In case you didn’t know, I love to travel and I try to go on a few trips every year. I have been lucky enough to go on some larger trips as well as smaller city breaks and some of them have been chronicled on here. That is why you will find tons of links in my answers below while I answer the questions to a tag that was pretty much made for me: The Been There Done That Tag.
Want to know which countries I’ve visited? Who I like to travel with? and more? Then click on through!
Which countries have you visited?
Belgium, Luxembourg, England & Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, United States, Canada. And some of these multiple times and different places within the country :-).
Which destination is at the top of your list?
After visiting Denmark I would like to go to more Scandinavian countries. Sweden, Norway and Finland are thus high on the list. However, Hungary, Poland, and Estonia round it up nicely. Of course I have grander ambitions too. In the long run, I would like to go to Australia, South Africa and Japan. Oh and St. Petersburg which would be Russia.
What is your most ideal vacation? (city break, beach retreat, shopping splurge, something active?)
I love cities! Most of my longer trips are in fact nothing more than extended city breaks that I tie together. I especially love it, if I can combine all of the above. So a day at the beach, taking in culture and city sights on another, while doing something active/ outdoorsy as well as getting my shop on. That’s what I tend to do on my bigger trips: just do a little bit of everything during one trip, while based in a city. The trip I took last summer when I visited New York, Miami, Seattle, Vancouver and Chicago is exemplary of my ideal vacation.
Which location was so special to you that you want to go back?
Do you have a minute?! I love so many places and some I have already returned to on multiple occasions. My love affairs with New York and London are longstanding ones. I’ve visited New York on 7 different occasions I believe and this year will be the 7th year in a row that I will be visiting London. Places I have only been to once that I would like to return to: Vancouver, Seattle, Copenhagen and Venice. Oh and Paris is always a nice staple.
Have you been sent to destinations for work?
Yes I have. I went on two study trips with students with two different jobs. Once I went to Edinburgh and once to Birmingham/ Manchester/ Liverpool.
Who do you travel with usually?
No one except me, myself and I. Yep, that’s right. I travel alone. I never devoted a blog post to traveling by yourself (perhaps I should?) but I am one of those people who likes doing things by herself rather then being surrounded by other people the entire time. I took my first solo trip to New York when I was 19 and I haven’t looked back since.
Who would you like to travel with?
One of my best friends is the best travel buddy ever. It’s one of the only people I have been able to travel with for more than just a few days.
Who or what would you bring to a desert island?
Not a who, but a what: my books! That way you can have a different imaginary friend every day and not get bored.
Have you vacationed in your home country? (In my case The Netherlands)
Yep I have! I spent most of my childhood taking trips to places in The Netherlands. My family wasn’t too keen on going abroad much so we took many day trips, but also took some vacations further from home, yet within the borders of our tiny country. I visited Zeeland, Drenthe and Limburg on several occasions. My parents were keen on showing us what Holland had to offer before taking us elsewhere.
Do you prefer a theme park or a zoo?
I enjoyed both in the past, but now that I am older I would have to say a theme park. I love rides and coasters and I personally have the best memories in theme parks. But this is a trick question, as I am pretty sure that if any of my Attractions and Theme Parks students read this, they’ll want to lynch me just for making that choice. So I like both 😉
Do you prefer a beach vacation or skiing vacation?
If I have to choose I’d say beach. I prefer heat over cold any time of day.
What is your best vacation memory?
My 2008 USA trip, hands down. Talking about epic, once in a life time experiences: this pretty much sums it up. There were too many pinterest and instagram worthy moments during that one single trip than I have encountered in a life time. Best. Decision/ Experience. Ever.
What is your least favorite vacation memory?
I had a dreadful time during my first day in Vancouver last summer. My credit card was blocked by my bank as I made a transition in Canada. Apparently that is deemed ‘risky’ which is why my card was flagged and I no longer possessed a valid form of payment other than cash. After paying my hotel bill with the money from the ATM though, I only had 15 dollars left, which wasn’t even enough for dinner.
Which countries do you plan to visit this year?
Good of you to ask! I will be visiting London once more. That is already planned and booked, so I am all ready to go. In summer I hope to get a visit from my friend Alison, whom I visited last year. We’ve talked about visiting Antwerp together and we’ll see what else we’ll get up to. Then I hope to go to Brussels over summer for the Harry Potter exhibition, and I hope to then breeze on through for a day trip to Paris, but I don’t know yet whether that will be feasible. Then my other two trips that I would like to embark on this year are two smaller city trips: Budapest (summer) and Rome (fall).
Which country would you not like to visit?
There aren’t any that I can think of to be honest. There are so many great places out there. Just because they are not at the top of my list, doesn’t mean I don’t want to go there. So yeah, I don’t want to rule out anything. Because when I start going over a mental map of the world, the only thing I can think of is places I DO want to go to.
What about you?