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Normally, (what does that even mean any more?) I write a post in early January setting out our travel plans for the coming year. This year, I’ve been putting it off as I’m not really sure what our travel plans are. After our many and varied travels plans for 2020 were wiped out without exception, I wrote our travel plans for 2021 feeling apprehensive but still with hope. I wrote about a potential holiday to France with the kids, about maybe finally getting the long promised Dollybirds’ holiday with Kirst and about trying to get some time away for Dave and I. None of it happened.
What we did manage was a lovely week in Llandovery with my parents and little sister, a fantastic few days in Swansea and a couple of nights camping in Holmfirth with the Butlers. Regular bouts of isolation and complex , ever-changing restrictions, rules and requirements meant that we didn’t even attempt to book a holiday abroad – and to be honest I don’t regret that decision at all.
If I thought my travel plans for 2021 were low key, then I’m not sure what there is to be said about our travel plans for 2022. They’re not non-existent by any stretch but they are currently more hopes and conversations than they are actual plans.
As it stands, all three kids’ passports have expired – they expired back in summer 2020 and there didn’t seem to be much point spending money on renewing them when they have such a short life span anyway. This was, of course, the right decision as we’re now nearly two years down the line and they haven’t had a need for them. Renewing the kids’ passports is on my to do list though as I’d like to think, should the opportunity for a cheeky foreign trip arise, we’d be ready to take it!
Ben’s going to Belgium!
At present, Ben is the only person with “set in stone” foreign travel plans this year with his Year 8 trip to Ypres, Belgium taking place in June all being well. The trip will be a big deal as not only will it be his first school residential (his Y6 residential was of course cancelled), but it will also be the first time he has travelled abroad without us. I’m desperately hoping that the trip goes ahead for him!
For the rest of us, there are no real plans to book a holiday abroad at the moment – our financial priorities are currently elsewhere and in all honesty I just can’t cope with the uncertainty. The idea of booking and getting excited about a trip only to find the restrictions have changed or one of us tests positive at the last minute . . . I just can’t bring myself to do it. Should things change and restrictions around travel be lifted then I think we would definitely look at trying to go abroad but for now we are very much focussing on UK based trips.
Dave and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary
First up on our list for 2022 is a few child free days away to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in the spring. When New York was cancelled for our 40ths back in 2020, we moved our focus to 2022 on the basis it “would all be back to normal by then” and we’d go a bit “honeymoon”, doing something super fancy like the Maldives, or a lovely trip to Italy. Of course we didn’t know then what we know now and really, I think we all know we’ll be lucky to get a few days away together in the UK! Dave has taken over planning our anniversary adventure – I don’t have any real idea of what I want us to do or where we should go – I just know I want it to be a bit special! (No pressure Dave!)
I’m going to Edinburgh for Grandma Day
There are tentative plans for a night or two away in Edinburgh in August – but this one is me with my Mum, my sister and my Aunty M rather than a family trip. Every year, we celebrate my Grandma’s birthday together and having not been able to do this properly for the last two years, we decided we deserved a special adventure so Nic has taken charge of booking us a trip to Edinburgh which I’m really excited about – I’ve only been once before when I was pregnant with Ben and thanks to being heavily pregnant and on a very tight budget, we didn’t really see much of Edinburgh at all!
More camping trips please!
For the last two years, we’ve only managed one camping trip each summer and I’d definitely like to fit more camping tips in for 2022! Having invested in a fancy new tent at the back end of last summer (so much so we haven’t actually had chance to use it yet), I think we’re hoping to book some longer camping trips this year as well as few weekends with the Butlers. (Definitely let me know if you’ve got any good campsite recommendations!) The current plan is to book a longer trip in the summer holidays and leave Poppy with Mum, as whilst we know we can take our dog camping, I think having her with us on a longer trip might be a little more limiting. This is something I know I need to get on with planning – at least setting out which dates we want to camp if not booking sites.
Check out our guide to camping here!
We have a list of UK places we’d like to visit this year
In terms of where we’d like go within the UK this year, Dave is keen to go to Cornwall and I’ve said I’d like to visit Northumberland, Snowdonia and Scotland. Not that these would all necessarily be camping trips – but they’re just places I’ve got in my head that I’m keen to revisit and explore more.
We can’t wait to get back to festivals in 2022!
After a couple of years with no festival action at all, I’m excited that we’ve just booked Camp Bestival Shropshire for the middle of August and I definitely wouldn’t be averse to booking another festival in should we be able! (There are so many festivals happening this June that we wouldn’t even have to wait till the summer holidays to keen off the 2022 festival season!)
Check out our festival guide here.
So yes, there are tentative travel plans hopes for 2022, but with so many factors that we don’t have much control over, it’s basically a case of wait and see! Have you got anything booked in for this year or are your travel plans for 2022 still at the hopes and conversations stage?
You might be interested in reading these posts next:
Why we chose to drive to the South of France on holiday
Tips for long car journeys with children
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