These annual round up posts are often one of my favourites to write, it’s so nice to sit and look back at all the trips you’ve managed in a year and reminisce on the fun, and not so fun, things that happened (Kosovo and my stolen phone charger, I’m looking at you!) This year I managed nine different countries, with five trips abroad. I flew on ten planes, took four buses between countries, and I’ve lost count of the number of taxis and local buses. It’s been a really, really good year for travel, even though I got made redundant and was unemployed for three months. I may sometimes talk about all these trips as ‘I’ but my partner, J, was with me on every one-no solo travel this year.
In January we went down to Gloucester so I could meet J’s sister and brother in law. They’re both lovely and we had a fantastic time.
In March we spent the day in Hull, as our football team (Burnley-J is from Burnley) were playing them in the evening.
In April we went to Bucharest for J’s birthday. We were away over the Easter weekend and got to see Burnley achieve promotion to the Premier League in a little sports bar in the city. The barman brought us (and him) shots over afterwards to celebrate-really kind. Bucharest wasn’t my favourite city but I’m glad we went and I wouldn’t rule out seeing more of Romania. We also went back down to Gloucester, with a night in Chester on the way back.
May was a good month. We went to Chester Zoo, Yorkshire Wildlife park AND had a meet the Meerkats experience at a little place in Bridlington. We had a day in Scarborough the day before too, visiting their brilliant cat cafe which has sadly since closed. We also went up to Newcastle for our friends’ absolutely beautiful wedding nearby, and visited Dog and Scone whilst we were there. I fell in love with their dogs.
In June we did our first house sit for two lovely cats, Carl and Lenny. We had a mostly quiet month but ended it with another trip up north, to Sunderland, for our friends’ engagement party. It was so nice being able to celebrate with them.
July was by far the busiest month for travel. We were away travelling some of the balkans from the second to the eighteenth and we visited Podgorica, Tirana, Pristina, Skopje and Sofia. It was VERY hot and the trip has it’s challenges as every longer trip can, but overall I loved it and I am desperate to do something similar this year too.
Our August was quite quiet as we were recovering financially from the summer trip, and I knew I was being made redundant. We did manage a gig, Boygenius, in a nearby town and that was a really good evening. My mental health was, unsurprisingly, through the floor, and I started anti depressants after consulting my GP. Always ask for help.
September was my first month of unemployment. We were house sitting again, for a cat called Frank who was a fluffy bundle of joy, even though he brought in a live mouse one night. We made the most of the countryside location with nice walks and attending the local pub quiz, as well as visits to the nearby farm shop for their delicious desserts. We then had my family dog, Buster, for a week as my parents went on holiday. During this month I embraced side hustling and made enough money online to cover my bills, just, which really helped me cope with the situation.
October was also a quiet month, with two overnight pet sits-Lady the Beagle and Derek the cat. We’d made use of a train ticket sale to book days out in Manchester and Blackpool and really enjoyed both. We also went to Leeds Light Night with our friends, one of my favourite nights of the year.
We made the most of my last bit of work free time in November with a week away in Gdansk. I then started my new job at the end of the month and spent the first few days feeling like I’d never know anything about the new industry I’d moved into. A month on I can say I feel a little bit better, phew!
December, the last month of the year, is always a good one for me. My birthday is the 18th, we have date night on the 21st, then it’s Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day. Despite working my birthday and the time between Christmas and New Year, we did a day in Belfast on the 17th, a Chihuahua cafe on the 16th and we’d even managed a last minute overnight trip to Faro the weekend before. Christmas was low key, seeing J’s brother, my family and then going to the Boxing Day football at Burnley, and New Year was nice and relaxed too. A great way to end the year.
I’m so pleased with the number of countries we managed to visit in 2023. Six of them were new to me, meaning I’ve ended the year on thirty one countries towards my forty before forty challenge, and we already know the location of our next trip-Hong Kong in February.
How’s your 2023 been?
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