travel

I have recently drawn up a budget and started sticking to it – or trying to, considering many of my close friends are turning 40 this year and I like giving nice gifts on such an circumstance.

One of the items that needed monitoring is my holidays expense. I had spent thousands of pounds in the space of twelve months one year ago – but I did go to Iceland, New York, Australia, Madrid and a few times to Italy.

I have given myself a generous allowance, am putting some money away every month and checking how much I spend. I am so far doing OK, and it has helped me figure out what I can and cannot do.

I will not be able, for instance, to go to Madrid Pride again this year, no matter how much I would like to. If you have the cash and the inclination, it is guaranteed to be a fantastic party, as people take over the street for fiesta Spanish-style for a whole weekend.

I might, however, go to Berlin, because I have not been in over ten years and I am very curious to check out Folsom Europe in September.

And this year I have already gone to Italy twice: once in February to purchase furniture for my new flat, which took three trips to IKEA – two hours each way by car, and once in April to put the furniture together and finalise the order for the kitchen (which was mainly done via email). I will also go to Italy again at the end of May, but this time it will be to see a friend in Milan. I used to live there and I have not been since moving back to London in 2002.

Oh, and soon I will be in a French chateau with a bunch of friends (Stuart paid for my accommodation as my birthday present this year), followed by a weekend in Paris, another city where I spent seven years and don't go back to as often as I would like to.

Can you tell I love travelling? If money and time off work were not an issue, I would probably be on the road even more often than I do now. Having said that, I'm doing rather well as it is.