Cabin fever has ravaged all aboard...

New Year is fast approaching and I can't help but feel the urge to escape and travel somewhere completely random and unexplored (by me at least). I get itchy feet when I've been in the same place for a while and there is any opportunity to travel. Planning trips in 2011 to Europe and the USA is just one of the reason's I'm finding it particularly difficult to keep myself grounded.

An old friend called me up the other day suffering from the same cabin fever on dry land syndrome. He was in Bristol and wanted to escape, after suggesting we should hit up Amsterdam for a weekend (as amazing as it would have been) that idea was firmly shunted when I realised I'd left my passport back in Cheltenham, because I'm an idiot!

Living close to Liverpool has its advantages and its loud glaring disadvantages, but with some persuasion from said friend we've now opted for a fun filled tourist day around my home city. I decided this was a brilliant opportunity to compile a top ten things to do in the 2008 Capital of Culture... yes people it was three years ago and we're still clutching at it, but hey! John Lennon was killed 31 years ago.

Top 10 in Liverpool:

1. See jellyfish and tall ships in the Albert Dock
2. Find the hidden dock
3. Take a ferry across the Mersey to Birkenhead*
4. Salute the Liver Birds
5. Museums/Galleries - Walker Art, FACT, Tate, World, Maratime, Beatles... yada yada
6. Get lost in the unnecessarily complicated Liverpool One
7. Turn the Place Over - seriously check out the link.
8. Order a beer from the Cavern Club and say "cheers" to John Lennon
9. Try some funky flavours of Tequila at Bar Cava - whilst you're on Wood Street check out Concert Square
10. See Queen Victoria's penis**

* Don't stay too long it isn't pretty. Although you can see the Liverpool skyline (worth it).

**#8 and #9 make this more amusing.

So there we have it - a day (or two at a stretch) full of jaunty Northern fun. Stay tuned - pictures to follow in January. Peace out.