I started the year with no firm travel plans and only vague ideas, but I’ve spent a bit of time over the past few weeks pulling those ideas together to work out our holiday plans for the year. 

One of the things which we’ve started doing in the past few months is having one day out per weekend planned. It helps us get out of work/study mode and take some time for fun outside of our little introvert bubble (aka our house). Once we had our big plans lined up, I then made a start on padding out our weekends for the first couple of months of the year. It definitely helps to have an idea in the diary when you wake up on Saturday morning. I’ll keep adding in interesting exhibitions and events as they pop up throughout the year, but this is where I’m at right now. 

January

• Rye: this small East Sussex town packs a punch with it’s medieval architecture, cobbled streets and smuggling history nestling alongside independent shops, restaurants and pubs. It’s one of my favourite places to spend time and I hope this isn’t my only visit this year. 
• Hastings: described as ‘an oyster that comes with its own grit’ and a ‘salty sea dog’ by 1066 country, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Hastings on our first visit last year. It’s really strange for me to say my first visit, because I grew up in Sussex and have spent plenty of time in its neighbour, Bexhill-on-Sea. On this visit I got to enjoy the current exhibitions at Hastings Contemporary (closing 3rd March).
• Brighton: this definitely won’t be my only trip to Brighton this year – we used to live in Hove, and make regular return visits. In this case, I’m planning to head in to finally go to the Lee Miller: Dressed exhibition (closing 18th February). While there’s a bit of time left to see it, it’s quite embarrassing that I haven’t done so yet, because I work at Farleys, the home of Lee Miller. 

February

• Destinations Travel Show: I haven’t been to a travel show before, so I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m hoping to get some inspiration for future trips. I’d like to get ideas for different types of holidays, with sustainable travel ideas in particular being of interest. 
• Yorkshire: I’m hoping to squeeze in a girls trip with my mum and my auntie! My auntie lives near Pickering, and my mum lived with her for about six months not so long ago, so I’m not sure how much exploring they’ll be up for, but I’d like to take the opportunity to head into York.  
• V&A London: I’m going on a tour of the V&A organised by The Open University, and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ve been to a few virtual tours of museums now, and they’ve been interesting, but imagine it in real life! It’ll be so nice to meet up with some fellow students, too. 
• Valletta, Malta: We compromised on Ben’s desire for hot weather and my desire to save money, so instead of jetting somewhere tropical, we’re off to Valletta for a long weekend at the end of February. It looks beautiful so I can’t wait. 

March

• V&A London: There’s an exhibition called Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence opening at the V&A on 2nd March, and I would really like to go. I find post-colonial architecture visually very interesting, so I am keen to learn more about it. 

April

• Budapest: I’m turning 40(!) in April and decided I wanted to spend it somewhere new and ideally Eastern European. We decided on a long weekend in Budapest, and I’m so excited! I haven’t done any planning for this trip yet – I think it’s going to be hard to narrow things down! 

June

• Sicily or Sardinia, Italy: We haven’t settled on the details yet (you know, little stuff like which island), but we think that an Italian island is in our summer. We want a beach holiday, but with interesting other things to do. I tend to prefer something a bit cultural, and Ben’s happy as long as he can take his camera. I just don’t know how to choose between the two!! 

August

• Lincolnshire and Yorkshire: We’re back to Lincs for my mum’s birthday in August, and I’m looking forward to exploring some more of her new county. Then we’d like to head back up to Yorkshire to see my auntie – with limited holiday to take, it makes sense to tick them both off while we’re up north. 

December

• Brussels, Belgium: We lived in Brussels for five years, but returned to the UK about ten years ago. After the success of our first visit for ages last year, we were both keen to return to Brussels. I also really missed the Christmas markets this year, so I was so happy when our friend said we could stay with her for a week so we can really get back into Bruxellois life!  

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What are your travel plans for 2024? And do you have any Sicily or Sardinia reccomendations?