I loved doing this one as firstly it reminded me that I wasn't always a boring middle aged housewife, and secondly I got to get out all my old photo albums and relive some magical times I had forgotten about. Doing this list has also taught me that it's not just about the place you visit - it's the experience that you have there that really counts.
So here's my Top 5:
1. Byron Bay, Australia.
Ah Byron - my no. 1 place in the world. This is where I met my future husband, but even so, I don't hold that again it. For those who haven't heard of it Byron is kind of like the hippie capitol of Australia. This is where I travelled to, on my own, when I was 25, met my future husband on my first night there and spent 3 hazy months swimming in the ocean, walking in the rainforest, meeting great friends, revelling in my new found freedom, and generally having the best time of my life.
No not the seedy tourist location all the american students head to, the 'real' Tijuana that you don't get to see on a weekend visit. When I was 22 I spent 6 months in TJ (I'm allowed to call it TJ because I spent 6 months there). I was lucky enough to stay with an amazing community doing voluntary work with families who lived in shanty towns that had built up by the American border by people hoping to better their lives by skipping over into the dreamland that is California. Not many made it and the rest remained in their corrugated shacks - often whole families in one room. These people were full of life, smiles and kindness despite all their hardship, and taught me valuable life lessons that I hope have made me a better person.
My desert island paradise. This was the first beach my OH and I stayed at on a 3 month trip around the Islands of Thailand (or as the Irish say Thigh-land) and it was tough to beat. Yes that is me in the hammock and no I don't know why I ever left either.
Just to show you don't have to travel to the other side of the world to find a favourite place. This was taken a few years ago on a family holiday to Peter Rabbit Cottages in Devon. A fabulous place and I learned to surf (well kind of)...
5. Lake Bohin, Slovenia
For our honeymoon we travelled through Germany to Slovenia and spent a glorious few weeks finding little gems such as the one below. It's a stunning country with views that are so perfect they look like they might be a painted backdrop that the country's Tourist Officials have hung up to fool us. I would go back in a heartbeat (with or withour the husband).
