My Top Five Holiday Destinations

Fuerteventura will always be one of my favourite places to visit, for the rest of my life. I used to go on holiday a lot here with my family and have frequented a fair few of it’s infamous ‘all-inclusive’ resorts, I mean who doesn’t love free cocktails by the pool all day? But in the past few years, I’ve surfed and scuba dived here a lot as well. With lovely warm water, amazing swells and a mixture of beach and reed breaks this tiny island really is an absolute paradise.

If you combine all that, the island has a lovely breeze so isn’t actually as stiflingly hot as you might expect and it still seems to be much less popular with tourists than some of its sister islands. Now if you’re one for partying every night on vacation then this place isn’t for you but if like me, you’re looking for a new place that could become your own personal paradise then this little island might be just that!


Continuing on with the surfing theme, I actually learnt how to surf at Gwithian and rode my first waves here, so I think just for that it will always hold a special place in my heart. The beach itself is right at the very edge of Cornwall and apart from a tiny village a pub the entire area is particularly untouched.

I visited this beach on a few holidays growing up but it wasn’t until last year that I actually went back twice through the summer and each time spent every waking moment there surfing or reading on a bench in the sand dunes by the prettiest air BnB I’ve ever booked while the sun sets over the horizon in the middle of the entire bay. I think if I was ever asked to bottle ‘happiness’ I’d probably put this beach in a jar because even just thinking about it has me smiling like a Cheshire Cat!


Now taking a dramatic leap across the pond and to the other side of the world, I’m fortunate enough to have been able to visit the Grand Canyon and yes, it’s everything that everyone I knew who’d been before had told me.

When I had the pleasure of seeing this natural wonder for myself, it was actually the last stop on a road trip I’d been on from San Fransisco through Death Valley and Vegas all before we even got here. Anyone might’ve thought I’d be too tired to go hiking around its rim or into the canyon itself but just being here filled me with energy.

From sitting on the edge of the rim laughing with friends to swimming in hidden waterfalls amongst its famous orange rocks, this is a place that is so magical and hard to comprehend it can still look like a movie backdrop even when you’re stood in front of it. If you ever have the chance to visit this jaw-dropping place you won’t regret going for even a second.


After sunny Arizona, taking a trip to the snowy fjords in Norway is a trip you won’t forget either. Now if you’re not familiar with the word ‘fjord’ they’re these huge big lakes between mountain’s (think lochs in Scotland but on a bigger scale) and they were all made when glaciers moved and eroded the land into ‘U’ shaped valleys hundreds of metres deep. What’s left is a landscape that really seems to go out of its way to make you feel tiny and inconsequential to the universe.

The more I think about this tiny village I stayed in called, Kinsarvik, I start smiling. I’d just had a messy break-up and this trip was so action-packed that it was the best possible way to just forget about my life back home and just had a good time.

The landscape here is just so unique and the people were some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered, especially while on upper decks of ferries (the apparent transport option of choice). I’d also suggest canoeing on one the many fjords as well, there was something particularly humbling about being on an open expanse of water hundreds of metres deep while being towered by mountains thousand’s of metres high…

As an even bigger bonus, take a mountain train up a mountain and make sure to have a snowball fight on an otherwise empty platform while you wait for the train back down again. No matter how old you are you’ll be sure to enjoy this part of the world.

Now finally, my most recent overseas trip was to the wonderful Naples Bay where I was lucky enough to stay on the outskirts of Sorrento. Now besides, it’s famous limoncello that I had copious amounts of while staying here, this corner of the world is so full of history and heritage. Besides the glaringly obvious Pompeii ruins, there are so many other things to do here!

From taking a boat to the island of Capri, you can take a trek to see the ruins of a Roman emperor’s summer getaway villa, or drive the roads that featured in Mamma Mia if that’s more your style? Through to visiting the lesser known ruins of Herculaneum that are much more preserved than the tourist trap of Pompeii or if the sun gets a bit too much there’s always the secret underground tunnel system in Naples that’s always worth a visit.

When I visited here, I didn’t know who I was going with at all and naturally I was extremely nervous but I came out with two of my best friends and a near-permanent food coma after eating so much pizza and gelato. Once again my inner geographer was over the moon that she got to walk up a real volcano and look into its crater but what was even more impressive was walking into the amphitheatre at Pompeii through the old gladiator’s entrance. That was just one of many breathtaking moments from a trip I’ll look back on with such fond memories for the rest of my life.

Now if you weren’t sure where to spend your summer this year I hope that I’ve given you a few ideas, but if not then wherever you might be travelling to, make sure to live in the moment and enjoy it!