Just because I may have been tagged the Bridget Jones of Backpacking doesn’t mean I’m any less optimistic about finding love. I am a huge romantic at heart, a real soppy puppy who hopes that those butterflies and giddy smiles you get when you’re hanging around with that special person will hit me again. Just because you’ve been hurt in love it doesn’t mean you have to close yourself off to those happy feelings forever.
But I would say that you need to love yourself first. Cliché, I know. The thing with clichés are that they’re usually true. You need to be comfortable in your own skin and with your own company before you let someone else come into your special world. You only get one shot at this thing called life so make sure the person you want to spend it with (or even a part of it with) is worth it.
Of course with the 14th February coming up this day of lurve can impact on even the most confident and sassiest of people. Whatever your relationship status on valentine’s day you can always spend it starring gooey eyed with your one true love – travel. Whether you’re loved up or single as a pringle ready to mingle here are some ways that travel can inspire your Valentine ’s Day gift guide.
Anything travel themed is a winner in my eyes which is why I’m swooning over the range from Luckies. Choose from wanderlust inducing and heart-warming presents either for the one you love or as a way to treat yo’self for just being awesome. We all know how much I love making lists so in my eyes this adventure travel journal is calling to be filled with either solo trips you plan to take or couples mini breaks you have scheduled in the pipeline.
I also think the love note is just too cute for words. Take the empty bottle, scribble down your affections and pop it in to leave for your partner to discover or go old school and throw it out to sea with a positive message for someone else to find and see where it ends up in the world.
Personalised gifts always go a long way so why not keep a record of the journey you’ve taken together by getting a map with the hand-stitched route you took? Perfect for remembering the path you trod as you travelled the world together, took your honeymoon or the place you met. Alternatively get one of these for you to cherish so you can trace with your fingertip just how far you’ve gone in the world on your own.
Something that has been on my to-do list for way too long is to get round to printing off my fave photos from all the trips I have taken rather than leave them lost in some folder on my laptop. One day I will pop the best ones into photo frames, string them together as adorable polaroid prints or stick them in an album like this from Notonthehighstreet.com. One day. This would be an amazing gift if someone could tick this fun but lengthy task off for me.
So this weekend you don’t need to be bogged down with naff plastic roses or cuddly toys that only collect dust, think outside the box and spoil that special someone. Obviously the ultimate gift for travel lovers on Valentines Day has to be a plane ticket… *runs off to check out Skyscanner*
