Day Thirteen - Somewhere you'd like to move or visit

This harbour is situated in the small, picturesque town of "Seahouses" on the Northumbrian coast. It's a stone's throw away from some of the most scenic, historical and wonderful places in the North East of England (think Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick, Berwick, The Holy Island of Lindisfarne). It is itself a pretty little tourist destination, being the main port of call for those looking for boat trips to the Farne Islands, lying only 2.5–7.5 km off the coast and providing shelter for a considerable colony of some rather curious Grey Seals as well as a whole host of sea birds. Being that it's no more than a couple of hours drive away from my hometown, my friends and I would visit Seahouses every year in our early teens (around September/October time when there was always a chill in the air) with our church youth group. Our Vicar was one of those guys who loves the great outdoors and he'd march us up and down the coast. I don't recall there being much spiritual significance to what we did...indeed, the time he got us on the coach to Holy Island, we didn't even visit any of the 'major attractions' - we spent the day hiking all over the damned place. Indeed, I doubt there is much of that island I haven't seen between our old vicar trawling us over the dunes and my dad taking us there every Easter break to visit the winery!

Anyway, I digress...this area in general holds so many happy memories for me, and is so strongly linked to my sense of self that I cannot imagine living the rest of my life without taking frequent trips back to the region. The only reason I've yet to take Ben to visit is, honestly, the lack of our own private transport. It's not exactly a bustling transport hub, so it's a bit awkward to get to. I'd love to live there in Seahouses one day, in one of those lovely little cottages by the harbour. It's perfectly situated so that it's close enough to home to make it worth it, but far enough away so as not to worry about being pestered, if you catch my drift.

As for places I'd like to visit, there are pleanty...

Don't you just want to run up the length of this valley? It is, of course, Iceland ^_^

Ben admitted for the first time last night that he wanted to visit the volcanoes in Hawaii. I jumped for joy, since I never took him for a volcanophile like myself

This is Sapporo, Japan, during their "snow festival". There are many places in Japan I would like to visit, but Sapporo's snow festival is probably number one on the list. Tokyo, by the way, is so far down it doesn't even factor in. The very idea of navigating such a crowded city makes me feel anxious. Still, if I managed to get over there I'd probably feel obliged to spend at least a couple of days looking around...

Hong Kong, yet another crowded city, but in this case, it is also the birthplace of my mother so I'm very keen to visit it one day.

Come on, who doesn't want to visit The Pyramids?

I'm going to have to count this as one, or else this will be one long list of European cities! I've visited Paris, Tours, Perpignon and various other little places in France, the region around Alicante and Valencia in Spain and Amsterdam in The Netherlands, however I've yet to visit the rest of Europe. On the agenda specifically includes Rome, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Oslo and Helsinki. If I visit those places in my lifetime, I will die happy! Anything extra is a great bonus!

There are many, many more places in the world I want to visit, including a number of places in the middle east and in the Americas. However, these are the places that I feel very passionately about visiting, and really hope I get to do so. The European cities aren't a huge issue really, the short city break is, after all, an amazing invention! Further afield, however, may prove to be a sticking point. Well, we'll see whether I can win the lottery or something to pay for it!