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My 2016 Dream Destinations Bucket List via Ice Lolly #sendmeaway

Hey everyone,

Welcome to February! I can’t believe January is over with already but it also felt like the weeks dragged on FOREVER! I was recently nominated by the lovely Victoria from The Girl on the Move Blog to put together my 2016 Bucket List as part of Icelolly’s Dream Destinations 2016 #sendmeaway campaign. There are sooo many places I want to visit this year, and my list of destinations expands all the time so I’m going to try and whittle this down as much as I can! Here we go, lets get wanderlusting!

Brighton, UK

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBMyX4zATxl/?taken-by=sophiessuitcse

This is my second planned trip of 2016 (I popped to London last weekend) and it’s not as exotic as some other destinations on this list but a little bit closer to home and I thought I’d get some UK representation in here somewhere 😉 Brighton is a city I’ve always wanted to visit but for whatever reason I’ve never had the chance to! My best friend recently moved down that way though so I’m going to take full advantage and head over to Brighton pier during my stay at the end of Feb – I’m so excited!

New York, USA

https://www.instagram.com/p/8OcAq5AGZP/?taken-by=thegirlonthemoveblog

New York, New York – isn’t this place on everyone’s Bucket List?! It’s quite possibly one of the most famous cities on the planet, and with good reason – LOOK AT THAT SKYLINE!! There’s so much to see and do in the Big Apple and I’m just dying to explore it’s dazzling streets and wonderful theatres. Hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to visit New York this year, otherwise it’s going straight back on the 2017 wanderlust wishlist!

Rome, Italy

Experience is the teacher of all things – Caesar. #openymyworld with @gabscanu in Rome 🇮🇹

A post shared by Flight Centre Australia (@flightcentreau) on

When in Rome you should definitely check out all things architectural – the Coliseum is an epic landmark by any scale, and one of the most visited tourist attractions in Europe. Rome has been on my wishlist since I was a little girl – I was brought up as a Catholic and I’m fascinated by religion so it would be incredible to attend a service at the Vatican. I’m not sure if my budget/annual leave/free time will allow me to visit Rome this year but I’m certainly going to try!

Tallinn, Estonia

I thought I'd share another photo of beautiful Tallinn in Estonia – I just can't get over the inherent beauty of the Old Town. The core historic part of town isn't that big and can be easily explored if all you have is a day or so there. But I'd recommend spending a little bit more time and get to know the other parts of town away from the colorful UNESCO side, like the trendy Telliskivi district. Housed in a former secret Soviet-era industrial complex, Telliskivi has been taken over by some of the most creative minds in the country. Home to restaurants, bars, shops, galleries, coffee houses, creative companies and NGOs, the so-called Creative City is by far one of the most cutting edge neighborhoods in the world. It's also just a really fun place to visit, grabbing lunch at the F-Hoone restaurant before window shopping amongst the galleries, feeling inspired along the way. Most cities, even those firmly entrenched in their own historical legacies have something surprising to share. All you have to do is look for it!

A post shared by Matt Long (@landlopers) on

Time for something a little bit different now; for those avid readers out there most of you will know that I specialize in European city breaks – the quirkier the better! Tallinn is somewhere that appeals purely because of its harbourside location, cold temperatures during the winter (I need to see some snow!) and beautiful UNESCO world heritage sites. Tallinn is also suuuperrr cheap and I’d love to make the most of my bank holidays this year so I feel a cheeky weekend stopover in this beautiful city is on the cards!

Riga, Latvia

Like a fairy tale 💫 #openmyworld in Riga, Latvia with @augustaleighphoto

A post shared by Flight Centre Australia (@flightcentreau) on

Riga is another quirky destination on my Bucket List and it’s a trendy, up and coming European city attracting more and more tourists. Boasting a picture perfect Old Town, quaint little streets, beautiful buildings and a multitude of museums, Riga offers something for everyone. Like Tallinn, Riga is also known for being excellent value for money and I’ll be sure to book a little weekend getaway at some point over the next few months!

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Croatia is somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit for a while, and Dubrovnik in particular is on my holiday hit list! I’m forever going to cold destinations on my city breaks (flashback to Iceland 2014!) so I thought I’d mix it up a bit and plump for somewhere a little warmer.. With a cool balance of beaches, city life and plenty of historical landmarks I’d be spoilt for choice in cultural Dubrovnik!

