Travel Tips: My Top Ten Nature Destinations

I've realised it's been a month since my last post, and the time certainly hasn't passed quickly... This third lockdown has felt interminable, and I can't wait for it to be over. And although I've been keeping busy working, studying for a further teaching qualification and making some updates to this blog among other things, it seems like every day is the same at the moment.

Now, more than ever, I'm really missing travelling and exploring new places. But given that any kind of travel is off limits at the moment, all we can do is dream and reminisce. So that's why today I'll be writing about the most incredible places of natural beauty that I've been lucky enough to visit.

I love visiting cities, and have previously written about some of my favourites. However, I also really enjoy seeing different types of natural scenery, and that's something I'm looking forward to doing again when it's possible. But as we're still waiting for that day to come, I'm going to make a list of my favourite nature destinations for future travel inspiration!

The Niagara Falls, Canada and the United States

Image by Pixabay from pexels.com

In 2010, I went on an amazing holiday with my family to my mum's birth country, Canada. While we were there, we stayed in the cities of Toronto and Montréal (where my mum was born) and we also went on a day trip to see the Niagara Falls. There are actually three waterfalls that make up the Niagara Falls: the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side (pictured above), the American Falls on the U.S. side, and the Bridal Veil Falls, also on the U.S. side. We sailed around them on the Maid of the Mist boat ride, which was a spectacular (and very wet!) experience. It's truly one of the most incredible places I've ever been to, and I'd love to go back there one day.

The Atacama Desert, Chile

The Atacama Desert is the world's driest non-polar desert and is mainly located in the far north of Chile, with some parts extending into Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. I visited the area with my boyfriend Claudio in January 2019 and was really impressed by the variety of nature to be found there, both in terms of landscapes and wildlife. For me, one of the most beautiful parts of the desert was the Altiplano (pictured above) with its volcanoes and lagoons. We were lucky enough to see vicuñas there! I also really loved Laguna Chaxa, a lagoon on a salt flat where lots of wild flamingos live!

Read more here!

Valle del Elqui, Chile

Another beautiful place in the north of Chile is Valle del Elqui, located in the Coquimbo region. This green valley surrounded by the Andes mountains is known for the production of Pisco, Chile's national alcoholic drink. It's also famous for being the birthplace of the Nobel Prize winning poet Gabriela Mistral, and for being one of the best places in the world for stargazing. I went there on a road trip with Claudio in November 2019, and we had a great time exploring the area. It's a very peaceful and enchanting part of the world.

Read more here!

Algarrobo, Chile

One of the most popular seaside towns in Chile is Algarrobo in the Valparaíso region. It's known for being home to one of the world's largest swimming pools, but it's also famous for its nature and wildlife. Interesting sites to check out include the wetland nature reserve Parque Humedal El Membrillo, and El Canelillo beach, which is surrounded by a pine forest. But my favourite place has to be Islote Pajaros Niño (pictured above), an island where different species of birds live, including pelicans and Humboldt penguins! It's possible to take a boat trip around the island to see them relatively close up - an amazing experience!

Read more here and here!

Cajón del Maipo, Chile

Just a short distance away from Santiago, you can find Cajón del Maipo, a very scenic area in the Andes mountains. It's the perfect place to get away from the noise and crowds of the city for a while and enjoy some time in nature. The most famous part of the area is Embalse El Yeso (pictured above), a huge reservoir filled with bright blue water, which is a stunning sight to see. Cajón del Maipo is also a great destination for seeing wildlife, as plenty of wild ponies and goats live there!

Read more here!

The Maule Region, Chile

As you can tell by this list, Chile is one of my favourite places for seeing nature! Maybe I'm biased as it's where I used to live and where I'll be moving back to as soon as possible, but it's undeniably one of the best countries in the world in terms of diversity of landscapes. One place I enjoyed visiting while I was living there was the Maule region in the south-central part of the country. Here I saw Laguna del Maule (a lagoon with a volcano underneath), Cascada Invertida (an inverted waterfall), and many eye-catching rock formations. I'd definitely like to return to the region in the future to see some more sights there.

