Travel in the UK: Analysing My Resolution for 2018 and Bucket List for 2019

I am going to put it out there – I am a fan of new year resolutions. But my resolutions are never about making myself better – no gym, and eating healthy and all that depressing stuff. I make sure my resolutions are only about doing things and making plans which just makes me look forward to the new year instead of putting pressure on myself to become a saint overnight.

My resolutions in 2016 were fashion related and for the most part these are ongoing so will continue. My resolution for 2017 was to mostly get organsied with the clothes I wear – wear more of my wardrobe and wear less of the same thing. My main resolution for 2018 was actually travel related.

Travel More Within the UK

My main resolution for 2018 was to travel in the UK. I have lived in the UK for about 5 years now and its quite shameful to see how much (or how less rather) of the UK I have actually travelled. I made the same mistake while living in Bombay. I barely travelled around Bombay or in Maharashtra. I either went home to Calcutta or travelled in Europe or to London to meet DJ. Now after having left Bombay I regret this so much. I do wish I had seen more of my city and the country. So I decided to to make sure I don’t make the same mistake again.

So in 2018 I travelled within the UK to:

1. Cardiff: this was for a short weekend trip but Cardiff such a beautiful city. I am definitely going to Wales again.
2. Peak District and Manchester: We went to visit some friends in Manchester and went to the Peak District for a walk as well. Honestly, I can’t say Manchester is one of my favourite cities but the food we ate there was amazing.
3. Cornwall: This the what is called the English Riviera and how! I loved Cornwall. We stayed in Penzance for a extended weekend and travelled around and even went hiking for a few hours. I am definitely going back again. I have been debating whether or not to write a post about our visit and I might just do that – the photos were so gorgeous!
4. Seven Sisters: This was on my list for quite some time and I finally ended up going with a big group of friends in May last year. We hiked the hills and then settled down to have a big meal in a cute pub. A perfect day.
5. Northdowns/ Southdowns: We went for a day hike. But honestly even a day away from London makes such a difference to your energy and mood.
6. Beaconsfield: This was not so much a trip but just a drive out of London for lunch on the perfect sunny summer day which also happened to be the day of the royal wedding. We ate at the cutest pub – excellent food – and had such a beautiful day. If you are looking for a day out from London in the summer this is a great list of cute accessible pubs to visit. I plan to go through this list this summer!

So How Did I Do?

I won’t say it was extraordinarily successful result. There are so many places in the UK I am still waiting to get to but this was a definitely improvement over the last year. The problem is that travelling in the UK is still quite expensive. Hotels or B&Bs are expensive – anything under £100 a night is considered a bargain. In most cases you would usually think travelling within the country is cheaper than going abroad but in the UK this does not apply. Train travel is expensive and air travel to Europe is cheap so it does take more of an effort to go travel within the UK. Weather is another issue. But no more complaining! Here’s to more travelling in the UK in 2019.

My UK Travel Bucket List

This is not necessarily achievable for 2019 but this is what is on my bucket list for travel in the UK:
Longer trips

1. Lundy Island: have you even heard of this place? Till about a few months ago, me neither. Although I am hopeful this may not happen in 2019 since it would need at least a week but lets see.
2. Jurassic Coast/ Dorset: I have already been nagging friends and trying to make this work. Of course I would like to stay in Dorset longer but I have realised one thing about travel – don’t wait for the perfect time, the perfect weather and the perfect holiday. Just go.
3. Northern Ireland: NI is the only part of the UK that I haven’t yet visited and would like to go.
4. Lake District: can you believe I have not been to the Lake District yet?

Weekend trips

1. New Forest: Cycling in New Forest has been on my list for the last year or so. I hope we end up going this year. This is a easy one since it can be weekend trip or even a day trip.
2. York: I have always wanted to go to York – its such a beautiful looking town but the train tickets are always so expensive!
3. Liverpool: I love going to historical cities and Liverpool has been on my list for a long time now.
4. Canterbury: might be able to combine both Margate and Canterbury in one trip but lets see. I do want to go to Canterbury – anything historical I am there.
5. Margate
6. Birmingham: I am ashamed to say I have not seen the UK’s second largest city yet. Birmingham has a large Indian population and I am quite keen to go and eat there. Maybe we will make a weekend of it when we are craving some Indian food.

So thats done for now. But my new year resolutions are still not done. The original intention of this post was to talk about my resolutions for 2019. But like it usually happens the post went it own way. So next post is definitely going to be about my resolutions for 2019.

Do you have any travel related resolutions for this year set already? Let me know if you have any travel in the UK planned and if any of the places I mentioned are on your list? If you have some suggestions for me I would love to know.

All the pictures in the post were taken in the Peak District when we went in November.

– Anisha

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