Travel: My Travel Bucket List. #TransunLights

Singapore 2014.

Boarding my first plane at four years old for my first fourteen-hour trip of many to the Philippines, the travel bug bit me at a very young age (or I suppose you could call it the travel gene; I hope to take after my Dad, who constantly boasts a full passport of stamps, although the thought of having over 700 flights under my belt makes me feel a little queasy- I'm that person who squeezes the hand of the person next to me so hard during take off that it might break and panics at any signs of turbulence). As I grew older and started attending school trips to Rome and New York, and finally making journeys without a familiar face (or hand to squeeze) by my side to Calvi, France and most recently Singapore, I was captivated by the beauty and culture of places unfamiliar to me and have since craved more adventures. There is an endless list of places that I would like to visit during my life time, from quaint and quirky European cities such as Paris and Amsterdam, to Walt Disney World to relive the part of my childhood I never got chance to experience, and of course, to see the Northern Lights (but that need not be mentioned, after all, this blog post is an entry to Transun's amazing competition to win a trip to see the fascinating Auroras). However, here is a list of some of the top destinations on my travel bucket list:

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Rickshaw Run, India.

Whilst the sun, sand and surf of typical holiday destinations is usually enough to keep me happy, sometimes the bolder side of me craves something a little more adventurous and down-right ridiculous, and what says that better than travelling 3,500km across India in your own pimped up tuktuk- or what The Adventurists describe as a "7 horsepower glorified lawnmower". Since watching the JacksGap series on their Indian adventure, the Rickshaw Run has been right at the top of my bucket list, not only for the feeling of accomplishment as we cross the finish line, the sheer stupidity of it and the laughs (and probably tears) that would be shared with my friends, but to stop and enjoy views such as the Taj Mahal and have a authentic Indian curry or five along the way.


Iceland.
I've got to hand it over to the lovely Amy over at The Little Magpie for the mini-series she has recently written documenting her trip to Iceland for the fact that I am now completely obsessed with the idea of visiting this slightly cooler holiday destination. Iceland was never a country that had crossed my mind as somewhere that I needed to see, but where else can I bathe in mineral-rich 37 degree hot springs with a face mask on and a cocktail in hand whilst enjoying the view of snow-covered mountain tops?
The Golden Circle Tour sounds amazing also; unsurprisingly one of Iceland's most popular tours amongst travelers, watching the Strokkur Geyser intermittently erupt in to a turbulent blast of hot water and steam, witnessing the powerful flow of the Gullfoss waterfall and strolling around villages of quaint little brightly-coloured houses isn't something that you get to do at home (or many other places, for that matter).

The Philippines (well, more of it).

As mentioned before, I have visited the Philippines a lot throughout my life- nine times to be exact- and whilst I know the streets of the capital city, Manila and my mother's home province, Zambales like the back of my hand, having half of my family and a little house at our convenience has meant that I haven't really had the chance to explore much of the country that holds half of my heritage (did you know that the Republic of the Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands in total? That's a lot of islands to explore!). One of the saddest things about Zambales is that the devastating eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 left the surrounding beaches covered in a layer of volcanic ash, so whilst they are still lovely to visit with their own beauty and stories to tell, I would love to travel over to the island of Boracay, one of the Philippines' more popular tourist destinations which luckily still boasts beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise waters. The island of Bohol is home to one of my favourite animals, the Philippine tarsier, and it has been on my bucket list for many years to see one of these boggle-eyed, pint-sized primates in the flesh.
As well as these, it would be amazing to see some of the Philippines' very own wonders in real life, including the Chocolate Hills, the incredible 2,000-year-old Baneue Rice Terraces and the (almost) perfectly conicle Mayon Volcano.


What are your dream travel destinations?

Frances x

*DISCLOSURE: This blog post is an entry in to Transun's #TransunLights blogger competition.