 

So there we have it, that’s my 2016 Bucket List! I’ll be interested to see where I end up this year and I’m so excited to reveal some big news very soon on the blog – I promise not to keep it a secret for too much longer! Thanks again Victoria for the nomination, you can also read her inspiring Bucket List here.

As part of Ice Lolly’s #sendmeaway campaign I’ve also been tasked with nominating three fellow bloggers to share their Dream Destinations Bucket List for 2016. I’d like to nominate Vicky & Chris from Eat Sleep Love Travel, Jess Gibson from The Travelista & Sophie Davis from Sophie’s Suitcase. Looking forward to reading your bucket lists guys!

Where are you heading to this year? Will 2016 be your year of discovery? I’d love to hear your travel plans!

Love Jess x

NB. Thanks to Sophie Davis, Victoria Dovaston, Flight Centre Australia & Matt Long for the Instagram inspo!

 

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NEW YEAR NEWS!

Blue Happy New Year 2015 Greeting Art Paper Card

Hey everyone,

As it’s a new year I thought I would change a few things on my blog but also bring you a round up of stats that I’ve collected over the past 8 months. Since my blog began back in May 2014 I’ve gained new followers, enjoyed a large social media presence and have continued to build it as much as I can in order to share my adventures with you all.

As a breakdown, my followers on each of my social media sites are as follows:

WordPress – 62 followers/ over 2000 hits

Facebook – 68 Likes

Twitter – 816 followers

Instagram – 161 followers (not bad considering I’ve only had it for two weeks!)

LinkedIn – 222 connections

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As you can see, I have quite a large social media following across the board which I am very grateful for but am keen to grow as much as possible in order to increase my audience. Some interesting stats and information on hits to my blog were detailed in my WordPress Review of 2014 which you can of course read separately!

On the more visual side of things I’ve been wanting to get to grips with changing the layout and design on my blog for a while now as I feel this is quite limited and doesn’t allow as much freedom as I’d like. I’ve opted to edit the theme, homepage and navigation tabs on my site and, although I’ve only made a few basic changes, I’m hoping this will make my blog look a little more appealing and will read better on screen whether it be via a standard desktop computer, or a sleek mobile site.

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The main alteration I’ve made is to have a front page section with a navigation panel on the left hand side so my readers can choose which posts they want to read, rather than scroll through them all from the most recent to the oldest. I’m hoping this presents my blog much more clearly and allows room for my About page to be viewed first before any other posts are read. I’ve also included my contact details on the front page which makes it even easier to get in touch so if you have any questions, comments or feedback to pass on to me then I’d love to hear from you!

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The great debate on my mind at the moment is whether I should continue using my current WordPress blog that provides me with a service free of charge, or whether I should take the plunge and switch to a self hosted site with more flexibility to create exactly what I want without any limitations. I’ve seen a few other travel bloggers ask the same question and also followed the thread closely to see what the general response is. As far as my initial research goes, most of my fellow bloggers advise paying for a self hosted website to allow the degree of flexibility to heighten as much as I want, but I am unsure of taking this step for a number of reasons…

Firstly, as much as I love my blog, I am yet to start making money from it as a business and very much think of it still as just a hobby as I’m only in the early stages of it’s creation. As I’m not generating any income from my blog I therefore don’t have any expenditure, so am reluctant to spend money on websites and themes if I’m not getting anything back other than a pretty display. Obviously appearance and professionalism is important to me, but my writing style is where my skills lie and is unique to my blog so therefore I can write in whatever format I like as long as people are continuing to read that’s the most important factor! Secondly, I’ve built up quite a large number of hits/followers/likes on my WordPress account and really don’t want to lose these if i switch over to a different site! I love interacting with fellow WordPress bloggers and enjoy the ease of the site, along with the basic features that an IT novice like me can deal with!

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If you have any comments on any aspect of this post or would like to pass on any feedback please please do get in touch. I’d also love to hear any suggestions or opinions on the debate that’s at the forefront of my mind at the moment, so whether you vote WordPress or self hosted I’d love to hear your thoughts!

In another news, it’s actually my 22nd birthday on Friday so I’ve got lots planned for the weekend and I’ll be sure to bring you an update on my adventures soon!

Love Jess x

NB. All images other than my profile photo & screenshots of edits to my blog are courtesy of Google images.

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