WHETHER it is Prague or Reykjavik, Jessica Buck's holiday plans could hardly be described as dull.

And before the 23-year-old jets off to the USA for four weeks this summer, she will find out whether her travel blog has won a coveted national award.

"Journeys with Jessica", which was started about two years ago, details the traveller's various trips and holidays and suggests new places for readers to visit.

It has been nominated in the travel section for the UK Blog Awards 2016, beating more than 150 other blogs in the same category.

The Carterton resident explained: "I broke up from my ex-partner of five years which left me very lost, so I needed a new hobby to channel my energy.

"I had been to Barcelona on holiday and wanted to write about it and have somewhere I could put up photos at the same time.

"I was only going to do a post every few weeks, but then I started going on more holidays and got into it from there."

So far her journeys have taken her as far afield as Paris and Budapest.

But this summer she will be leaving her job as an estate agent in Witney, and embarking on a 27-day once-in-a-lifetime trip across the USA.

Her journey will take her from Los Angeles, through Miami and Washington DC to reach New York, while she will be blogging and taking photos along the way.

Miss Buck said: "I love going to new places, and since I've been single I've tried to book more holidays to blog about.

"Reykjavik was amazing and it was great to go round such a beautiful country, Barcelona was a beautiful city as well."

More than 70,000 votes were cast online across 18 categories, and the winners will be announced at a black-tie awards evening in Westminster on April 29.

Miss Buck, a former Burford School pupil, said: "I've never entered anything like this before and I definitely didn't expect to get this far.

"I've only been going a couple of years, but there are some people who have thousands of followers on Twitter.

"To me this is still just a hobby but if I could I would like this to become more.

"Never in a million years would I expect to win, I'm a little bit nervous even though I'm excited."

Other categories put on by the awards include for film, sport and music-themed blogs.

The travel writer has got a very specific aim in mind for the next couple of years.

She said: "I want to travel as much as possible, and visit 25 countries before I reach 25.

"I've been looking at writing internships as well, and hopefully when I get back from America I'll get to do even more travel writing."

To read the blog visit journeyswithjessica.wordpress.com