Week 1 ~ New Year Resolutions ~ BootsnAll Indie Travel Challenge 2012 ~

New Years Resolutions

In a bid to spread my travel blogging wings further in 2012, I’ve chosen to undertake BootsnAll’s Indie Travel Challenge- one blog post a week for the whole of 2012 responding to a prompt, question or challenge set by the BootsnAll team. Shouldn’t be too tough should it?! BootsnAll are one of my top sources for inspirational travel articles and their ‘Daily Doses’ emails usually mean a five minute ‘break-time’ when they arrive in my inbox every afternoon. As with anything that doesn’t just require you to sit still and watch a television screen, it takes a little motivation to login to WordPress and research/write/publish a blog post so this series of weekly challenges should hopefully give me the required kick up the backside!

The first challenge requires me to do something that I always try to avoid not doing: making New Years resolutions. Can anyone truly say that they’ve kept to an NY resolution the whole year? Or even remember what they promised they would do come the next New Years Eve? If you’re shaking your head at this moment then you’re with the rest of us.

Resolution 1 – To keep to the following resolutions.

… this way I won’t be able to break any of them!

Couchsurfing

Resolution 2 – To ride the Couchsurfing waves.

Now we’re going! Couchsurfing is one of those travel things that I hear about a lot, think to myself ‘That’s an incredible way to travel on the cheap and hang out with the locals’ and then hear a little voice in my head whisper ‘But can it really be safe?’ 2012 is the year to find out whether Couchsurfing really is as good as everyone always says it is.

Resolution 3 – To build up UEA Travel Society.

After a successful first term of starting up and running the Travel Society at university, my aims now change from getting it going to keeping it going for years to come. We’ve got a great week long trip to Madrid and Barcelona coming up in February and hopefully we’ll do a few more trips as well before graduation. I also want to ensure that the society continues after I go in the summer- something that’s really important to me as I believe it can grow to be one of the most active societies at UEA and can continue to inspire students for years to come.

UEA Travel Society

Resolution 4 – To find an awesome job for the Olympics

This year the world is coming to me! Well, to my home city anyway. But what it does mean is that there is the potential to find a fantastic summer job to be part of the Greatest Show on Earth. I’m keen to find a job in a London hostel so that I can meet other travelers and then also work, hopefully, at the Olympic Park and get as close to the action as possible. Sadly it means not going off to America for three months as I have done the previous two summers, but being part of the Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially as I was lucky enough to get a few tickets.

Resolution 5 – Pass my driving test (and go on a Road Trip!)

I’ve been spending the best part of Christmas taking driving lessons and hopefully in the next month I’ll be able to pass my test first time. Having never been behind the wheel less than a month ago, I can now see the fascination with Road Trips. Whether it be zooming along the interstates of America, winding along the slopes of France or just exploring the countryside, being able to drive literally opens up a world of opportunity to travel and see places. No need to book a plane ticket or reserve a seat on the train, you can go anywhere your heart desires at any time you like.

Resolution 6 – Start learning Spanish. Arriba!

Learning the lingo for a different country has long the been the aim and the bane of travelers, whether it is just for a few survival phrases or to be able to fluently converse with the locals. Firstly, being able to communicate in another language is incredibly useful for those who travel- whether it is to get a job as a translator or just to be able to negotiate another country more easily. Secondly, Spanish is the official language of many of the countries that I want to visit for a long-stay (namely Chile and Argentina) and getting a head start on the language before I go would help me out a lot.

The second part of this blog post is an updated bucket list. I haven’t written down a formal bucket list as such yet, but this shortened version will hopefully be reasonably achievable over the next 12 months.

Fernando Torres

#1 – To watch the Spanish play football.

World and European champions, at the moment Spain are simply one of the greatest footballing sides ever to be constructed. Fabregas, Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, Torres (well, maybe not Torres…) and a whole host of other insanely talented players are part of the Spanish setup so quality is guaranteed. During the Travel Society trip to Spain in February, I’m lucky enough that Spain have arranged a friendly against Serbia (good date picking, huh?!) However, I’m unlucky enough that they are not playing in either Madrid or Barcelona but in Valencia. DE-TOUR! It’s kinda on the way right….

#2 – Road Trip across the USA.

Kind of similar to Resolution 5, included in my bucket list is to road trip across America- preferably in an open-topped car but really any vehicle that doesn’t break down a hundred times will do. If there’s time in between the end of the summer and what I have decided to do with my life in September then I’ll be heading to New York to meet up with friends from summer camp and after two summers of sticking to the East Coast it really is time that we venture west. I can almost see that sunset at Monument Valley in the horizon!

#3 – Hitch-hike to Morocco.

After taste of hitching in America last summer (well, thumbing a ride back to the nearest town after a house party), I could be tempted this year to take part in LCD’s Morocco hitch which happens over Easter. It is the UK’s biggest organised hitch-hike, raising money for Link- a charity that work with education in Africa. It’s been going for 20 years now, attracting over 7500 hitchers and getting them safely between the UK and North Africa. It’s a great way to get sponsored for a worthy cause and to have some fun in the process.

LCD Hitch

#4- Go to a major UK music festival.

After two summers spent in rural America I’ve missed out on more than one or two invitations to go to some of the big music festivals in the UK. Seen now as a rite of passage for many young people, festivals are how many of my friends at uni and at home spend their summers- some even venturing abroad to places such as Benicassim in Spain to travel a little and see some music. I haven’t been to any of the major festivals yet, so this summer is the perfect time to cross this off my bucket list.

#5 – Walk along the coastline of Wales.

Or at least a part of it as it’s pretty long! Recommended by Lonely Planet as the number one region of the entire world to visit in 2012 in their newly released ‘Best in Travel’, Coastal Wales has now become an easier place to explore thanks to the All Wales Coast Path (AWCP) that goes from Chepstow in the south to Queensferry in the north- a length of 1377km. Quite a time-consuming challenge for anyone serious about their walking, but a beautiful few days for anyone who just wants to take on this mighty trail.

Coastal Wales on a part of this mighty trail.

So there’s my resolutions and lists of buckets to fulfill in 2012. I’d be pretty impressed if in 360 days time I had done all of these and I’m certain that if I have then 2012 will have been a very very good year!