hungover. As I sit here in my kitchen looking out at the grey, bleak weather I realise that for the next ten days I’m going to be thinking about my housemate a LOT and not because I fancy her (though she’s pretty hot) but because she’s in Mexico and frankly, I’m insanely jealous. At a time when the rest of us are bracing ourselves for the winter, the marathon of office parties and the inevitable blow to the bank account, she is sitting on a beach in a luxurious gourmet all inclusive. I wasn’t sure why I felt so devastated about the whole thing until I realised that I have no more holidays planned. It’s a bit of a ridiculous reaction, I’ve had so many holidays this year, In fact I’m incredibly self indulgent in this particular area of my life and don’t get me wrong, it’s not all luxurious villas in the south of France – I’ve been camping in Wales and swimming in a very cold Irish sea this summer too (and loved it) – but I do LOVE a trip. A new place new to discover, an opportunity to experience new things and to hear someone else’s story. I’m so greedy for it, I want to gobble it all up! When it comes to travelling, my appetite is quite literally insatiable.  And it’s never been any different for me.

As a child of the 80s growing up in the Welsh Valleys, going on holiday was  the most exciting event in the family calendar. For the parents it was the thing that broke the monotony of the daily grind, the thing that got you through the night and weekend shifts. For us kids it was the allure of the unknown, getting on a plane (a plane!) and having no idea what adventures were in front of you. All you knew was it would be hot, you’d be allowed to order from the adults menu in a restaurant, you’d make friends with other kids that didn’t speak your language and your mother would make you wear suncream under you t-shirt before getting in the water (why? WHY?!). In short, it was an escape, a chance to spend two weeks living an alternate life.

Another family holiday, I’m not sure where – likely to be Greece or one of the Canary islands…

Being an only child I was extremely fortunate to have at least one holiday abroad every year. They were almost always package holidays – using lour local travel agent (who happened to be mother) or, if Dad was pushing the boat out and we were getting a cheeky week for the second time that year, via good old fashioned teletext. Yes Milennials, we may have only had 4 channels on our terrestrial television sets…but we could check holidays during the adverts!   Admittedly there was a downside to teletext holidays, like all attempts to get out of the country at the last minute in the 80s, they were ‘allocation on arrival’ which meant there was a strong chance you’d end up in an apartment on the side of a volcano. But what did we care, this was holiday number two – life was good.

The holiday rituals were also something to be treasured but my fav was the clothes catalogue!! Exactly 6 weeks before the holiday my mother would hand me two catalogues and tell me to list out the clothes I wanted for the holiday (squeal!). This was extremely important for 9 year old me to get right, this where I chose what I looked like on the international stage! My mother would spend the rest of the year paying off the catalogue bill but it was worth it. Thinking about it, if someone gave me a catalogue now I’d probably throw it on the living room floor, drop to my belly, stick my tongue out the side of my mouth and get scribbling…

Girls Trip – First visit to NYC! probably my only non-package holiday experience until I was 20. My aunty was living there at the time and one of my mother’s travel agent perks was cheaper flights.

These days, I live in London and trips abroad are much different – I tend to avoid package holidays like the plague and I don’t much care what I wear – but the excitement and passion for being in a different location, trying something new and meeting people who don’t speak my language but somehow still managing to connect with them, is still very much there. I’ve decided to start writing about some of these trips here, partly to savour all the amazing places I go to which will hopefully serve to stop me from getting to jealous of others! if you come across this feel free to let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you.

Miss Lily