An Itch to Travel, But No Time To Do It

Right now I’m in the peak of my busy season in work. This means little energy to blog and no time to travel. But it hasn’t stopped that itch. You know the one. The one that creeps up on you while you’re browsing online and suddenly you’re researching where to go on a sun holiday in Europe in October. No, this isn’t something I found myself doing yesterday. Okay, yes it is. But! The important thing is, I don’t have time to go this year. No, I’m considering October 2017 already.

That’s my secret. When I don’t have time to travel I look at future trips. Sometimes I even help friends plan their trips. For me that’s part of the thrill. Its been a few months since I was in Malta, the weather had been amazing here in Ireland for a couple of weeks, but then it started to turn again. Cloudy and rainy, I had to start sleeping with my heavy duvet again. So that hunger for travel started coming back, the urge to go somewhere nice.

Cologne Cathedral at Night

Now, I do have a trip to Cologne coming up August, but I won’t get a lot of time to play tourist. Plus it is a destination I’ve been to several times at this point. Though this time we are bringing a friend with us so we have an excuse to see all the tourist spots again. But that trip doesn’t really require any planning. I know what I’m doing, I know where all the major tourist stops are. So knowing that I’m just under 2 months away from that trip doesn’t satisfy that craving.

We also have a weekend trip to Belfast planned for October. But with such a short trip I’m a little hesitant to dive in to start the planning on that one just yet. Though we do have our hotel booked already.

In May we’re looking at possibly taking a trip to the west of Ireland to go to the Kerry International Dark-Sky Reserve. Dark-Sky Reserves are amazing places which I’ll almost certainly go into at a later date. But the general idea behind them is that they’re designated places in the world with very little or no light pollution. That makes them ideal for stargazing.

So then in August of next year we’ll be back to Cologne again. Once again, not a trip that needs any planning.

Which finally brings us to the last half of 2017. I would love to try and squeeze in some sun next year while also staying in Europe. From a couple of hours of research I did yesterday it looks like the Mediterranean is the way to go. Every site I found recommended Crete, Malta, or Italy. Then some sites recommended visiting Ireland. In October. I pretty much dismissed every site that said that. Sure! Okay, Ireland rains A LOT. But making it sound like October is the best time? Nooo. That’s May. Come visit Ireland in May, it’s basically our summer.

Bird in Dun Laoghaire

I’ve certainly not set anything in stone yet. And I’ll keep following my favorite travellers Nomadic Matt and Brendan Van Son, living vicariously through them until I can travel again.  But now, when that itch to get out and go pops up at 10 on a Sunday night before work I can just consider my desire to get sun late in the year next year and what that trip will be like.

What have I done so far? Well, so far there isn’t much. I looked around a bit to find out if it was possible, and indeed it is! Next time I’ll start making a list of destinations where I can get that thing I so crave, SUN! After that I’ll start narrowing down the list even further by looking at what else the destinations can offer me in addition to be sunny. Personally, I’m a sucker for somewhere with a rich history, so any resorty type place is usually out. Sports and physical activities are also out. I don’t want to injure myself while on vacation. Though I have discovered swimming in heated pools is fantastic! I’m also somewhat hesitant to go back to somewhere I’ve already been before. I would much rather go somewhere new.

So that’s how I’m dealing with my itch to travel right now. How about you? What works for you when you can’t travel but really, really feel the urge to?