December Newsletter
Everything I've been up to in November, December's plans, and some Christmas gift ideas-plus travel tip of the month, a new feature for the newsletter, and multiple polls so you can have your say
Hi, readers! Life got in the way a little bit for November, and I dropped the ball with the November newsletter. I’m back to it for December though and I’m feeling festive (although we don’t have the tree up, because it’s 1st December!) and looking forward to the new month ahead. We’re going to a pet sit tonight for two Russian Blue cats, Barnaby and Marple, that we’ve sat for before, and I’m looking forward to spending a few days with furry friends. Then we’re home for just over a week before flying off again, so December is set to be pretty full on for us.
This months newsletter covers our most recent trip, our next one, and some Christmas gift ideas for those travel fans in your life. I either own or want most of the stuff in here-I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t.
Prague and Cesky Krumlov
I returned to Prague in November, this time with J, as last time I went I was solo. The city was much busier this time, as we were there for their national day, and we caught a bit of a celebratory parade going across Charles Bridge which was cool. We were there for four days so managed a day trip to Cesky Krumlov, a picture perfect little town, too, and I’ll be getting content up on the blog about both very soon. Oh, and at Prague Zoo I got up close to the giraffes, who came up to their floor to ceiling glass screen to see me-magical
Next trip = Marrakech
For my birthday, 18th December, J is paying for us to go to Marrakech, Morocco. It’s a brand new city, new country AND new continent for me and I’m so excited to explore. I have a photoshoot booked to get some nice shots of me for the blog, we’re doing a Souk Tour with a local guide, and we’re going into the desert one evening for a meal, a camel ride and to see the stars. It’s going to be an amazing, relaxing break away, just before Christmas, and we arrive home late on 22nd ready for me to work 23rd and 24th.
Christmas gifts for travel fans
A travel journal is a great gift for someone who wants to remember their travels, and the ultimate travel journal is The Adventure Book, which was created by a travel blogger, Nicole. There’s a space for all 196 countries, pages to tick off where you’ve visited, pages divided by continent to colour in where you’ve been, places to list words you’ve learnt, friends you’ve met and all sorts of other bits too. I’ve had mine for a few years and I love it, so much so that I bought my friend one the following year. It’s a joy to fill in the sections for each country as I’ve visited-with photos, drawings, tickets and bits of writing, like a scrapbook.
For those proud of their visited destinations, a large, plain tote bag and flag patches for the countries they’ve been to means they can customise their own travel bag. I have a denim bag I’m sewing flags onto in order of visiting the countries, so that I can use it as hand luggage, and it’s sure to be a conversation starter.
If your loved one is sentimental and wears jewellery, a St Christopher necklace is said to protect the wearer, especially during travel. Etsy has some lovely ones and supporting a small business at this time of year is a lovely thing.
Packing Cubes and small zippable pouches are a must for me when packing. A lot of travellers will have things like this already so it’s worth checking if they do, but upgrading an existing set may be appreciated. I can never have too many pretty, small zipped bags to use-mine are invaluable for keeping charging cables together, carrying things like medicines, tampons and hair bobbles, and I often use one on longer trips to keep tickets from things we’ve done together, so I can take them home for my memory box. You could search Etsy for a pretty pouch that would mean something to your loved one, perhaps with their initial on, an animal they like or their team colours?
Small, portable games help travellers to make friends during trips, as well as killing time on those long flights, bus journeys or during any delays. My battered pack of UNO cards helped me and friends to hang out with Turkish bar staff at our hotel one trip, when I was in Cuba we played snap a lot, and Bananagrams is one I bought for J previously-it’s like a very portable scrabble.
Travel tip of the month
We all know that for most European countries, we can use our own phones as normal these days. For me, that’s a huge plus-I don’t want to be off Instagram for an entire trip, and I found Hong Kong, with barely any wifi options, really difficult, especially during coffee/food breaks when J was able to use his phone and I wasn’t able to use mine.
Morocco is, of course, not Europe, so J’s phone will work with an expensive daily charge, and mine won’t work at all. We can likely buy a SIM card in the airport for a local network, but it’s added time to find one, not speaking the language can make this harder, and we’d have no idea of the cost until we get there. There’s a way around all that hassle, and I’ll be using Airalo, an eSIM app, to solve this problem.
You can buy Airalo eSIMS for most countries, or if you’re going to be moving around, you can buy a Discover card, usable in 136 different countries. We’ll only be in Morocco this time and the Moroccan card is slightly cheaper, so I’ll be buying that one, but being able to have continuous data whilst crossing borders will be so useful.
You can check out Airalo here (this is an affiliate link, so I’ll earn a few pence if you buy an eSIM this way) I know you’ll find it useful if you have an eSIM enabled phone.
This months poll(s)
I’m starting to think of 2025, and how ‘thriving in ‘25’’ might look for Inside Laura’s Head. Reader feedback is invaluable to me and I’d love to know your thoughts, so please let me know what you prefer in the polls below
Thanks for reading, folks-it’s been a longer one this month, let me know how you feel about that and have a great Christmas if you celebrate :)