There’s a trend going on Twitter. The top 5 Travel Regrets. And I’ve been lucky enough to be tagged to pass the baton by Laura of MyDestination.com and thus it’s my turn to share with the travel blogging community and of course, you readers. You lovely, sexy readers.

In all of our lives, we have regrets. Laying on the psychotherapist’s couch, we sobbed profusely in the tissues provided that we have absolutely many regrets about why we couldn’t do this and that but for me, my regrets has always been related to travel. I’ve been blessed to have been going on a yearly holiday with my family during my childhood to many of the relaxation islands such as the Canary Islands of Tenerife, Lanzarote or the Spanish islands of Majorca. My last international holiday with them was when I was 16 going to Malta. Since then, my parents have carelessly abandoned me at university and went off on their holidays, one of which my Mum described as a second honeymoon. I had to stop her there before throwing up on her best carpet.

You could say that my biggest regret was not being able to travel a lot within the 10 years after my Malta trip. I do wish I could have travelled more but then again I have also done a lot within the budget I had. I went hitch-hiking from Leeds to Paris, and then I’ve been on weekend breaks to Amsterdam, Dublin, Munich and Salzburg. And heck, I spent about 6 weeks in Uganda helping to build schools and do some teaching. Also, I’ve visited the UK on a grand scale, there’s not that many places left in the UK for me to visit. I adored the Scottish Highlands, marvelled the scenery of Wales as I biked through to Cardiff and even partied on a stag do in Cornwall. Possibly the only places left for me are the far north of Scotland, Mount Snowdon, and even Northern Ireland.

So I don’t have that much of a regret.

Now, unless you have been sheltered in your bunker with wobbling legs that the world is coming to an end all year, you will have noticed that I undertook a journey of a lifetime of going round the world! Check! That’s one thing of my life I’ve always wanted to do! But during my travels, I never planned at least more than a few days in advance but I would be swayed with people’s opinions (what’s better than word of mouth) and even, embarrassingly, by the guide books. This would lead me to my top 5 travel regrets of my 2012 Travels!

1. Not Spending enough time in New Zealand

If you haven’t enough of my wails, my biggest regret was not spending enough time in New Zealand. Only there for 7 weeks, I felt like I didn’t explore fully the whole country. Heck, I even cried when I was leaving this beautiful country and trying to decide whether I would stay the country longer. I really wanted to see the far south and even spend a hell of a lot longer in the South Island and fully appreciating the Abel Tasman Park and Kaikoura to spend time with the seals. Going aboard the Kiwi Experience, as much as I really liked it, I couldn’t help feeling that I may be better off going in a campervan and spend as much time as I liked in each place rather than being led by one of the Kiwi Experience guides on their timescale. If only I had more time.

2. Not being able to go to California

It was my utmost regret that whilst I was in Cambodia, I found out I wouldn’t be able to go to California, USA. Planned in for the last 2 weeks of my RTW Trip, 2 friends I was going to meet out there told me that they wouldn’t have the money to come to California. I was very disappointed in them as this was what we talked about before Xmas the previous year and so I decided to factor California in my RTW plan. If I had enough money then I would have struck out on my own but the beauty of having 2 friends with you was that you were able to share costs such as motels etc. So my regret is missing out the sunny climes of California and its fabulous destinations of San Fran, LA, San Diego and even in neighbouring states of Nevada to see Las Vegas. Hopefully, sometime soon.

3. Not visiting Uluru

When I went to Australia, I didn’t even travel to the place where its synonymous with the land of Oz other than the Sydney Opera House, the Red Rock. Or Uluru as it is known now rather than Ayer’s Rock. Based in the Northern Territory. Spending most of my time in Queensland, the 3 months I had there passed away so quickly before I could say kangaroo. I admit there was a reason why I didn’t go. It was winter there and hearing reports from other people about their time at Alice Springs, where Uluru is close by, is that it was absolutely FREEZING! Plus, the rock wasn’t lighting up in the red glow caused by the blazing sun. So I decided to forego seeing it with the promise I would be back. By the time I got to the end of my stay in Aussie, I was left with a disconcerting feeling that maybe…MAYBE…I should have gone to see it. It would turn into a regret when I finally left the surfing shores to Kiwi-land.

4. Photos being lost of Luang Prabang

Visiting the most beautiful place in luang Prabang, Laos especially at the Kuang Si Falls, I took probably a gazillion photos. I was utterly mesmerized by the place and I couldn’t wait to share the photos with you on this blog. Then tragedy struck. On an evening out at the local bowling alley, I was sharing my pictures on my camera with other people who wanted to know about the waterfalls and one of them accidentally pressed the ‘delete all’ button. I was so devastated and we already booked our transport out of the place the next day early so there would have been no way to go back to the falls and take more photos. It was my biggest regret in SE Asia. But I know I will come back to Laos sometime in my life. Meanwhile, I had to pinch some photos off my friend’s who was with me then but it’s not the same as my pics.

5. Not spending enough time in Western Australia

Seeing I had only 3 months in this very very large continent, it was impossible to see everything and so I spent most of my time on the East Coast of Australia particularly in Queensland and in Sydney and Melbourne. However, I did manage to spend some time in Western Australia, a place where people said there was nothing. I only went there to see some mates to see what was the appeal of this place for my friends to emigrate there. And I could see why. It was far better than the East Coast and I absolutely loved going into the outback and seeing my friends literally in the middle of nowhere. So it was my regret that I didn’t spend enough time here as I would loved to see more of the wildflowers of this huge state.

So there you gave it, this is my 5 biggest travel regrets of my 2012 travels. So it is time for me to pass on the baton to continue this trend throughout the blogosphere. So who shall I tag? Well, I tag these people!

Ryan of JustChuckinIt

Tom of Waegook Tom

Melissa of The MellyBoo Project

Looking forward to reading your stuff guys!