In my life I have had countless opportunities for travel. Over the years I have been invited to go on holiday after holiday but here is the thing, you need two things to go on a holiday. The first thing you need is time, the second is money, and I always found my self short of one or the other. I would find myself making excuses, (and with reflection they really where excuses) for why I was unable to travel.
Fast forward to late 2016 with my last trip abroad being a one year tour of the Falklands back when I was in the army (sometime about 2003/4), I decided that enough is enough and its time for me to actually go and see a little of the world. So I applied for my passport and a few weeks later it arrived ready for me to start looking for a holiday.
So now it is actually time to plan for a holiday, and bare in mind that I still have the restrictions of time and money to contend with I approached it with the idea that price is key. So here I am firing up skyscanner, I put in destination any, I put in departure just UK and sort by cheapest month. Sorting through the list of flights I noticed that a return flight to Riga with 4 days duration (that overlapped my days off) was only £30. A quick check on hotels and I have a 4/5 star hotel booked with a double bed for only £150 and full access to the spa. So here I am sat at my computer wondering what the hell has stopped me from doing this for all these years?
February comes and its time to head away on my holidays, I pack a small bag (carry on size) and head to Leeds Bradford airport, its amazing how excited I actually felt. As I sat waiting on the for take off it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn't sure if i'm afraid of flying, that question was answered pretty quick as we started moving and my nervousness was replaced with the biggest giddy feeling I have had in years. The rest of the flight flew by and before i knew it I was in Latvia.
For those of you who don't actually know me (that's all of you I would guess) my Great Grandmother was originally from here before she fled persecution for marrying an Irish protestant Protestant when she was Catholic (full disclosure he might of been catholic and her Protestant if I am remembering wrong) so anyway back to my story. Here I am in the land of my ancestors, surrounded by so much history and I have to say the entire place is beautiful.
Whilst I was in Riga I visited so many amazing places and seen so many beautiful buildings, the way the ancient architecture stands clumped together in a crooked way in parts of the old-town, threatening to crumble and fall at a moments notice carry's a certain charm that will never quite be there in a modern city. The city is not just towering ancient terraces either it has some really breakout buildings such as;
The German traders house
the Opera house
And plenty of churches
On top of all this we also had a stunning park with a snow covered river just down the road from freedom monument.
Surrounded by such beauty you honestly would not realise you are in a country that was ex soviet block for many years and once used to house the HQ for the SS and the KGB at certain points in its history.
The Latvian people are incredibly friendly and really helped to make my first trip in years an unforgettable experience.
If any of you get a chance to go I highly recommend visiting the little aviation museum, its full of old soviet aircraft
Being back home after a trip like that certainly left me with an desire for more travelling and it wasn't long before I found my self back on skyscanner looking for bargain flights. So for the rest of the year I managed to do a decent bit of travelling.
I went to Bratislava and spent time exploring the amazing country of Slovakia.
I also visited Hungary
And Viena
(Yes that is in fact two identical palaces opposite each other)
Following on from this I have not long got back from a trip in Rome and about a month prior to that I was in Denmark (unfortunately I don't have any pics).
So 2017 for me will be known as the year I did it, its the year I gave up making excuses and actually took some time to travel. Has it been life changing in a way that caused me to find myself?... Not even close, I still have no direction in life and still wonder what the hell I am actually going to do with myself. But it did do one thing for me, it taught me that excuses we make not to do things are just that, excuses. Using this new found sense of vigour has also motivated me to start looking after myself better and now I am watching what I eat and actually going to the gym and getting back in shape.
So whilst nothing big has changed I guess the little things do help make a little difference, and maybe that's all I was wanting this year.