Read more here!

Huilo Huilo Biological Reserve and Siete Lagos, Chile

The final Chilean destination featuring on this list is an area in the Valdivia province of Los Ríos region in the south of Chile. When I was studying in Santiago, I took a trip to Huilo Huilo Biological reserve and the Siete Lagos (seven lakes) circuit, which was one of the most memorable parts of my Year Abroad. Here the scenery (and the weather!) is so different to the centre of Chile, and is almost the polar opposite to the north of Chile. It's hard to believe that the Atacama Desert is in the same country! The landscapes in the south are much greener, with lots of lakes, forests and waterfalls to admire, including the incredible Salto del Huilo Huilo (pictured above).

Read more here!

The Lake District, England, UK

Probably the closest thing to the south of Chile in the UK, is the Lake District national park in the north of England. Obviously you can find plenty of lakes here, including Lake Windermere (pictured above), the largest English lake. But what surprised me when I visited last year was that there were also several forests and waterfalls, which I really enjoyed seeing. It wasn't an area that I'd particularly thought about visiting before, and I actually only ended up going there because of the pandemic keeping me in the UK. However, I liked the holiday a lot more than I expected to. It's a very tranquil and picturesque place.

Read more here!

Montanejos, Spain

In both 2015 and 2016, I went to Valencia, Spain to study at a language school in the city. On the second occasion I was out there, I went on a day trip with the school to Montanejos, a small town in the Castellón province of the Valencian Community. It took about an hour and a half of driving on twisty-turny roads through the mountains to get there, and by the time we arrived, I felt very sick! But the horrible journey was worth it, because it was a great place to spend the day. There were beautiful clear blue pools created by hot springs, and the area was surrounded by mountains. Actually the water from the "hot" springs was in fact cold, but that didn't matter, as it was the height of summer and very hot. I had a very relaxing day there, swimming in the pools and taking in the amazing scenery.

Lake Jasna, Slovenia

During my gap year in 2014, I went on a family holiday to Lake Bled in Slovenia, a really picturesque part of the world. One day we went on a trip to Austria, where we visited the Kärnten region. (Little did I know that three years later I would end up living there!) We had a great time exploring what, at the time, was a new country for me, and then on the way back to Bled, we stopped off in the small Alpine town of Kranjska Gora, just over the border. Close to the town are two artificial lakes known as Lake Jasna, which are surrounded by imposing mountains. It was a beautiful place that somehow managed to stand out in a holiday filled with beautiful places.

Read more here!

In conclusion, spending time in nature is so important, especially in today's modern world, and I think this is something that many of us have come to appreciate over the last year. Unfortunately, it's not currently possible to go and explore new areas of natural beauty, but it's definitely something we can look forward to in the months and years ahead. I've already written about my dreams of seeing nature in countries like Australia, Costa Rica, Turkey and Norway, and I'd also love to visit places such as the Iguazú Falls, the Galápagos Islands and Torres del Paine when I'm back in South America. Hopefully I'll be able to tick off at least one or two items on the list later this year!

In terms of travel in general, there's been some positive news recently in the UK. If the situation continues to improve, non-essential travel around the country will be allowed from April 12th. It will be really nice to have that bit of freedom back again and to be able to explore places old and new. But for the time being, I'll be continuing writing posts like this one, until I can travel again. The first thing I have planned is to get to London to sort out my work contract and visa, and explore some of the outdoor areas there!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Reflections on 2020 and the Year Ahead

The last twelve months have been so strange for everyone, and very tough for most people. No one expected that 2020 would turn out the way it did, with months of lockdown and being unable to see family and friends, but the vaccine is now being rolled out in many countries, so hopefully 2021 will be a much easier year.

I'm lucky in that 2020 was actually overall a good year for me, although it was extremely challenging at times.

Things started off well last January - I was settling into my first online teaching job on Cambly and I also got accepted for a full-time job at a language school in Santiago de Chile. I quickly booked my tickets to go out to South America at the end of February and started getting everything organised for the move. It seemed like it was really going to be my year.

