Hello World. It's Me, Sarah

I have four weeks off in November next year and I had all these plans of where I was going to go but now I am rethinking everything…

I’m not a very decisive person, especially when it comes to travel. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve announced I’m going to do some amazing trip and then I don’t end up doing it for one reason or another.

I had a trip planned for next year but rethinking finances I have decided that it is just going to be too expensive, so now I am looking at alternative ideas.

So far I have about 8 ideas rattling around my brain:

#1 New Zealand

I am always thinking about how I need to see more of the country I am from. Other than a recent one day trip to Wellington when I was home, I haven’t spent any time in the North Island since my nana turned 95 – which was in 2002. So I really need to explore more of the North Island.

That being said, there are places in the South Island that I haven’t been either – like Milford Sound for one. Plus I really want to go back to Dunedin – it’s been a while since I was there last too.

However, and I say this with love, New Zealand is freaking expensive. Driving can get very costly as the price of petrol in NZ is just ridiculous. The good thing, though is that I can mooch accommodation off my family members, who are scattered around the place (just not in the places I really want to visit. Thanks guys!!).

#2 Canada

Right, so my big plan for next year involved a train trip across Canada. Now, because I didn’t want to sit in a train seat for four days and actually wanted some kind of comfort, it was going to cost around AUD1800 for a single room. Which when you break it down is AUD450 per night! Yes ok, that does also include food but you literally stuck on a train for four days. Yes you can break it up by getting off at stations along the way but you then have to pay for accommodation in said places and work out what you are doing there.

It is a bucket list item of mine to do the train journey across Canada but I struggle to justify return flights to Canada just for a 4 day train journey. I had planned on extending the trip and taking the train down the West Coast of the US, stopping in Portland, Sacramento and finishing in LA but that’s a lot of train journeys and it can get pretty expensive.

#3 Europe

I have long felt that I need to branch out of my comfort zone and actually go somewhere other than the UK. Yes I did a little bit on 2015 but it kind of scared the bejeezus out of me if I’m being honest.

I have thought about doing a tour of some kind but then, you know.. people! Ok, I could probably deal with people on a short-term basis but I would definitely not want to share a room – which means the price can bump up significantly due to the dreaded single supplement (if you don’t know what that is then you are very lucky!!).

I also thought about a river cruise (way too expensive), a Mediterranean cruise (doesn’t go where I really want to go), going my own way (trying to work out trains/buses from point to point… ARGGH!).

#4 Tasmania

I loved Tassie when I went back in.. geez I can’t even remember when it was, it was so long ago!! I would definitely love to go back but like New Zealand, Australia can be quite expensive to travel around domestically. I can actually get cheaper airfares to NZ than to some Australian cities.

#5 Canada (again)

I just discovered a Canada/New England cruise that would be awesome because it also goes to Nova Scotia .. however – single supplement, dates are wrong, flights to/from Canada… do you see a theme here?

#6 Ireland

I haven’t been to Ireland – I know shocking! I mean I’ve been to England now 4 times and I have never been to Ireland? To be fair, I have this thing where if I am going to do Ireland then I am going to do it properly – meaning I would spend 2-3 weeks just in Ireland and not go anywhere else.

But if I’m in the area, why wouldn’t I pop over to London?!?!

#7 England

You knew that was coming right?!

Yes I have been there before but there are so many places in England that I haven’t been yet and I definitely have plans to do more driving holidays there. But 4 weeks in England can get pretty damn costly – especially when you factor in a rental car & all that entails.

#8 Scotland

See all the above!

In Conclusion

At this moment in time, there isn’t really one option that is pulling me more than others. All of them have one giant factor involved – money!

I know I seem to travel a lot but I really actually don’t. I do maybe one trip a year with one or two short trips to NZ thrown in. But every time I do travel, I have to really budget my money to the enth degree to make sure I can afford everything.

All of the options above have one thing in common – they would all cost roughly around the same amount of money, some slightly more than others but they are pretty much the same. This makes my decision even harder.

I really want to go to Canada, but then again I really want to see more of England and go to new places in Europe. It might even come down to a game of eeny meeny miny moe to choose where I will be going next year.

You will however notice that none of the above options were “don’t go anywhere”