First of many...here's hoping!

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It was about a year ago that I was first bitten hard by the travel bug and since then I've had my head stuck in various travel magazines and books, filling up on inspiration and drifting off into travel dream land on a regular basis. I've gorged on tales of motorcycle jouneys, volunteer stays and train trips and formulated plans for numerous adventures to take me across the globe, despite Mum's ever present question of "And how, exactly, are you planning to afford this?".

At the moment I'm roughly planning for a gap year in 2013, starting with Au Pairing in Spain (with the aim of improving my knowledge of the lingo and culture) then wandering further afield to experience places which are far more different to the UK.

But I haven't just been dreaming; this July I headed off alone, for the first time, to volunteer with the company Pueblo Ingles in Spain and had an amazing time, realising that one of travels best points is the people that you meet.

I've also been on several family holidays, with my eyes newly opened, where I've tried to experience the history and culture of the places we've visited aswell as doing more adventurous activities and fitting in some relaxation for the parents.

(Time permitting) I'm hoping to catch up on my travels over the summer aswell as any places I visit in the future in my blogs so please do check back once I've written more.

I've also started to wonder "What does my home area look like to a visitor?" which has made me appreciate my locality far more so I'll be writing about a few places closer to home too.

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