Places almost too beautiful for Instagram

Ah, Instagram, how you have changed the way we holiday and city break. I’d be lying if I said when I take photos on holiday, I wasn’t at least sometimes thinking of how it will look on the social media app, but equally, I like to print my photos for albums. You know, in case some mega virus comes and eradicates 15+ years of photos on my laptop, and also, I just quite enjoy spending an afternoon leafing through photos, just like we can do with our childhood memories and those from generations before.

Much like the beautiful beaches post, there are many other spots I’ve visited that really are breathtaking; in fact, I don’t think a photograph does them as much justice as being in the moment and drinking it in with your eyes. Here are my faves (ironically, with pics).

South Coast, Iceland

I’ve waxed lyrical to anyone that will listen about Iceland in the winter. I stayed in Reykjavik, which was lovely, but the real showstopper for me was the day trip along the south coast. Between snowcapped mountains, rough arctic waters, black-sand beaches and vast open spaces in pure white, I literally felt like I was between a James Bond movie and an intrepid explorer.

Key stops for eye-photos (anyone remember that guy in Hall Pass who blinks to take a mental image? lolol) are the hilltop village of Vik - to one side you have a beautiful black-sand beach with dramatic waters, and then the other side a steep mountainscape - Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon with its magnificent icebergs and icicles, and basically anywhere in between the two. When we stepped off the coach for a leg stretch, I literally couldn’t believe I was on the same planet as London.

Amalfi Coast, Italy

Another coach ride, another epic landscape stretching out toward the horizon; this time, the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, driving along the Amalfi Coast. We made our way from Sorrento to Piazza Flavio Gioia in Amalfi, around an hour and a half away. Throughout the drive, we passed beautiful hillside towns, more and more mountainsides that came into view at every turn, village churches and the like. The true gem is, though, the sea views! It literally stretched out towards the horizon and looked almost like a solid navy block - my phone and camera couldn’t capture its vastness. At some points, due to how the roads wound, it felt as if we were hovering above the ocean.

Vinales, Cuba

Straying away from the coast now, Vinales brought lush Cuban countryside into my life. Sitting on the rooftop of our casa, we took in the vineyards, the orange trees (which took some broken explanations between our hosts and ourselves, despite actually knowing the word ‘naranja’ lolol) and farms. Each time, it felt as if myself and my roomie had been housed in the furthest casa from our G Adventures pals, but this time, it definitely paid off as we had the most beautiful view. Even our host’s garden was gorgeous, bountiful with flowers and fruit. Of course, the actual village feel, salsa clubs and incredible rum are other things that just can’t be captured in a photo…

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Up in the Rif Mountains is the blue city, Chefchaouen, which is fast drawing tourists from all over the world. Many make a beeline for the same spots that they’ve seen on Instagram, but I can’t stress enough how beautiful it is at every turn - in fact, the best spots are where there are no tourists at all. Weave in and out of the calming blue-hued medina and you’ll find an intriguing doorway or alley not a stone’s throw away (as well as a cute stray cat).

In contrast to my point about tourists, head up to the Spanish Mosque at sunset (go a little earlier to nab a good spot) and watch as the sun goes down - like most sunsets, it’s so hard to capture on a phone, but in real life, the oranges and pinks over the blue town is gorgeous.

Ubud, Bali

From the monkey forest (take your camera out at your own peril) to the rice fields, Ubud is incredible, and somewhere you need to just open your eyes and immerse yourself in, rather than hide behind a camera or phone. Even dining at some restaurants, like Indus, the sprawling rainforest is before you and you can’t capture the sounds or scents with anything but your mind and eyes. We saw a thunderstorm in the distance (weird, when you’re sitting outside, dry) and it just looked so tiny and insignificant in comparison to the trees below. I took loads of photos when heading up into the rice paddies, but again, I really feel it doesn’t fully capture how we felt when we were there; we felt as though we were in authentic Bali - few tourists and locals at work.

What Bali taught me, other than how to cope with bugs

My trip to Bali last year was unlike any I'd taken before. For starters, it was the first time I'd had a layover in my life (and, for someone who is scared of flying, that was a BIG deal), but it was also the first time I'd been to Asia - somewhere that wasn't hugely Westernised - and it was quite a culture shock for me.

Looking back through photos, there are a lot of things I learned on that trip that I think we could do with integrating into our own lives in the UK. Of course, I know we all have our own traditions and ways of life - and I am very proud to be British - but these little takeaways stayed with me long after I touched down at Heathrow:

Be approachable

Try not to have a face like a slapped arse when you're in public - which can be hard when you have a natural resting bitch face, like mine. The Balinese people always seemed to have a smile on their face and would say hello as you passed them by. As a Londoner, I am naturally sceptical of strangers, but as the trip went on, I found myself sometimes even being the first to say hi when we passed someone in the street.  I felt at ease to go up to strangers and ask questions, too. Obviously, at home, the biggest test of this attitude is public transport behaviour. Instead of giving in to the knee-jerk reaction to look away when I catch someone's eye, instead, I try to smile. Hell, on a coach to Norwich recently, I chatted to my seat neighbour for the full three hours and loved every minute of it. You may not always feel like it, but you can really make someone's - or your own - day. Oh, and Christine, if you're reading this, HEY!!

Be graceful

I described Ubud High Street as a mixture between a road in Delhi and Covent Garden's Neal Street in the post about my visit. The noise and the culture were fabulous, but what did start getting on my tits was the constant calling out of "taxi? taxi?" every three steps. Mate, you've just seen me say no to your buddy, and yet you ask again?! It really reminded me of those soap sellers in Covent Garden. However, unlike these street sellers, or our cold callers for that matter, they actually take no for an answer first time. They don't push you, try to convince you, or anything. Because of that, I now try to be more graceful with my rejections of street sellers. Everyone's got a job to do, eh.

Stay true to your faith

I'm not here to preach to anyone; it would be inappropriate, hypocritical and, well, it's not what you came here to read. However, the Balinese faith is unapologetically strong, but in a subtle way, and I really admired that. An example is on our day with Ketut, he repeatedly, and seemingly randomly, beeped his horn. 5am, 10am, 3:30pm; it didn't matter. When we asked him why, he explained that it is considered a sign of respect to beep everytime he passed a temple. He could see I wore a cross around my neck, but didn't say it in a way to minimise my faith, or act as if his was more superior. That might sound like just not being a dick, but you'd be surprised at how many religious and Athiest folk I come across daily who don't act in such a way.

Be kind to animals

Okay, so our Ubud hotel did do a mass bug spray at 10am every day, and I absolutely despised how dogs were treated in the country, but on the trip, I got to see a lot of animals in their natural habitat. While they didn't necessarily treat their animals with the same dignity that we do over here, my British self being in such close proximity to these animals gave me a whole new outlook. Even seeing schools of fish going about their business made me sad that I eat them. Seeing turtles, monkeys and other wildlife just roaming made me more conscious of my recycling (or lack thereof) and made me want to do better for them.

We travel to learn, right? Experience amazing things and escape from our mundane lives? Like with all my trips, I tried to soak in as much as possible, but it just so happened that this time, it had a longer-lasting effect.