Can you believe we're in the last month of 2017? Seriously, where has this year gone. It's always slightly bittersweet looking back on a year and looking back at the things you promised to do, and for whatever reason didn't quite manage to do so. One thing I said I would do in 2017 was travel more. Not just to see more of the world, but to step out of comfort zone. And I truly feel like I have.
Although I did want to squeeze in a couple of city breaks before the end of the year, I still managed to go on two amazing holidays this year. Sometimes I feel like I'm just getting a bit carried away when browsing the destinations and deals on Holiday Gems and think 'Yep, I'm definitely going to book that'.. It's safe to say I'm a bit addicted to travelling.
So, what were my travel highlights?
May 2017
In may we headed over to Spain, which doesn't sound too exciting, but believe it or not I had never actually been to Spain before. And there was one thing I was 100% going to be ticking off my bucketlist, and that was Barcelona.
Salou - We didn't get the chance to explore too much of Salou, but I think we got the general vibe of the place. It is a pretty toursity place with people trying to flog you various items that you don't need on every corner, but none the less, it was still a nice area. Lots of nice little independent shops and restaurants lined along the beachfront.
Port Aventura & Ferrari Land - 2017 saw the opening of Ferrari Land, so of course we were going to visit whilst at Port Aventura. Honestly, Ferrari Land is a must go purely for the simulators alone. They were absolutely incredible. To the point where as soon as we got off the simulators, we joined back on the end of the queue. Of course Port Aventura is also a fantastic visit too with plenty of thrilling rides, shows and lots, and I mean lots, of yummy snacks and food.
Barcelona - The main event. The thing I was most excited for. I'm not going to ramble on to much about how much I love Barcelona and how beautiful the city is, as I wrote all about it in this post. But I am 100% going to plan a future visit because it's such a huge city with so much more to see.
September 2017
Originally we did plan to go away for my birthday in July, but last minute we decided we would catch a bit of winter sun and go in September instead. We ended up going to Portugal which was stunning, and very hot. Especially when you're not used to 30 degrees at the end of September. So, here are my holiday highlights:
Vilamoura- This was probably one of the first places I had on my list. I had saw a few bloggers visit and describe how luxurious and gorgeous it was. And they were not wrong. It is filled with cocktail bars, yachts, and designer shops including Ronaldo's. This was definitely one of the highlights of my Portugal trip.
Zoomarine- Oh.My.God. This place was incredible. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the info we were given. I was expecting an overpriced water park with little to do. I was very wrong. Yes, obviously the waterpark is the big selling point. But the shows are spectacular, particularly the dolphin show. Which I cried at. Yes, you read that right..
The Algarve- Over the next week, we visited various little towns and spots that were recommended to us by the locals and found some fab things to do and some great hidden little gems. I actually did a post not long after returning on my Top Things to do in The Algarve.
As I mentioned before, we did plan to go on a couple of city breaks too, but life kinda got in the way. Maybe 2018 will be the year I finally get around to booking them. I actually plan on doing a 2018 travel plans kinda post later on this month, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Have you been on holiday this year? What were your highlights?
*This post was in collaboration with Holiday Gems. All words and opinions are my own.