Holidays

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
I am booked on a holiday. I can tick that off the list, even though I have to travel in stupid married name.
I am off to Istanbul for a few days in April, courtesy of my sister and her excellent freebies.
I am really looking forward to it. It's in my travel book as one of the 'must-see places'. I am a little spoilt with holidays now having been on some fairly great ones in the last two years. Istanbul makes the grade though.

So now I know where and when I'm going, the next thing is packing. It will surprise you to learn I make lists for packing too. One holiday I went on, I packed two cases so carefully so that if one went missing, there would still be EVERYTHING I needed in the other. But what I pack in the way of clothes is usually CRAP.

I pack things imagining I will wear them, but never do and end up hand washing the same things for the duration of the holiday. So for all my lists, I may as well just throw random crap into the case and worry about it when I am there, instead of being meticulous about it beforehand and hating everything on arrival. This time the weather will be pretty similar to UK so although I KNOW this, I am still looking at my Summer clothes and wondering what to take. Idiot.

On my last holiday I bought two new dresses specifically for two evenings out and wore neither. One was too small after all the mojitos I had drunk during the week and the other I decided was too OTT and I went for trousers instead. Money well spent.

Holidays are about new experiences. I had a few holidays with my ex and hated his attitude that a holiday was about sitting on your backside in a non descript area drinking and smoking. He sometimes wouldn't get up until the early afternoon. Some people might like this sort of holiday. Not me. I have paid to be away from my usual surroundings..I'd like to see somewhere new. I want to see the sights, go places and try things. I will sit and have a drink in the evening when the sun is going down. Before then...forget it.

On holiday I like to try some food I don't normally eat but this has backfired on me too. I tried some odd yogurty thing in a restaurant in Dubai because it was unusual sounding (it was my first night there). I thought, I will be adventurous and try new things....in reality it was inedible. I also suffered badly in the Maldives with some spicy food. I somehow managed to get dysentry a few years ago and as well as the many joys that brings, you get left with permanent bowel scarring which can mean rich/spicy food is OUT.

What I REALLY dislike though is eating the same old rubbish you eat at home when you can embrace the flavours of another country. A child I know recently told me about the great burger bar he spends all his time in on holiday in Greece. I felt so sad.

The last three holidays I went on, I had NO desire to come home. I know this is normal but I REALLY did not want to come home from the last one, to the point I applied for- and got a job there. Turned it down though. Won't work.
It's part of the magic of holidays. Escapism.
It wouldn't be the same to live there. I will have to have that big lottery win so I can live a holiday lifestyle everyday. I wonder if I'll want to move to Istanbul in a few weeks time.

So where next? Where shall I go after this holiday? I have 3 of the places in my travel book ticked off, soon to be 4. Only another 300 pages to go.