Like many antipodeans, moving to London awakened a very hungry travel zombie in me.  Never before have so many destinations been so close. Every 4-5 weeks I was; ticking Rome off the list, taking pics of the Eiffel Tower, walking down Las Ramblas or living some equally 'iconic' moment - I loved visiting the places i had seen in movies and books... Or at least the idea of it.  The travelling was exhausting and needing a holiday after my holiday just didn't seem quite right. Was there a way to to this better? Yes.  This post is a collection of those tried and tested nuggets of travel wisdom that you might find useful too.

1. I'm gonna go all 'Meta' on your ass and ask WHAT IS A HOLIDAY TO YOU? Not to your other half, not to your friend, to YOU. I used to go on holiday to see ' the sights'. Now, I like to think of holidays as a collection of experiences where the destination is sometimes a secondary consideration. This perspective has flipped the way I choose my holidays, from: "Where should I go and What is there to do?" to "What do I want to do? and Where should I go to do it?"

• What are your interests? I love food, wine, yoga • Where do they do this really well?I'm lucky, pretty much everywhere but I look for cooking classes, vineyards and yoga retreats when i'm in planning mode • What do you do/want to do to feel inspired? (increase energy) I cook, I like walking around neighbourhoods and checking out shops• What do you do/want to do to feel relaxed? (decrease energy) I eat, do yoga, I like to be surrounded my nature, I read

2.  MAKE A LIST OF DESTINATIONS Akin to a creative process, begin with a Brainstorm on a blank piece of paper of everything you want to see and do. It's really important not to use pragmatics like cost and timings to edit out ideas but at the same time, think of this paper as valuable real estate, with everything on it having some weight. Choosing a top 10 or top 20 will constrain the numbers but make it large enough to keep it aspirational .

As well as a fun bonding exercise, we found this 'dreaming process' to be super useful for getting us on the same page. It got us thinking beyond the day to day and stretched our pre-defined notions of what was possible - our 7 week mini sabbatical last year was conceived in one of our brainstorm sessions!

We have a constantly evolving holiday list that includes pie-in-the-sky inspiration to very specific breaks:

* pie in the sky ideas (e.g. a wellbeing retreat-type with walks on the beach and lots of book reading time, a holiday on a vineyard learning about wine then drinking it) * specific experiences (e.g. tracking silverback gorillas, an oyster festival, seeing and smelling the cherry blossoms in Japan ) * specific destinations (e.g. Fez in Morocco, visiting the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao)

This living list constantly has things get added to it and taken away. My 'pie in the sky' ideas evolve into more defined experiences in a specific destination once a bit of research goes into it.

• I find that having a list of holiday ideas enables me to take advantage on deals but not become railroaded by them. • Planning ahead saves money if your holiday windows are during peak times.

3. TIME ALLOTMENTS I pencil a time allotment to each of my ideas: • Weekend break 2-3days • Extended weekend 3-4days • Week break (usually 9 days to work with weekend to weekend) • Big break 2-3 weeks

I generally allocate weekends for city breaks, a week for a summer break or if i'm going further afield and a big break when we go to Austalia/New Zealand to visit family. Worthy things to note: • Perception of time: my holidays feel longer when i strike the balance of 'doing stuff' and relaxation • Time difference can work for you. • Cost can be a factor to help with this allocation e.g. i'm likely to allocate more time to expensive flights

4.  HIGHLIGHT HOLIDAY WINDOWS Take a year calendar and highlight when your holiday windows are: • When do you most need a holiday? • Are there any times you are committed to? (e.g. school holidays)

We try to be smart and believe we have refined this to a fine art. MrA & I both freelance* so we try and maximise bank holidays and avoid school holidays when possible. It's really important to us to have something to look forward to post christmas because it helps with motivation. September is the a sweet spot for a peaceful sunshine break (a lot of destinations are still warm but exiting super-peak costs.

*for those in full time employment submitting your dates to work early has a better chance of approval before everyone else submits theirs.

At the end of this, the goal is to have a year calendar and a list of destinations you want to go to. I have better holidays now than i've ever had using this way of thinking but I'd love to know if this works for anyone else out there.

Africa - Ups & Downs of an Organised Tour

This (non-paid independent) post captures my experience of the 8 day “Basix Serengeti Trail” by Intrepid travel in 2014.   

PLANNING THE TRIP

My hubby & I have talked about going to Africa for about 6 years.  It was daunting; it’s on our ever-growing list of ‘places to visit’ and it encapsulated an entire continent.  AFRICA.  It was to take 2 weeks minimum, see All the animals, walk with the Masai, spend time in a quintessential African village, eating African food and learning basic Swahili - with a beach break at the end to reflect on our experience.  Needless to say, we never had a convenient two weeks up our sleeve nor could i quite get the hang of time control and teleportation required to fulfil my pie-in-the-sky brief.  So we decided “Stuff it, we were gonna go, even if it wasn’t the perfect trip - it was only gonna get bigger and more daunting the longer we left it.”  The combination of cost, the convenience of easter bank holidays and limitations of rainy season made it easy for us to decide to book with Intrepid travel, whom we had used for a very enjoyable Jordan/Egypt trip. 

