I'm a travel writer. This is where I'm paying to go on holiday this year

My editor reckons I take about 14 holidays a year. I don't.

But I'll admit, I do travel a lot, even working over Christmas and New Year each year, so I can go away outside peak holiday times.

However, over the new year, while considering my 2026 travel plans, I threw my phone down in frustration.

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Because my Instagram was flooded with boasting folk posting carousels of all the places they'd been.

The most common brag was they'd visited "25 countries in 2025."

(What will happen as we approach 2099? 2115?!)

Then I saw travel blogger Brian Kelly, AKA The Points Guy, bragging on Today that his baby has already been to all seven continents.

What?!

When did going on holiday morph into a quest to tick off as many countries as possible?

I mean, some of the people I follow, like him, travel full-time for their jobs and largely for free, but still.

I tallied how many countries I went to last year.

Five, including some work-related trips.

And while I went to some new cities and regions, including here in Australia, only two of those countries were new.

(New Zealand and South Africa if you're wondering.)

And I felt a bit pathetic. At first I thought, 'well, maybe I can try and fit in a few more countries this year', opening Google Maps.

Then I remembered that age-old saying... quality not quantity.

Because how long did these folk spend in each place? Did they really want to actually go there, or did they just get the passport stamp?

Plus, how many of them got to ride horses through the South African bush?

Sat atop of Parliament Hill at Hampstead Heath in London with their husband?

Watched the year's hottest West End musical, Evita?

And I bet none of them dined at Jeremy Clarkson's Cotswolds pub either... (though many might argue that's not a bad thing).

I did all of those things.

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Some of my trips took months to save for, others didn't cost much at all.

But the one thing they have in common was that they each reflected mine and my husband's loves and passions.

I wasn't just going to any of those places so I could fly in for a couple of days and then boast about it online.

Because travelling shouldn't be about tallying up countries for a nice caption.

And it's not always about YOU either, especially if you have kids.

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Indeed it's my husband who wants to return to ride in South Africa this year, which will be our 'big' holiday in 2026.

Admittedly, I requested we tack on a new city - Cape Town.

Byron Bay needs no introduction, and it's where Mum has requested to spend her 80th. It'll be my third time.

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I'll also be making my annual visit to the UK (the life of an expat) and taking Mum to cross off one of her bucket list items - seeing Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

I could easily tear off around Europe and tick off a few nations after that.

But instead, I'm going to take to slow down, and maybe do some day trips to spots in Yorkshire I've never visited.

(The new Wuthering Heights movie will pull in tourists to the Brontë sisters' home village, Howarth, and I'll probably be one of them.)

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I'll also spend a few days in what's probably my favourite city, London.

Being there feels familiar... yet exciting. And it's fine to go to the same place more than once. Or to go a hundred times.

I'm also hoping to save some cash for a pre-Christmas tropical trip.

Somewhere similar to Bali, where I went in 2025 for about the sixth time because it was cheap and easy.

I'm attracted by Jetstar's new direct flights to Cebu in the Philippines, a nation growing in popularity. (A direct flight is a must for me for short holidays.)

Thailand, where I last went 20 years ago, is also a possibility.

And while I'd love to find some undiscovered tropical haven à la The Beach, I'll probably just go to Phuket or one of the nearby islands.

Remember, you're allowed to read a book and drink cocktails on holiday without ticking off every sight on TripAdvisor too.

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