We’re fans of change. I know for myself, I crave change probably every 2 – 3 months. After a crazy 2014 which saw us all over the show (and globe), we have learnt a few things and are changing accordingly.

The easiest change so far has been how we travel. We very quickly agreed that gone are the short trips of 3 countries in 4 days. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of seeing as many places as you can, as quickly as you can but in the long run, you don’t get to experience the true personality of a place, it’s exhausting, and ends up being a really expensive way to travel.

So! This year we’re taking a different approach by booking fewer trips that are longer. It’s all slow travel for us this year. A couple of short trips will probably sneak in with boys’ trips and stag & hens dos, but not nearly as many as last year.

When thinking about this new approach to travel and our future plans, we decided to go to two places that we’ve been wanting to go for ages, that really excite us (like, really really excite us), and also happen to tick a couple things off our 100 Things List.

Iceland

In May, we are going to road trip around Iceland for 10 days. We’ve booked our flights and sweet 4×4 rental car, and are still finalising our route around the country. We’ll likely follow the main highway in a complete circle with a few trips off the beaten path. The more I research this trip, the longer I wish we were going for. I also keep reading that Iceland is a photographer’s dream so I’m also researching the tools I need to take some wicked shots.

It is going to be epic.

The Maldives

Yes, you read that right! We are going to the Maldives in June for a 7 night, all inclusive, super delayed honeymoon (and also for Matt’s birthday)!

And this is where we’ll be staying:

YEP. That is a private deck on our own over water bungalow…

We decided that if we were going to the Maldives, we needed to do it properly. It will be a trip of total relaxation hopefully – I don’t plan on doing much besides snorkelling and reading on the deck. No cell phones and logging in to work for us (other than maybe a quick instagram photo to make everyone else suitably jealous). I’m incredibly excited for it.

Before you start thinking we’re moneybags over here, we cheated a bit. We will be going in low season which saved us about £2000. The temperature will still be the same as high season (around 30C) but we run the risk of more rain. We’re hoping it works out as well as it did when we went to South East Asia in wet season where it only rained for 20 minutes in the afternoon but the rest of the day is great.

We also received gifts at our wedding to go towards this honeymoon which is the only way we could justify spending so much on a trip (so we’re very grateful!).

We booked this resort because the all-inclusive package is great, the water villas look amazing, and the house reef is meant to be full of sealife. One of the reviews I read said that manta rays, sea turtles, and even sharks swim around your villa. SOLD.

In our year ahead post last year we hinted that we’d love to do some long term travel again.

This desire hasn’t changed and we’re hoping to have some more concrete plans before the end of this year. Our main challenge is how do we earn income while on the road that is also something we enjoy?

We’ve got a few ideas up our sleeve already and still have all of this year to figure that out. But more on that later.

 

Have you ever been to Iceland or the Maldives? What were your favourite memories from your trip? Do you have any tips for us?