Dear reader it's the summer holidays and I've been feeling a little sad that we can't go away for a family holiday this year, this time last year we were gearing up for 2 weeks away in Gran Canaria, it took me 6 years of business to be able to afford that one and the combination of writing a book, a wedding cancellation and general busyness within my business just means we won't get away at all this year.  I'm not going to be all sad and maudlin about it because I am in such a privileged position to be travelling from city to city in the UK writing about our great cities but I have been thinking I'd like to plan 2 weeks away of family time which leads me to write the top 10 destinations I would love to travel to with my family.

1. Japan
2. Machu Picchu
3. Florida
4. Italy
5. San Francisco
6. Venice
7. Barcelona
8. Cape Verdi
9. Switzerland
10. New Zealand

You see the thing is that I might be an expert on the cities of the UK in fact I'm pretty good with all aspects of travel in the UK but because I had my children when I was young I didn't do all of the travelling that some people get to experience, I don't regret a thing though because now the kids are older it means we can all get to experience these places together and as a travel writer, blogger and photographer I feel I'll appreciate them a whole lot more now than I did in my twenties (the travel, not the kids, I loved them from the day they popped onto the planet).

So I thought I would write this list and I would put it out there into the universe and see what happens, after all, when I started my photography business back in 2007 my business goal was to shoot a wedding at Durham Cathedral and I finally achieved that yesterday (that's going to be a post coming soon you do not want to miss).

If you are a company looking in and wishing to hire a travel blogger/writer/photographer then please do drop me an email and get in touch.

And back to my current summer schedule, this week I shall be mainly travelling to Preston in Lancashire and Lakeland in the lake district, it's the only city which is in the lake district and I have high hopes that it'll be as pretty as the rest of the region, Preston is a brand new city so I am eager to see what they have to offer and it'll be lovely to spend some time with Looby who returns from Turkey tomorrow after being on holiday with her best friend.

Whatever you are doing this summer holidays, make sure you make some time for family time and some time to do something you have never been done before

2 weeks in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria

It's been a month since I last blogged Dear Reader, please forgive me for I have a very good reason, I've been on holiday!!

Yes for the first time in 13 years we had a 2 week family holiday to sunny Gran Canaria or as I like to call it 1987!!

Going to Gran Canaria is like re-visiting the 80's, not quite Blackpool but pretty touristy with a lot of Variety acts!

So here's a few photos from our trip and I should add that I didn't take my proper camera, for a couple of weeks I managed with my Samsung Galaxy camera which is actually quite a nifty little thing!

and so that was it, our holiday, 13 years in the making over in just 14 days which seemed to speed past us faster than we could blink.