Here I go again, another spur of the moment holiday break in mind. My boss got the new 09 calendars in today and I had a nose to see which days the UK Bank Holidays fell on for next year. I made a vow to do as much long and short haul travelling as possible. Just rack up as many destinations as I can and experience new places whether for a few days or few weeks.
*January - Baltimore, MD, USA for the Presidential Inauguration
*February - Stockholm Sweden…just because
*June - Las Vegas for the 30th Birthday Celebrations
*August - Berlin, Germany to cheer on Jamaica and Team GB in the World Championships
It will not stop there after August there are still 4 months to go and air miles to rack up.
The Easter period looks best for a long weekend away, and being located right in the middle of the world where 8 hours in either direction can have you located in the USA or Asia we have a great benefit being situated where we are when it comes to holidaying. 10th April to 13th April look best, wherever I am working next year I won't have to worry about sacrificing precious holiday time or losing any money taking the odd day off, so thought about European destinations. I could do a quickie weekender in NYC but I've been three times already and it's time for first time destinations for a little while.
Monte Carlo, Seville, Nice, Rome, Naples, Valencia...all came to mind. Then I remember reading about the top 10 European hostels and Lisbon came to mind as
Lisbon Lounge Hostel was rated #1. Portugal should be warm that time of year plus it's a city in a country I've never ventured to. So I did the flight searches KNOWING it was going to be high at Easter and they are around £145. Not too bad as a 3 night stay will set me back under £50 in total.
The hostel is called
Lisbon Lounge Hostel and they have a sister hostel that opened up in July 08 called
Living Lounge Hostel [that's the one I want to stay at] and for £16 a night looks real decent. The ratings by people that have stayed there are 96% and that coupled with the boutique clean look to it is right up my street.
I did vow for a while to get out of the hotel stays especially if I want to travel a lot more
[Plus Fashogi's comment influenced me too…cheers TJ] and this is a good way to meet new people and keep the costs down. So I will be laying a 10% deposit down of £4.86 on the hostel today at just and book my flight in about 2 weeks time.
Again…didn't call a soul to come. Not looking for anybody to tag along. Just book it and go…life is too short to wait on folks. Just do you!
This is more addictive than buying shoes. I did say I was going to wait a couple of weeks, but the credit card bill came in this morning which has my January flight booked which will get paid in full tonight, sooooooo rather than wait, went ahead and booked the Lisbon flight for £136 over the Easter Weekend. I booked the hostel last week so that's it...not even 2009 yet and already have 3 vacations to look forward to within the first six months. I've even been on the phone with Mrs H planning our June 19th 30th birthday celebrations in Las Vegas. Her birthday is May 20th, mine is July 18th so June 19th is month and date slap bang in the middle of our birthdays. Plus it's the cheapest date in June to fly to Vegas.
