Travel Dreams - Blog Every Day in May.

It's no secret that I enjoy a bit of travelling, I can easily spend hours day dreaming about where I'd like to go and places I've already enjoyed visiting.

My first holiday abroad was before I could even remember  so I don't have any fear of flying, ferries or trains... my biggest fear is that in the future I won't be able to travel any more with a little one in tow! (Not that I've travelled all that far in recent years.) 

Last year I managed to get to Brussels and the year before that I enjoyed a few days in Amsterdam, both cities were lovely.  I might be one of those weird people who love city breaks and I keep pondering how I'd manage to swing a tour of Europe. Maybe start in the north and work my way down to Barcelona or Madrid....  Then again I've heard great things about Germany and I'd love to see St Petersburg and Moscow after learning about the 1917 revolution as a teen.

The foodie part of me would also love to visit Mexico, India, China and Thailand to sample my favourite foods in their countries of origin, although the realistic part of me things I would melt. 
The realist in me also pipes up about the heat when I consider visiting the pyramids in Egypt or going belly dancing in Turkey... why don't you go to Italy and see the Colosseum and Pompei instead it suggests?  How about Australia? You could see a Kola or a Kangaroo...

I'd also like to revisit America one day, see a bit more of New York and maybe have a road trip from there to San Francisco... obviously this is a dream as Paul would never consent to that but in an ideal world we'd hire a Winnebago and hit the road.

Another place I'd love to go is Iceland to see the Geysers, bathe in hot springs, watch whales and admire the northern lights whilst looking out for Bjork. I also hear that they've started doing All Tomorrow's Parties in Iceland too... So basically I have a few travel dreams, I even went so far as to make this (very embarrassing) video a few years ago to try to win a travel internship with STA travel...

The job was to travel round the world for six months, make and upload videos about the travels to encourage others to do the same. I thought that a bit of humiliation would be worth it to see the world! (Paul was quite glad I didn't get it and run to the other side of the globe.)

So those are a few of my travel dreams, what are yours?

2011 according to You'll get what you're given!

Inspired by Betty Bee and her new year post I thought I'd do a little 2011 round up.

This has been a year of new experiences and learning new things. It started in January when we started looking for a new house and approached the bank about getting a mortgage, those felt like scary times but it turned out we had nothing to worry about!  I also passed my first aid course in January and had a great night out with Emma and Dee!

By February we had decided on the house we wanted put an offer in and it was accepted! I was so excited! I also went to see Roddy Woomble in Wales.

I also went to see Jonny at the Harley.

March was a crazy one at work but going to see Elbow at Sheffield Arena more than made up for that!

In April my Sister, her boyfriend and my Mum all went to see the Jim Jones Revue at the Plug in Sheffield, the gig was great rock and roll fun.

This was also the month when I went to my first Steel City Roller Girls bout, they lost but I was hooked! It was also the month when I went with my Mum and sister to Amsterdam for a week.  I hadn't been before but I enjoyed every minute of it... well nearly I got stuck on a tram once and got left behind on the tram platform another time... but other than that it was great!

In May I started practising for a bellydancing show and spent a lot of my free time trying to sort out arrangements for buying the house. June, however was slightly more interesting! In June my poor old Micra started to die and I ended up buying my Corsa for myself as a birthday present.  I also danced in my first and possibly only bellydancing show, as I got half the moves wrong.  It was great fun though! We ended the week with a road trip in the new car down to Bristol to see our friends and then to Cornwall to see The Flaming Lips play the Eden Project.

 

Then in July I started writing this blog, went to another roller derby bout, watched Dylan Moran, me and my boyfriend signed the contract for our house! I also went to Nottingham to celebrate my sister's birthday and caught a few bands at Tramlines! To round off the month we finally got the keys to our first house.

August was then mainly spent packing up our flat, getting the electrics sorted in the house and doing the odd bit of decorating. We finally moved in early September and then celebrated watching the Kat Jackson Group play The Plug and then the next week we went to the Leadmill to watch Slow Club.

I also had my first taste of Nottingham's cake club in September and hope to go again at some point next year!

I didn't go to any gigs in October but I did go to my first Spa! I went with one of my friends for her birthday and then followed it up with mini burgers at Bungalows and Bears. Yummy! The next week myself and my partner celebrated our 7 year anniversary with a trip to The Bay of Bengal Indian Restaurant which did great food.
November was mainly a month of staying in and trying to do NaNoWriMo.  It was my first attempt at writing a novel so I decided to jump in at the deep end! By the end of the month I managed to write 47,000 words which is the most I've ever managed.  As well as trying to write a novel I also had one of my friends visit and we went to see Bellowhead at the Leadmill.

I wasn't entierly sure what to expect beforehand but was pleasantly surprised!

Last but not least December! This month of preparing for Christmas whilst also looking into the New Year, despite all that I found time to sing Carols at The Greystones and take my dad to see the Lancashire Hotpots!

It was a good laugh!

Now December is almost done but I'm going to try and get just one more gig in! Wish me luck!


I hope 2011 treated you all well and that 2012 is even better for you! Happy New Year from You'll Get What You're Given!