My tentative travel plans (hopes) for 2021

Every time I speak to family and friends at the minute we start throwing around travel dreams for the year. Last year I sort of gave up on travel planning. There were so many plot twists in the story of 2020 that I gave up trying to predict when would be a good time to travel again and put any ideas I had about going overseas on hold. But while we are by no means out of the COVID woods here in the UK, it’s helping me get through this latest lockdown by thinking about travel as something I will do ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

So, I’ve started researching various types of trips for later in the year. Even travelling an hour down the M4 to London would be such a treat right now! Because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and all the precautions such as travel restrictions, vaccines, testing, quarantines etc that come with it, I’ve got multiple plans in the making and will be incredibly thankful if even one comes to fruition.

Let me know if any of these travel hopes for 2021 tie in with yours and we can start planning them together!

This post has been written in collaboration with Hotels .com, but all views are my own.

The local city break

The first idea I’ve been toying with is booking a weekend away in London. The past year has made me realise how much I took our capital city for granted, so when it’s safe to do so I’d love to book a chichi little boutique hotel and get reacquainted with the city.

After the year we’ve had, how amazing would it be to catch up with friends over brunch at Granger & Co., maybe do a bit of window shopping in Notting Hill and grab a massage at the Cowshed. (Sigh.)

I can’t forget the toddler though. He hasn’t been to London since he was little and I just know he is going to adore seeing all the big red buses and black cabs now. I’d love to introduce him to my favourite museums as a kid – The Natural History and Science Museums – and do some seriously touristy things like a boat tour along the Thames.

The child-friendly staycation

I’m predicting a big rise in multi-generational family and group holidays later this year as we try to make up for lost time and missed milestones. Both my sisters had babies last year that I have only seen a handful of times, so one of the ideas we’re toying with at the moment is a child-friendly UK staycation for all the family.

As we have 6 boys under 6 between us, we’re considering one of the holiday parks where we can book nearby lodges and have amenities like pools and playgrounds for the little ones on the doorstep. I have never done this type of holiday before – it’s way out of my comfort zone to be honest – but sometimes you just have to be practical right?! If anyone has any fave spots or tried and tested tips for booking this kind of holiday, I’m all ears!

Greece with the grandparents

I definitely get my love of Greece from my mum and step dad who took us to a different island for a beach break every year when we were kids. In recent years they’ve fallen in love with an area called Stoupa, an hour’s drive through the mountains from Kalamata, so one of my hopes for this year is that we can go with them and introduce Miles to the family tradition.

(We went to Mykonos when he was  9 months old but I’m pretty certain he doesn’t remember it!)

I literally dream of long lazy beach days, a cold Mythos beer, the blue and white buildings, giant plates full of tzatziki… In fact, I dream of Greece so much that if it’s possible to travel there responsibly, I’d like to book 2 trips and go to Naxos too! I’ve developed a little obsession with the largest of the Cyclades Islands and have bookmarked a number of poolside apartments that look picture perfect.

A winter sun holiday

If a European summer holiday isn’t feasible for whatever reason, I have also been researching some winter sun breaks we could hopefully take towards the end of the year. I know it’s become a running joke that half of Love Island are in Dubai but I can definitely see what the appeal is with the Emirates. (She types while glancing out the window at the drizzle!)

I’m personally a big fan of Abu Dhabi and have been researching a few beachfront resorts there. I’d love to go back and see the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque again and I think our little one might get a kick out of Ferrari World.

The cancelled trip to Italy

Like many of you, we also have vouchers from a cancelled trip to Italy we were due to take last May. I had planned out a pretty epic road trip around Puglia, checking out the cone-shaped trulli in Alberobello and staying in an epic traditional farmhouse near Ostuni.

This trip was planned/booked before Miles could walk though so might need some tweaking now that’s he turned two and is a magnet for danger! But I’ve saved all the research – including a google map with key stops – so hopefully it will get put to use at some point over the next year or so.

So that’s all the open travel tabs in my head at the moment. Do any match what you hope to do?

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