Back to the Candy Store

My annual visit to the candy store that is the Destinations Travel Show – wasn’t able to make the London version this year (too busy travelling) so it was up the M40 to the NEC this time.

Felt like a smaller scale event than the London show last year – or the Birmingham version I went to a couple of years ago – and it felt like there were more ‘lifestyle’ stands (No, I’m not interested in a massage, a new bed(!) or a static caravan – this is a travel show), but at least I didn’t have a fight with anyone from nPower this year.

My aim this year was looking for inspiration for travelling in the first few months of 2012 – and particularly contemplating slower travel rather than just jumping on a plane, doing some tourist stuff and then heading back to Heathrow.

I’m not going to manage a top ten this year, but the ideas I came away from the show contemplating were:
  • More time in South America – maybe the long route from Santiago to Buenos Aries (via Ushuaia)
  • Africa – still an embarrassing gap on my travel CV – perhaps overland Nairobi to Cape Town via Namibia
  • New Zealand – earthquakes not withstanding southern NZ has been on my ‘to-do’ list for a long time
  • More Islands – but given the time of year they need to be southern hemisphere ones – Borneo or Indonesia sound interesting (and in a part of the world I’ve managed to avoid so far)
I resisted the temptation to book anything at the show – but the dining room table is now covered with a big pile of brochures. Difficult business this trip planning malarkey.


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