As you read this, our favourite Gloucestershire local magazine is proudly celebrating its tenth birthday. Asked to incorporate a birthday theme in this month’s column got me thinking about trips – in the UK and abroad – that my wife and I have made to celebrate our birthdays over the last decade.

Combine those memories

Whether it was a weekend on the Quantocks or two-weeks exploring Hokkaido, Japan, the stand-out point has been how associating a trip with a birthday combines memories of both.

Sometimes they’re ‘big’ birthdays and sometimes they’re just ‘another year older’ celebrations. Whether you’re toasting the big day with frosted breath in Zagreb, Croatia, or in Sicily’s sunshine, combining a birthday with a trip is the stuff of special memories. Isn’t that what holidays are all about?

Birthday trips bring perks

Birthday travel often brings nice little perks too – especially if you mention the celebration to airlines and hotels! Unexpected treats such as sharing a free bottle of champagne high over the Austrian Alps one year, or being given a celebratory room upgrade, are just a couple of perks that we’ve enjoyed over the years.

Even if, occasionally, birthday trips don’t quite go to plan, unforgettable memories wait to be made. I’m particularly recalling a horse named El Soberano, an ambulance ride, a hospital visit and a broken wrist on my wife’s fiftieth in El Calafate, Argentina, a couple of years ago. And the birthday cake shared with a delightful Canadian family when we got back to the ranch at midnight. And being spoiled rotten by BA’s crew on the long flight home from São Paulo!

Special places and special times

From Buenos Aires to Kyoto, and Barbados to Totnes, every one of our birthday trips has provided an unforgettable anchor to link special times with extraordinary places. If you’ve ever done the same, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, maybe this is the year to combine a birthday and a holiday.

So where will I be as The Local Answer celebrates its decennial? Let me just say that it’s (very) cold there in March, steeped in magical legend and folklore, and the birthday drinks will be among the most expensive in the world – which rules out lots of places, including Adelaide, Australia.

You’ll just have to keep reading this column during 2019 to find out. In the meantime, here’s wishing The Local Answer a very happy birthday. I wonder where they’re headed over the next 10 years!