Rob, Rambling - A lot of things interest me...

sabine asked: If you could choose a ride on a unicorn through a forest of golden apple trees (you were allowed to take one home as a souvenir) or a scuba adventure to Atlatis (no souvenirs allowed!), which would you choose and why?

Firstly, I have to admit to never having ridden a horse, and nor have I ever scuba-dived. I’m assuming that lessons for either of these are included, whichever I choose?

I think I’d take the trip to Atlantis, despite not being able to take anything home with me. When it comes to real-life holidays, I’m not big on buying physical souvenirs or sending postcards. I take a lot of photos, and video nowadays, and for me a holiday is about the experience of being there, wherever it may be.

Whenever I think of Atlantis (not that often, admittedly), I sort of see a Pompeii-esque town, frozen in time, with people on the streets exactly as they were when the city collapsed into the sea. It’d be cool to see that kind of image/setting, of a lost time and civilisation.

Whilst the financial gains of the golden apple tree forest is alluring, money isn’t everything, honestly. Although with enough golden apples I could afford to take a trip to Atlantis afterwards. Hmm.

And unicorns are just a bit girly, aren’t they? I’m thinking of that scene in Dodgeball when Vince Vaughn goes to Christine Taylor’s house and it’s full of unicorn paraphrenalia.

Having said all that, I’m going to wimp out and choose a middle ground. A middle ground, however, that is freaking awesome.

I would choose to ride a narwhal to Atlantis for a look round, even if I couldn’t take any souvenirs. Narwhals are probably my favourite animals, and they’re actually real too!

I’m visualising the narwhal talking to me (bear with me) as we descend to the bottom of the ocean, and then using its tusk to point out interesting things as we go through the aquatic streets of Atlantis. I’m sitting on its back, as it glides between the submerged buildings, turning corners and investigating everything.

I genuinely am visualising this, for what it’s worth, and it looks gooooood.

I nipped down to Gatwick airport yesterday to pick up my parents’ car, as they were heading off on holiday for the Christmas/New Year period and are letting me borrow it. It saves them parking costs, and it’s a whole lot easier for me to get to/from the girlfriend’s parents’ house for Christmas itself.

As I wandered through the terminal to their hotel, and also whilst sitting in the hotel bar with them, it struck me just how happy everyone around me looked. Yes, travelling can be stressful at this time of year, but the smiles on people’s faces showed that they were prepared to cope with it for the reward at the other end.

Some, like my parents, were escaping to sunnier climes for a week or two. Others, no doubt, were about to cross great distances to be with family for Christmas. Either way, the whole place was relentlessly upbeat and jovial.

‘Tis the season…

Inspired by hipsterdiet and sabine, here’s my list of cities visited in 2009:

• Paris, France

• Newcastle, England

• Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt,

• Edinburgh, Scotland

• Cardiff, Wales

• Swansea, Wales

• New York, USA

• Washington DC, USA

• Richmond, USA

• Reykjavik, Iceland

As well as living in the best of them all, London.

Righty, that’s the Iceland holiday booked. Rather than going for a package, we’ve looked across a load of different websites and booked with two different airlines and then found our own hotel. It’s worked out a lot cheaper.

I’ve also been researching various day and night tours out of Reykjavik, as we’ll have two full days to fill up. A friend of mine recommended renting a car and going out by ourselves, but that looks quite pricey from my initial research.

To my mind, a far better idea is going out with a tour guide to see some of the sights. Most of Iceland’s attractions seem to be natural rather than historical, which will be a pleasant change from recent holidays to New York and Paris.

I’m hoping I can convince the girlfriend that an afternoon of ice-trekking will be a good idea. I’m not sure that she’s hugely outdoorsy, particularly when temperatures will be basically subzero. I’m so up for strapping on a pair of crampons and getting to grips with a glacier.

I’m also well up for the outdoor thermal pools, which we’re planning to do on the way back to the airport on our last day. Wake up, have breakfast, check out of the hotel and then hop onto a bus to the pool. We spend three to four hours there, get driven to the airport, and in a few hours are back in London. Ideal.

I’m really excited about this holiday already. Only 6 weeks away too!

It’s depressing just how pleased I was this morning with trying out a new bus route and shaving minutes (minutes!) off my journey.

It’s doubly depressing that I can be relatively certain that this will be the highlight of my day.