More Annual Leave, Please: October Travel Plans 2017

Pumped for take off.

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve written one of these posts, largely due to the fact that I haven’t left Australia in almost a year (and let me tell you something, it feels like a lot longer). Where does the time go? What is life?

Anyway, allow me a moment of naval gazing (although, isn’t that blogging by definition?) to share with you my upcoming travel plans for October (and a wee little bit of November). I am already ridiculously excited about this trip and writing about it will probably cause that feeling to intensify… which isn’t a bad thing!

Sunset from South East London.

London Calls

I don’t know exactly how to feel when I think about going back to London. I mean, mostly happy, obviously. But will I regret having left, or feel indifferent to the city that I called home for over two years?

Emotions aside, my London bucket list is loooooong and I’m looking forward to ticking off a few things that I never got around to doing before I left the city. Richmond, Kew Gardens maybe, a visit to the National Portrait Gallery and a TAXIDERMY CLASS!

Plus a lot of time whiling away the hours with my mates in British pubs. Although that possibly goes without saying.

Is this the greatest city in the world?

A New York State of Mind

Norwegian are my favourite airline for a multitude of reasons – they’re cheap, they fly to Svalbard and they treat you like a human being, not cattle just to name a few. Yet the reason I love them primarily, is they offer particularly inexpensive flights between NYC and LDN – I’ve seen flights for 200 quid round trip.

Due to this, it seemed like it would be almost offensive not to fly to my favourite city in the world for a handful of days (and I mean a handful… sadly it will only be three). Yet, this will be my third trip to the Big Apple, so I’m not feeling too sorry for myself.

I’ll also be staying in Brooklyn for the first time ever, having previously holed up shop in Manhattan and Harlem. It’s also the first time I’ll have to pay for accommodation – it’s clearly time to make more contacts in the city that never sleeps!

Downtown Atlanta in the wintertime.

Wedding Bells

From New York, I’ll be heading south to the American city that I think of as my “home very far away from home”, Atlanta GA. My good buddy from high school has lived there for five years and visiting him is always a lot of fun – even when we just hang out at his place, stuffing ourselves full of Tex Mex and binge-watching “Breaking Bad”. That’s all we did the last time I stayed over and it was terrific fun and coincidentally, the only holiday I’ve ever returned from feeling somewhat relaxed.

This particular trip is special – I’m heading to ATL for his wedding. It’s the first “destination” wedding I’ve ever been to (okay, it technically doesn’t fall under this category as they do live in the States… but I’m rolling with it, regardless). We’re all grown up now, that’s for sure.

The volcano Kilauea doing its thing on the Big Island.

The Big Island

And finally, I’ll be winding down for the last four days of my trip in Hawaii! It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit and it’s only taken five trips to America to finally set foot on its 50th state.

I’m flying in and out of Honolulu, but I’ll be spending the majority of my time on the Big Island. I’m staying in a B&B by the ocean, not far from Hilo and planning to rent a car to check out a few of the sights. I’ve heard pretty amazing things about the Big Island – many trusted sources have said it’s their favourite of all eight of the islands.

To say my expectations are sky high is an exaggeration and then some.

Also – LAVA FIELDS!!!!!

So, that’s it! It’s not a very long trip – I think I’m barely breaking three weeks and anticipate being jet lagged for probably the whole time. Yet, it’ll be a holiday filled with familiar faces and places, plus a little bit of undeniably gorgeous nature tacked on the end. Can’t go wrong with that.

Have any tips for must-sees and dos and that you’d like to share – particularly for Hawaii?