With summer in full bloom in the UK, my mind has turned to dream vacations and even dreamier destinations. While nomadic in nature, my been app tells me I have only a meagre 6% of the world which can only mean one thing: more travelling. I have recently taken the decision to travel at least four times a year, with two longer holidays and a few short weekend breaks, hence the need for the 2016 edit of bucket list destinations.
Marrakech, Morocco
I have already booked the package holiday but the dates are yet open. Marrakech, I reckon, will make for a sensory journey through a magic world of spices, souks and medinas, all bursting with a myriad of hues, exotic smells and sounds. A two-day trip to the Atlas Mountains and spending the night star gazing on the Sahara would be a bonus too!
Lisbon, Portugal
To be honest, Lisbon never appeared on my radar up until a few months ago when I was skimming through a Beymen Club catalogue which was shot in the capital of Portugal. Following on from shoots in Istanbul and San Francisco, the creative team, explained the choice behind Lisbon with the city’s similarity to Beymen’s home city, Istanbul, with its maze of streets, seaside location and the breathtaking views at the end of its slopes streets. I am particularly fascinated by the beautifully patterned Azulejos decorating many of Lisbon’s walls.
Blue Lagoon, Iceland
The land of fire and ice, I find Iceland simply magical. One image that comes to mind has to be the world-famous Blue Lagoon, accidentally formed in 1976 by the wastewater of a geothermal power plant. With its silica and sulphur rich fresh and salt water blend from 6,500 feet below the Earth’s surface believed to have healing properties, its otherworldly atmosphere with steaming water over the milky blue pool, Blue Lagoon is definitely one to tick off the bucket list soonest.
The Namib Desert, Namibia
You may say I have a thing for deserts and you would be right! A long-haul destination on my list is Namibia. Vast, endless, magnificent, unimaginable are some of the adjectives used to describe Namibia, and nowhere else does the vastness strike you more than the Namib Desert, the oldest in the world, reputed to house some of the largest sand dunes on this planet. And imagine ending on the Skeleton Coast, said to be one of the most pristine coasts in the world, where scorching desert sand meets the roaring waves of the Atlantic.
Marrakech!