RESOURCES
As a first time safari goer, I found this person’s breakdown of the trip very useful. This site compares different African safaris, giving me an overview where to go, the climate and what i’d see at different times of the year

STRUCTURE OF THE TRIP
This is an organised group overland camping tour.  85% of the overall trip is spent in an overland truck and as this tour’s itinerary covers long distances,  it became the norm travel for 7-9hours of the day.  This meant we were on a tight schedule  - everyday we were setting up our tents in a different place -  the exception being the Serengeti, where we stayed for two nights.  There is a driver, a cook and the guide who stays with you most of the time.  There are also 'guest guides' who took us on the bike ride in Musoma and drove the smaller 4wd in the Ngorogoro crater. Everyone pitches in with 'chores' which are centred around helping with the meal preps, and dishes afterwards:

The days were quite structured and a typical day would look like this:  Wake up 6.30 (5 if there was a game drive), take down tent, eat breakfast, clean up, travel to the shop for supplies/atm stop, Travel, stop on the side of the road to have lunch, travel, stop at a tourist stop (souvenir shop, soapstone carving etc), arrive at destination late afternoon/early evening, put up tent, dinner prep, dinner, dishes, chill, bed.

Dishes duty

Lunch stop

BEING IN THE TRUCK

This 22 person capacity truck is MASSIVE.  I won’t lie, there were times where i felt like a big obnoxious tourist in their big obnoxious coach. The  startling contrast of the landscape and small villages with their modest scaled buildings and people on foot with this trundling cube incited lots of curious stares and lots of smiley waves.

Spatially comfortable with 12 people.  The lockers were bigger than i thought, fitting my 55 litre pack with plenty of room to spare - but annoyingly located next to the doors so that if you were accessing your stuff, others couldn’t go in and out of the truck (design flaw alert).  The large windows were very cool though and I felt as free as a puppy, the wind on my face when they were open.

Despite being in a large truck, animals can still be in close proximity

FACILITIES

Camping in the Serengeti & Ngorogoro felt to me like I were part of the landscape, there were no fences in the reserves and hearing the animals or the rain at night was a reminder that i was on an adventure.  Putting up or dismantling your tent at 5 in the morning was not so magical.

The bathroom facilities are basic.  There are usually cold showers and most toilets were western-style but if I had to squat, i preferred peeing out in the open rather than at public toilets.  There was many a time i squatted behind the truck, and got to appreciate the sky and the beautiful red soil from a different perspective.  I had a newfound love for wet wipes.

Another disadvantage is how slow and bump-reactive the truck was.  The 15-20 km/hr ascent to Ngorogoro crater was uncomfortable enough to wish I had a fatter bum. In the Serengeti was when the truck’s size became an advantage  The height ensured great visibility when a group of vehicles congregated in one place.  It was a fantastic privacy screen in the absence of bushes when nature called.

I was concerned that the size would scare the animals and that our slow pace would make us miss out on any time sensitive viewings. This wasn’t the case at all.  We saw one film crew with a special permit who were allowed off road, otherwise the roads in the Serengeti ensured all the vehicles were on equal viewing footing.

Well deserved relaxation time at the Serengeti

FOOD

Food was made by the camp cook.  Lunches were very functional - most days it was a sandwich and some fruit.  At dinner time we would normally have a starter and a few main dishes one or two of which was vegetarian.  I enjoyed the dinners most when there was some local flavours,  like the goat stew one evening and the fried fish caught from nearby Lake Victoria on another.  I  would have liked to go to some local eateries but i filled the food-venture gaps by trying local junk food and local fruit when i could get my hands on it!

Kenyan 'grilled' flavour

The fruit of a Boab tree, its really powdery and a bit sour. Usually made into a drink by mixing with water.

GROUP TRAVEL

I liked meeting people from different backgrounds and ages (24-60).  Because of the nature of group travel, elements such as efficiency and enjoyment are largely affected by dynamics - we were lucky that the dynamics of the 12 people on our trip were such that everyone got on and there were no real conflicts.  Everyone chipped in to chores which were centred around meal times.  We didn't have to revert to the pre-prepared roster.

I found collective time management to be most frustrating.  In an effort to streamline the busy mornings prior to a game drive, A 6.30 exit time,  would be compartmentalised into wakeup time, pack your tent time, lunch making time and breakfast time.  A & I would often be ready at 6.00, unable to subdue the feelings of being herded like livestock and the subsequent resentment caused by the knowing we could have stayed in bed for an extra 30 minutes.  As with most organised tours, the guides will assess the groups collective pace and understandably use the lowest common denominator to determine the level of push required to get everyone moving and ready on time.

A NOTE ABOUT TIME

For me, time was the biggest sticking point.  The combination of long distances, mode of transport, time critical arrivals and time limits to Ngorogoro/Serengeti, logistics of group travel and the trip type meant that the time left over from travelling, border crossings, tent erection & dismantling, dinner prep & chores there really wasn't enough time for much else.  The brief stops barely skimmed the surface of the destinations:  for example I would have loved to walk around and read the information at the Serengeti visitor centre at my own pace instead of a brief stop.

