Island Shopping
Towards the end of the last century, we turned an annual flight towards sunshine from a 'nice to have' to a 'must have' when we looked at our plans for the year ahead. Nothing would get in the way of our holiday...'the hamster will be fine with the next-door neighbour, I'm sure they won't mind'. I'm sure they did.
So, we're a holiday loving nation and, to be perfectly honest, we are spoilt for choice on where to go next. Some of us love 'what we know' and will go back to the same place each year. There is something reassuring about being welcomed back by a familiar hotel manager or cocktail shaking bar attendant in a foreign land, which I totally get (especially if it gets you a slightly stronger mojito!). However, many of us just want to see more. The appeal of exploring different countries and regions gives us that feeling of a new experience, one that can't be compared too closely to previous travels, and I sit firmly in this category. The first world problem was always 'where?' and it was at one of these annual crossroads that I boldly booked my first cruise.
Cruising had a reputation of black tie and cocktail dresses, verbatim. This changed in the mid 1990's though. Cruise companies such as Royal Caribbean International turned their marketing towards families, fun and a whole new cruising experience. The only thing that didn't change too much though was the extensive list of exciting destinations to visit. This appealed hugely to me. I always fancied taking the family to Italy, or maybe Croatia. I've always loved Greece, but which one of those islands? Cruising gave me a way out of this conundrum. Venice, Zadar, Split, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini & Rhodes all ticked off in an effortless 10-night trip.
We've been enamoured by cruising as a family ever since. Even better, though was the ability to get a taste of places we wished to visit again. The following year, we went to Mykonos for a whole week. Same destination but a completely different experience.
Our latest holiday was a cruise again. On one island a local taxi driver asked us 'Would you come again?'. "Oh, we love it here, but we'll decide that once we've seen all the other destinations" I responded. She smiled. "Round here we call it 'Island Shopping', I'm sure you'll be back". I couldn't have put it better myself.
