Although I would not define myself as well travelled I have in my time been to some truly amazing places. What I do see as something of a shame is that I saw some of these places when I was of an age when I don’t think I could truly appreciate them and so it is my wish to return to them.
Iceland
I saw Iceland aged 14 for a school trip marking the beginning of my GCSE Geography studies. I do remember having an amazing time, who wouldn’t away with friends for a week? I even remember enjoying seeing and experiencing the attractions but to be honest I remember very little about what they were about. I have heaps of photos of various waterfalls or the blue lagoon but all in all they mean very little, I can’t explain anything about them. I also remember being fussy on the food side of things and of course being 14 meant that I missed out on many other attractions on offer. Hence Iceland being on my bucket list, now aged 23 I would like to return to Iceland to fully experience the wonders of the country. To be able to pick up photographs of landmarks and say “Oh that’s _____ and that’s where this is” or whatever!
Disney World/Florida
Being 23 and having been to Disney twice already it may come as a surprise to some that I would want to return here but all begins to make sense when I tell you that I was aged 4 and then 6 on the previous visits. Arguably too young to enjoy (and remember) the full Disney experience. On my return I would not be focussed solely on Disney of course but on the whole experience of Orlando, Florida and I want to do this before I have children of my own. For those that know me this would seem an odd wish for me to visit the epicentre of children given that I would normally try and avoid such situations but there is something special about the pull of Florida.
France
Having visited France on a couple of school trips I have seen Paris a number of times also. Again similar to the Iceland experience I had seen many of the attractions (mostly from the outside) but did not perhaps appreciate them. My first visit was spent mostly on the coach when a teacher went missing after trying to cancel a scheduled boat trip down the Seine and my second was simply a day trip in which we walked through Paris and looked at the beauty of its attractions from afar.
My chance to see Paris in its full glory for me to appreciate came in my second year of Uni. I had opted for a module entitled “Retail History” mostly because to a 19 year old girl this translates as shopping. I was pleasantly surprised by the module and it ended in January with a trip to Paris. The trip was with some of my closest uni friends and some that became close for that short time. We saw parts of Paris’ history that many will not thanks to our amazing lecturer Disco Bill and we crammed an unbelievable amount of the city into our free time. This trip was the perfect balance of fun with friends and city experience, a slash through things achieved on my bucket list!
Normandy
I visited Normandy aged 12 with school. I had an amazing week with friends getting up to mischief as youngsters do on school trips and I saw some amazing WWI sites. Aged 12 I had no idea what I wanted out of life, although History was always a favourite subject at this point I had no idea it would become my degree choice or that I would end up teaching it. My memories of this trip are more to do with those that I experienced it with rather than where I visited. I know where I visited from old entry tickets that I have boxed away with other memories but it’s only been through beginning to teach that I have learned the significance of the places I have seen.