One of our biggest learnings on this trip was the importance of 'down time'. Though not easily quantifiable, down time helps me increases my awareness of the surroundings and i like to mentally digest my everything i experienced that day - looking through the days photos and running a visual reel through my head.  The two nights in the Serengeti felt convivial and much more relaxed. We sat around the fire and  ran through highlights of the day and we got to know each other a bit better too.

CULTURAL OSMOSIS

I don't think we quite expected how much time would actually be spent  in the truck either en route or on game drives and I struggled with being a passive viewer, gazing out the window.  At times I felt that i was missing out on the cultural exposure from walking explorations, where i’d get more chance to interact with the environment and with the locals who live there:  the attempts at conversations and decoding of mysterious menus -  simple interactions that inject a sense of adventure in a trip and have often led us to spontaneous (albeit random) experiences. I felt tired from the lack of physical activity - walking in the Serengeti or Ngorogoro was out of the question and time was too limited in most of the destinations to walk around. The optional bike tour and market strolls in Musoma were welcome respites to being in the truck  - out of the entire trip, this gave us most interaction with local people as well as an insight into local village life.

Riding past Lake Victoria on the bike tour

CONCLUSIONS What this tour gave was the pre-packaged convenience of ‘book & go’.  It is safe, it does most of the thinking for you and insulates from those uncomfortable instances of haggling, being ripped off and other frictions cultural or otherwise.

We had an experience where the waiter in Carnivore restaurant, Nairobi attempted to overcharge us after a few prior instances of pressure to order more expensive drinks and desserts.  The simple request of an itemised receipt left the attempt  unsuccessful but nevertheless let a bad taste in my mouth.  In contrast to this experience, our guide went to explain that i was not taking a photo of them, rather, it was the ‘Willy Shop’ i found interesting.  Seeing the transition of expressions from wariness to curiosity to understanding and finally the laughter - it was priceless.

The time spent on this trip is focussed on logistics (travelling and setting up camp) and you get a good feel for safaris and overland camping.  Cultural experiences and personal interactions with local people were less of a focus.

This trip covers a range of activities that serves as a good taster to a safari and to travelling in Africa.  Its suitable for the cost conscious because the food, accommodation and most activities are included and so, it is easy to plan a budget without needing to allow for a buffer to cover unforeseen expenses.

If time is an issue and you just want to do a safari, look at using internal flights.  The transit times are long especially on the days we had to cross the Tanzanian/Kenyan border.  Knowing what i know now, i would fly straight into the Serengeti and organise the game drives through one of the many tour agents.

This trip has the advantage of meeting new people and the energy from the dynamics of the group.  It's disadvantages associated with group travel: such as having others to think about making it more difficult to personalise.

IS THIS TRIP FOR ME? If you are deciding whether to go on this trip, these are the questions you should ask yourself: •  Do i want this trip to be conveniently organised for me or  do i want to do my own thing? •  Am I looking to get an introduction or do i want to get to know a place/culture/experience? •  Do i want to play it safe or do i want to push myself more adventurously? •  Am i time poor? •  Am i budget conscious?

WHAT TO PACK

In addition to the obvious basics, here are some things i found super useful and would highly recommend bringing:

• LEGGINGS - i brought a couple of pairs of  leggings and i wore them everyday and even slept in them.  They protect your legs from mosquitos at night and i found them to be like a second skin.

• WATERPROOF JACKET - if you are going during the rainy season, this is a must.  Also very useful for wind protection.  It's  windy in the truck when the windows are open and in the 4wd in Ngorogoro when you stick your head out the top

• HEAD TORCH - The head torch functionality won over my little hand held led every time

• DEET - i don't normally wear deet but made an exception for malaria.

• SWISS ARMY KNIFE - if you have one, this is the trip to bring it on.  i appreciated the bottle opener and corkscrew, and we used the screwdriver to fix a window fixing.

• WATER BAG - I had this sitting next to me most of the time, which reminded me to stay hydrated.  i found this particularly handy when i got thirsty at night, no spillages and it packs flat. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Source-2060220202-Widepac-2-litre/dp/B000NNT0KA

• CLOTHING - obviously very useful but i wanted to make a note here - i visited 6-7 websites who all said: don't wear black or navy as it attract tsetse flies, bright colours scare the animals, white gets dirty, jeans don't dry.  i followed this to the letter but i wouldn't get too hung up on it:  tsetse flies are also attracted to bright blue, the animals would be more wary of large vehicles than your tshirt colour and the activities we did, didn't dirty our clothes too much.  The film of dust which gets everywhere, inadvertently ends up on your bum so tan trousers do a good job camouflaging the marks.

• WET WIPES - so good for cleaning your hands, your face and serves as a shower alternative in desperate measures

I hope this post gave you some useful nuggets

Safari njema!