But getting my work visa turned out to be harder than I thought it would be, and I had to come back home from Chile in March to get it sorted, which was disappointing. However, the time I spent there with my boyfriend Claudio was fantastic, and I also really enjoyed the stop off I had in Buenos Aires and Uruguay on my way there. Buenos Aires is definitely one of the best cities I've ever been to, and I loved exploring Montevideo and Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, a country I'd never visited before.

When I got back, I thought it would only be a month or two before I'd have the visa organised and be back in Santiago starting my new job.

But then everything changed. The coronavirus (which I'd thought was nothing to worry about) started spreading through the UK and within a couple of weeks, we were put into national lockdown. Life suddenly became very different and scary for everyone, and one of the worst things was the overwhelming uncertainty of the situation. All my plans had been put on hold, and I had no idea when I'd be able to move out of my parents' house, start my job, and see Claudio again. To make matters worse, I also lost the majority of my work on Cambly, due to an increase in teachers working online.

Luckily in April I got accepted for another online job on Verbling, and soon I was working regularly again, which really made getting through lockdown a lot easier. 

And at the end of May the lockdown was eased slightly, which meant that driving to local places for outdoor exercise was now allowed. My parents and I started visiting a different place every week or two, and I would then blog about it here, which became a nice little project for me and a great distraction. During this period, I revisited some places I hadn't been to for ages and discovered others for the first time. My highlights from this time were our trips to Bibury and Lydiard Park.

Then in July lockdown was officially lifted, which was kind of a hard period for me. It seemed to allow a lot of people to move on with their lives again (which of course I was glad about), but it was frustrating that my personal situation in terms of moving out and starting my job didn't change at all because of the strict rules still in place in Latin America. On the bright side, travel within the UK was completely opened up again, as was travel to some foreign countries. This meant that in September my parents and I could go on holiday to the Lake District, a very beautiful area in the north of England, that I'd never been to previously.

We also continued exploring our local area and went to several interesting places during those few months from July to September, my favourites being Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve, Cheltenham and Buscot Park. These outings made me discover that where I live has a lot more to offer than I realised, and that many of the country's best travel destinations are within a short distance of my doorstep.

Then in August I received the best news - Claudio was coming to visit me in England in October! Initially he was meant to be staying for six weeks, but he ended up staying for three months, which was wonderful. During this time, we went on many trips around England, including mini breaks in London and Brighton, and we also were able to spend a day in Wales. In addition, we visited Sweden, a new country for both of us. We really enjoyed our travels, as well as the Christmas and New Year celebrations that we got to spend together.

Obviously, now he's back in Chile, I'm still here in England, and we're currently in a third national lockdown. It's definitely a little depressing...

But the positive thing is that I have a fixed goal for 2021: to get back to Chile and finally start my job. I've already made some progress in getting this sorted out, and I'm hoping to make it happen within the first half of the year.

It is hard that I'm still pretty much in the same place as I was this time last year, but I feel hopeful that things will improve soon. And I'm also glad to have a year's experience of online teaching under my belt, which has made me feel a lot more confident about starting work at an actual language school.

As for my travel plans, I'd love to explore more of Chile once I'm living there later this year, as well as some other Latin American countries, in particular Brazil and Peru. But obviously for now, we can't travel at all! However, I've got a lot to work on with this blog, so that will keep me busy for the time being.

Here's hoping that 2021 will be a much better year for everyone!

Image by Gabby K from pexels.com

More Local Travel Adventures

I'm writing this post to sum up some of the other local places that Claudio and I visited during the three months that he was staying with us. It wasn't always possible to travel far due to the Covid situation, but we had a really nice time exploring different parts of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Here are some highlights!

The Thai Emerald, Cirencester

This Thai restaurant is a great place to visit, not just for its delicious food but also for its amazing decor - everything down to the teapots is so beautiful and ornate. Going there feels like visiting Thailand whilst still being in England!

