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A Little Life Update: My 2021 UK Travel Plans

 

The days are getting longer, the sun is setting later and spring is well and truly on its way. After last month’s announcement from the UK Government and our roadmap out of lockdown, I’ve finally started to feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not going to lie, I have found the last few weeks extremely difficult, and have struggled for most of this third lockdown. However, with the vaccine rollout going incredibly well and new timescales to work towards, I can actually see a way out of this darkness and am finally starting to feel a bit more positive! I took a little break from blogging, and from social media, for most of January and February and it’s helped me to reset and start making new plans for the year ahead. I am now looking forward to spring and summer and already have a few loose 2021 UK travel plans lined up for the rest of this year. Here’s what I’ll (hopefully) be getting up to over the next few months, and what I think travel will look like this year…

With overnight stays in self contained accommodation permitted from 12th April here in the UK, I think we’ll see huge numbers of bookings for cottages, caravans and Airbnbs over the next few weeks and staycations will be booming this year. Although you can only stay with people in your household, I still reckon people will make bookings just to get away and to enjoy a change of scenery after months of being stuck at home during lockdown. Since I moved out last summer I now live with my sister, but I don’t think we’ll book to go away together just the two of us in April as places will be so busy and prices will be ridiculous! I do hope that tourism for these overnight stays brings a much needed boost to the travel industry though and it’ll be interesting to see how many people book to go away after 12th April.

 

 

17th May is the date that I am working towards as we will hopefully be able to meet up with friends and family indoors and I can’t wait to go for dinner with my mum and dad or out for drinks with my pals! In terms of travel plans, we have two bank holidays in May so I may take advantage of those and book an overnight stay somewhere by the sea with friends if I can, although I haven’t confirmed anything yet. I’ve got my eye on Southampton as I’ve never been there before and it’s only an hour and a half away so it’ll make the perfect place for a short one nighter! Looking ahead to June I’ve got my cousin Amy’s hen do pencilled in for the end of the month, with an overnight spa break in Cheshire planned – we have had to postpone it twice already because her wedding has been delayed so fingers crossed it’s third time lucky and we can actually go this time.

In July I’ve booked a week by the sea for my dad’s 60th birthday celebrations and this is the trip I am most looking forward to this year! I’m going with my mum, dad and sisters and we’ll be spending the first few nights in a secret location – I can’t tell you exactly where it is because he reads my blog and it’s a surprise! – but the second half of the week will be spent in Tintagel in Cornwall which I am super excited about because I’ve never been there before. I’m hoping to enjoy long walks along the South West Coast path, plenty of beach trips and will try to squeeze in a visit to King Arthur’s Castle too. At some point this summer I also hope to be reunited with my friend and fellow blogger Rachel, I have been planning to visit her in Scarborough for the past two years now and have day trips to Whitby and York on the cards too – if I ever get up there!

 

 

I’ll (hopefully) be heading back to Liverpool at the end of July for my cousins wedding and then in August I’m due to climb Pen y Fan as my latest charity challenge with The Pituitary Foundation. I hiked the Four Falls Trek with them last year and climbed Mount Snowdon a couple of years before that, so I’m looking forward to heading back to Wales again for another weekend break, and another exciting challenge! I’m also due to visit my best friend in Brighton at some point in August and have booked a couple of days annual leave at the end of the month so I can take full advantage of the last summer bank holiday of the year. I have no idea what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be going yet but I thought it would be good to take some time off so I can getaway if I fancy it closer to the time.

I haven’t really thought further ahead than August to be honest as I’m not sure how things will be here in the UK in a few months time. I’m very hopeful that the roadmap is still realistic in terms of dates and fingers crossed that we can aim for some normality to return by the summer! Some of the places that are high up on my UK wish-list for this year are Dorset, Devon, Whitby and Cambridge so I’m hopeful that I can make some loose plans to visit them later on in 2021.

 

 

One thing I do know for sure though is that I WILL be going abroad next year as I have just booked a summer holiday for 2022 – another Mediterranean cruise with my family. Last time we went from on the Marella Celebration’s Sail the Three Seas itinerary from Dubrovnik – Dubrovnik taking in the likes of Kotor, Messina, Kefalonia and Valletta, but next year we are visiting Rijeka, Split, Koper and Venice on the Marella Explorer 2’s Adriatic Affair cruise. I am sooo excited to have a proper holiday to look forward to and cannot wait to make more memories with my amazing family!

So those are my 2021 UK travel plans. Have you booked any trips for this year yet, or are you waiting until closer to the time? I’d love to hear what your travel plans are for 2021!

Love Jess x