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untravelling

travel to unravel

A blog for those who love to get out and about

Welcome to untravelling

This is for anyone who feels more themselves when they are travelling than anywhere else, for those who thrills at a map wondering where to go next. This is about taking short trips, going solo and seizing any opportunity to create an adventure, whether it’s a couple of hours in your locale or popping the passport into your back pocket to explore a different hemisphere.

You don’t need to summit a volcano for an adventure, sometimes the next town along will do.

Enjoy untravelling, whether it’s near or far.

Jo x

Growing up, my great aunt would tell the family wild tales of travelling all over the globe way before the world had an inkling holiday flights would be within the reach of the average person. The challenge was to name countries and see if she’d visited. She invariably had.

She had reels of cine films of her travels. I imagined her as a pioneer, no guide books, no internet, no recommendations, just finding out as she went along, it felt adventurous. The truth was probably more akin to the Grand Tours of the Victorian age, voyaging to far flung corners of the Commonwealth, all the while remaining quintessentially British with cups of tea and a hankering for a sherry trifle.

But it definitely sowed the seeds of curiosity; so many countries and such different cultures. I was hooked before I’d done anything other than camping in Cornwall. I realized there was a whole globe to explore. It’s true what they say about an ocean horizon, you want to know what’s out there. She showed me the horizon.

Home always seemed safe, suburban and mundane. I was desperate to leave the humdrum for adventure. And leave, I did, with a backpack and nary a backward glance. The thrill of not knowing what you’re going to find as you set off for a new destination has never left me. It’s always exciting to explore and discover.