My Summer Travel Playlist

If you know anything about me, it should be this: outside of travel, my main love is music. Honestly, I’m possibly even happier in a crowd singing along to a great song at a gig than I am when I’m getting on a plane. (Okay, it’s close.)

I’m a rock chick at heart – although sometimes I find pieces of me bopping along to Taylor Swift, Avicii and… erm, Steps. Occasionally Vengaboys. Yeah. I even find myself singing along to that damn “Lean On” song.

I thought I had an eclectic music taste, but then my colleague goes from listening to Muse to Scandinavian metal to Mongolian throat singers so to be quite honest, I’m probably pretty tame when it comes to genres (although there is one didgeridoo dance band I absolutely LOVE).

One thing can be guaranteed though – I love anything that puts me in a good mood, and most of those songs come under a certain category: summer.

So when Destination2 approached me about compiling my ultimate summer travel playlist, it piqued my interest more than most pitches. In fact, it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while (for myself, not for the blog).

Let’s kick this off with one of my favourite upbeat songs from the past couple of years.

Avicii – The Nights

Any Avicii song is guaranteed to bring back a PILE of travel memories, but the video for this is the perfect backpacker-esque video to give me itchy feet and the song immediately lifts my mood and gets me excited about something, even if I’m not sure what.

Less Than Jake – All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

This has always been one of my perfect summer songs. Great for barbecues, picnics, lazing around, chilling with friends… I’ve never associated it with travel, but it’s always encapsulated summer!

Milky Chance – Stolen Dance

Such a chill out song! This was played on many chilled out evenings and in the car, and brings back great memories.

Boston – More Than A Feeling

Is this the ultimate road trip song? Okay, probably not, but it always gives me that open road feeling! And that’s a summery feeling, right?

Sigala – Easy Love

I remember the first time I heard this song – we were sitting in a hostel kitchen in Australia, just breaking through the end of winter (and as we all know, Australia only has two seasons – summer and summer lite). Anyway, I immediately got that summer feeling and couldn’t shake it off. It’s just so catchy and happy and SUMMERY. Embrace the Jackson 5 sample!

Walk The Moon – Shut Up And Dance

I’m not sure if this counts as a summer song, but we heard it so much during our travels (literally: fireworks displays, a theme park where we danced to it with zombie clowns, every day during one of our jobs, many, many bars, road trips, shops, you name it) that it brings back so many memories and always puts me in that good summer mood! In fact, we even used it for our travel video of our backpacking trip.

Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling

Now just hang on a minute. I’m including a fricking Justin Timberlake song on a list! But come on, it’s soooo catchy (like AIDS, as Ash would say).

Auli’i Cravalho – How Far I’ll Go (from Moana)

Instilling a sense of wanderlust at every turn, Moana was half the reason I wrote my Kids Movies That Inspire You To Travel post, and this song is one that will not only lodge itself firmly in your head for the next few days (I dare you to listen!) but will make you want to get out of your chair and go beyond the horizon.

Sum 41 – In Too Deep

The ULTIMATE pop punk summer song. Everyone loves this song (if you don’t, get out) and although it doesn’t really give me specifically travel memories, I reckon it’s one of the most nostalgic songs of our generation.

Blink 182 – Kings Of The Weekend

From old pop punk to new pop punk, I struggled to decide which new Blink 182 song to feature on this list (She’s Out Of Her Mind was a close second) – because California has been constantly on in our car for months and it always makes me feel like it’s summer! (…and in Orkney, it rarely feels like summer)