The ultimate travel plan for 2019

Does someone smell?

Next year I have made plans for an extended journey overseas as part of my holidays. I decided to use my long service leave of 8 weeks to take time off from work in 2019. This would mean that I take no time off in 2018 for my annual holiday in New Zealand as it will be an expensive trip away. My last trip to Europe was in 2011 and was basically just before winter. I left the UK a week before the snow arrived and the sun rise and sunset times were strange for someone coming from Australia

Thinking that a trip away to Europe would be something fun to do and I wrote a list of locations I would like to visit. I wanted the UK especially when I wanted to do some family tree research especially visiting the Archives in Kew and some of the museums like the Mary Rose. I wanted to look through some of Europe and thought about starting my journey in Rome and working my way through to France. I had been watching Great British Railway Journeys. Realising that I had limited time and having to sit down and rethink my plan I ended up with more ideas and a solid plan. The idea I had was to head over in summer, which considering the heatwaves that have been in the news does cause some concern and interest.

One thing I really wanted to do was visit museums and Instagram became very handy as I came across almost by accident the Maritime museum in Hamburg and the Vasa museum in Stockholm. The Vasa has similarities with the Mary Rose and that museum was being built around the ship in Portsmouth last time I was there. Another set of museums I wanted to visit were dinosaurs specifically ones that were not in Australian museums that I know of. Frankfurt was found to have a museum for that and a town in Dorset called Lyme Regis was well known. I had been there once before. I had gotten on the right bus, but it was going in the wrong direction for Dorchester. On a whim I jumped off the bus in Lyme Regis and had a wander. It would be later I would realise the fossil connection. Another area was Brussels for the Herge Museum the creator of Tintin. Not to be mistaken for Rin Tin Tin the dog who starred in movies of the same name. The dog is actually buried in Paris, not in the US.

Another part of my trip includes several battle sites especially World War One. Recently I found there is a new museum that had been built called the Sir John Monash Centre. I thought it was close to Ypres as I have a family member buried in Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendaele. Turns out I would need to visit Amiens as well as the museum is much closer. I had looked at a battlefield tour and then thought about the price. I realised I don’t like to be rushed and the price out of my range even if it would be worth it. I found locations for the Battle of Sterling Bridge and also Waterloo. The same thoughts occurred for castles and I had Edinburgh Castle in my sights and wanted to visit Dover castle after it was closed over winter and only open on weekends. I was there at the wrong timer of year and week.

Because of my university studies, I have come across by accident some interesting places. Tolpuddle for the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were sent to Australia only to be returned, Tank museum in Dorset, burial location of the Red Baron and some more walking along the Berlin Wall with a museum visit along the way. There are a few other cemeteries I would visit that I will include to my master list about the locations I am visiting, although I will be realistic in saying I cannot do everything on my holiday.

Booking flights was a journey in itself especially when several were counting down with how many seats they had left. One booking said there was two seats left after I had gotten one booked. Another airline sends travel info and bookings via FB messenger, which is different. Once I had booked my flights, I went to check my accommodation as I was going to book them a little at a time. Turns out my first choices were all booked out within 10 months from travel time. Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Portsmouth I had to resort to other choices from where I was wanting to stay. Crazy busy would be a word I could use and very surprising. I made sure I had somewhere to stay and now comes the search for other things to have a look at while I am on my trip and for family tree research especially when I have street addresses on census records and other records like Marriages. The rest will be sorted towards the end of the year especially when it comes to transport as I want to get trains everywhere. I have already worked out the direction of some in the UK like from Portsmouth to Dover via Hastings. I am staying in Singapore on my way home and I think this would mean I will have a really busy trip away and getting home will actually be a holiday on its own.

I will update more between the time I go next year, but now there is a reason why my travel blog might be a little quiet for a touch longer. Don’t know if I would be doing a blog for when I visit Armidale later this year, but you never know.