Cirencester Park and Cirencester Castle

We had another experience of Asia in Cirencester when we went to Cirencester Park to see a special outdoor exhibition. Four life-size sculptures of Asian elephants had been placed in the park back in October as part of the CoExistence campaign, which raises awareness of human impact on wildlife.

In addition to seeing the sculptures, we also enjoyed walking around the park and seeing the castle again.

Jennie's Kitchen, Ashton Keynes

One local place where I especially wanted to take Claudio was Jennie's Kitchen café in the Cotswold Water Park. It's definitely the most "Chilean" place near where we live, because of its field of alpacas right by the car park! Although my favourite of the alpacas is now living in a different field, it was still really nice to see some of the others come right up close to the gate. One of them really took a liking to Claudio!

Neigh Bridge Lake

We had a lovely walk one day round this beautiful lake in the Cotswold Water Park. It was really interesting to see how different the place looked since I'd last gone there in August. Last time the River Thames, which runs next to the lake, was completely dry, but this time it was full and flowing rapidly.

Lydiard Park

Another place where we went for a walk was Lydiard Park, near Swindon. We'd just recently visited Dyrham Park so it seemed a little unspectacular in comparison, but it's still a very attractive place to explore, with its manor house, lake and woodland. We saw plenty of ducks, swans and dogs there, as well as a very low-flying military plane!

Cirencester Amphitheatre and Querns Wood

After having previously visited the Roman Baths in Bath and the Roman Wall in Cirencester, we discovered some more of Britain's Roman history at the Cirencester Amphitheatre, which was once a huge gladiatorial arena. It was a very rainy but fun day out! While we were there, we also visited the nearby Querns Wood, a very pretty and peaceful woodland area.

Cotswold Airport

One foggy day, we went on an outing to Cotswold Airport, a private airport which is known as an "aeroplane graveyard", as many old commercial planes are moved there once they're no longer being used by airlines. Unfortunately, at the moment the main entrance isn't open, so we could only drive past the airfield. However, last summer several Boeing 747 jets had arrived there, and we were able to see them right next to the road, which was amazing.

In normal circumstances, you can actually walk around the airfield and also visit a café on site, so it's a great place for a trip out.

Upper Waterhay Meadow

A somewhat disappointing place we visited was the Upper Waterhay Meadow nature reserve in the Cotswold Water Park. It's right next to Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve so I was expecting it to be a similarly scenic place. However, it was just a series of wet, muddy fields with only one very small lake. Definitely not somewhere I'm in a hurry to go back to! But on a more positive note, there's a bridge with nice views over the River Thames right next to the car park.

Another walk in Malmesbury

My parents needed to go into Malmesbury one day, and Claudio and I came along to go for another walk around the town. We had already seen the main sights the first time we were there, so this time we explored some of the quieter little streets.

Ashton Keynes

Just before Christmas, my parents needed to go to the Ashton Keynes post office, so Claudio and I took the opportunity to have a walk around. It's a very pretty, old-fashioned village on the river, which has a statue called Old Father Thames. As you can see, he was dressed up for Christmas and had a reindeer friend with him!

Windsor Castle

Okay, so this isn't really a local travel adventure, but a place we saw from the road when we were driving to Heathrow Airport. It's such a big castle and looks so impressive, even from a distance, and it was very nice to unexpectedly see one more sight together before Claudio had to go home. It's now on the list of places to go to when he's next in England!

Overall, Claudio and I had an amazing three months together, and were lucky to have the chance to explore three different countries during that time: England, Wales and Sweden. By the next time we're in Europe together, hopefully travelling will be a lot easier, and we'll finally be able to go to France, Italy and maybe some more countries!

But the most important thing was that we got to be together again after seven months without seeing each other because of the pandemic. It's difficult to be apart now, but it shouldn't be for so long this time, as I'll be starting my job in Santiago in the coming months, if everything goes to plan. So that's something that's keeping me positive through this winter and this third lockdown. I'm really looking forward to being back in Chile and seeing Claudio again!