5 Places I Would Revisit in a Heartbeat

I travel to collect memories. I hope to look back at my life, many years from now, after my body has packed in and my mind is on its way out, and hope to say, “I had a good life.”

I’m happiest when I’m travelling and seeing the world, and I hope that all the memories that I have and will have, will stay with me as I grow older.

There are some places I’ve been that have stayed with me more than others. They’re impossible to forget. Individually, they’re incredibly different, but share a propensity for being close to nature.

I live in London, and love cities, but clearly they’re no match against what Mother Nature has to offer. She has a natural beauty that I’m always longing see more and more.

So without further ado, here are 5 places I would revisit in a heartbeat.

Svalbard | Norway

If you follow me on facebook you will know that I am completely infatuated with this place. It’s been nearly a year since I visited this glacier-coated island and there is not a day gone by that I haven’t thought about it. See! I even talk about it like I’m a love-sick teenager! But can you blame me? Just look at it.

However, this place isn’t all about looks. It’s about how it makes you feel. The exhilaration you get when you know there is not a single thing you’d rather be doing. That’s how Svalbard made me feel.  It’s tormenting, so in a way, I hate it too.

Further reading → Svalbard: The Last Stop Before the North Pole

Sabah | Borneo

Half of my family live in Malaysia so I have an affinity with this country. It was the first country I visited outside of Europe when I was seven, and I attribute this trip to unleashing my sense of wanderlust.

I remember the mango trees, sticky humidity, marble floors and cockroaches. Everything felt so exotic and it was at this point in my life that I was bitten by the travelbug, along with a million mosquitoes.

However, my family live on Penninsula Malaysia, I didn’t visit Sabah which is separated from mainland Malaysia by the South China Sea, and is geographically part of Borneo, until I was nineteen. I loved its capital, Kinabalu. It possesses a local feel mixed with a cosmopolitan buzz but without all the skyscrapers you’d find in Kuala Lumper. Not far from the city you can find floating villages, endless forest, mountainous landscapes, and extraordinary wildlife.

Update! I revisited Borneo 15 years later!

Further reading → Wildlife Encounters on the Kinabatangan River in Borneo

Yosemite National Park | US

If I think of my Utopia, I think immediately of Yosemite. I love this place and dream about going back.

I remember dancing around in the nature and throwing shapes up in the air. I remember spotting a bear, and singing-a-long- to the Sound of Music a à la Julie Andrews style. I remember retiring inside a cosy tent cabin and snuggling up inside a blanket and listening to the sound of woodland animals.

During my visit to Yosemite, I stayed in a tent cabin with my friend, Harriet. It was basic but that’s all we needed. There was a little chaos in the middle of the night though. We did made an unexpected friend that came in the form a little mouse. It had squeezed its way into our tent becoming caught somewhere between the crevices of the lining.

We tried to let him out but he was a nifty, little thing so we accepted defeat and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately he wouldn’t let us, spending the night furiously trying to scratch his way back to freedom.

There were no winners. He didn’t escape and we didn’t sleep. In the morning we changed tents and that night we slept like dogs, however, next time I’m in Yosemite I want to stay in a log cabin – somewhere a little bit more mouse-proof!

Further reading → Black Bears & Tent Cabins: My Yosemite Experience

Anhui | China

This province in China is full of nature and local life. I lived here when I was 21 and I’d love to relive some of the memories I have of this place, and I’m very interested to see how it’s changed. Even in the short time I was there new buildings were constantly being erected and I could see marked urban differences from when I arrived to when I left.

Although I enjoyed finding a nice, quiet spot along the Yangtze River not far from where I lived in the city of Wuhu, and took pleasure in seeing how hoards of elderly people gathered together playing marjong in the parks, Anhui is best for its beautiful landscape away from the cities. Don’t miss Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed, and whatever you do, don’t missed Mount JiuHua, one of the four great Buddhist Mountains of China. The views. Oh the views.

Further reading → Hiking Jiahua Buddhist Mountain in China

Stradbroke Island | Australia

One night on Stradbroke Island is not enough. It’s a haven of dramatic cliffs, white beaches, and miles upon miles of oceanic views.

To get visit Stradbroke, you need to take a boat from Brisbane. Once you arrive you’ll feel like you’ve landed in paradise. The biggest jackpot came for me when I climbed to a look-out point and spotted whales swimming in the ocean, almost directly beneath me at the bottom of the cliff.

Even thinking about it now makes me wistfully sigh. It’s a sigh of fulfilment, mixed with a strange envy towards the 19-year-old me in this photo!

Where would you love to revisit?