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2018 has been a wonderfully crazy year. 16 countries around the world with a total travel time of 8 months. I will never forget the memories I’ve made during the past year. With the New Year approaching, it is time to start looking ahead at the twelve months in front of me. As for writing, I don’t have a whole lot of definite plans for the upcoming year but I know in my mind where I plan on going. As always, with someone who travels as much as myself, things can change in the blink of an eye. For now, though, these are my travel plans for 2019.

Ireland

It may be a case of being so close to home but I have seen shockingly little of my own home country. What makes it worse is how small the country is. Nothing is far away, yet I choose to leave seeing here until a time in the future. Next year, I plan on changing this. First, I want to visit Dublin for a few days, spend a couple of nights there and maybe see the city as a tourist coming to Ireland would. I will also go to Galway in January but in reality, I have been there many times and know the city quite well. Then I hope to see a bit more inland of the country.

The weather can hinder most plans made in Ireland but luckily, as a resident, there is always time to reschedule. A trip to the west coast to see the Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula would be a good start. Maybe from there, I will go to County Clare to The Burren. The last time I was there the fog rolled in and I couldn’t even see the cliff edge of the Cliffs of Moher. The Rock of Cashel, Skellig Michael, Glendalough. There is so much of my country that looks amazing. I am determined for 2019 to be the year that I see a lot more of it.

London

I get to visit London a few times a year. Most of the time I go, it is for football. I fly over, go watch an Arsenal game and fly home. Only on a few of these trips have I actually stayed in London for longer than I needed and seen more of the city. The most recent time was last year when I spent 4 nights there. I love London and in January I will go back. Again, it is to see a football game but I will still have most of the weekend to spend eating and exploring the city.

London has so much to see that you can never be bored with it. The last time I was there I spent a large part of a day looking around Camden Market and loved it. This time I want to eat my way around Borough Market. Apart from one lunch, I have not spent much time there. I have not finalized any plans for what I want to see just yet. I am confident that I can make the most out of the limited time I have there.

Barcelona

This one in a way is actually football related as well. I have been blessed as a huge football fan to of seen so many of the world’s top players during my lifetime. I have still yet to witness the greatest of all time. Lionel Messi will be 32 at the end of this season so time is running out to see him in the flesh. I want to be able to look back in years to come and say that I watched him play. I feel that if I don’t, I will always regret it. Ticket prices can be expensive but it will be worth it.

There are other benefits in planning to go see this game. A few days or a weekend in Barcelona certainly won’t be the worst thing in the world. I have never spent much time in Spain, just a day in Madrid, so it will be an opportunity to see more of the country. The food looks incredible there, as do the many, many sights. The Sagrada Familia or the works of Antoni Gaudi would be great to see.

Iceland

A trip to Iceland is on most people’s bucket list, mine included. I came close to visiting in 2017. I even had flights booked but work commitments made me put it off. Next year I hope that there will be nothing standing in the way of me making a trip there. The waterfalls, the geysers and the northern lights, Iceland looks like another world altogether. I have heard it can be quite expensive so that is the only worry.

The plan, in an effort to keep costs down, is to rent a car and drive and camp around the country. When I booked the last flights, the plan was to drive around the entire country but maybe next time I plan the trip, it will be a bit shorter. Camping, as far as I know, is legal there once you are not on private property. So maybe a couple of days in Reykjavik and then a few more seeing other parts of the country will suffice.

Vienna

It is only lately that I have had the thought to go to Vienna. I always think of Austria as an expensive country and it probably is but I think I can keep costs down. Ryanair flies to Vienna midweek for a very reasonable price. Hostels are also very well priced. Once I keep those two costs down, the rest will be easy. It will only be food for the most part that costs me money.

Vienna looks like a beautiful city. The palaces and cathedrals there look worth the trip alone. From what I have seen of the food there, it looks delicious. It might be a slight problem finding a lot of food that is budget friendly but I am certainly up for the challenge.

Italy

It annoys me that I haven’t been to Italy. Sometimes, I sit there imagining all the amazing food just waiting to be eaten and yet, to this day I have never gone there. For the most part, I don’t even care what part of the country I go to. I would, however, like to spend time in more than one place whilst I am there and that is why I am thinking Rome and Florence. However, if flights are considerably cheaper to somewhere else then I will take them.

So much of the country looks appealing with regional dishes in each place, I don’t doubt that wherever I end up travelling to, I will eat well and enjoy myself. I am not too keen on Venice. I don’t know why but apart from that I am fully open to flying anywhere and starting from there.

Amsterdam

I visited Amsterdam twice, aged 18 and 19, and I never saw much more of the city than the inside of a bar or club. I did do a boat tour in a very hungover state one morning but I struggle to really count that. Amsterdam always looked like a beautiful city and whilst I certainly don’t regret the time I spent there, I would like to see the city a bit more. I am fairly confident that there is a whole lot more to see than the bottom of a pint glass.

Whether it is the Anne Frank Museum or the Rijksmuseum, filling some days there will be easy. I also didn’t eat the way I did then, that I do now. Dinners over there were in places like the Hard Rock Cafe. Things are very different these days and there is a lot of food I am keen to try. Raw Herring, Frikandel Speciaal and even Stroopwafels, I didn’t try anything the two times I was there.

2018 will be a hard year to beat and I am not fully convinced that 2019 will do so. I am trying to base my travels around Europe. I have seen a larger percentage of the countries in Asia compared to Europe and I wish to remedy that. This early plan is made with full knowledge that things could easily change. There is a possibility that I will make a longer term decision that takes me, not only out of Ireland but also out of Europe again. Whether or not this would take me east or west is yet to be decided. Until plans change, this is where I hope and expect for 2019 to take me.

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The Roaming Irishman

roamingirishman@gmail.com

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