This has become my little annual tradition. As the year comes to a close, I like to sit down, take stock and review the past twelve months. What were my most cherished memories? Did I visit any new and exciting places? What have I experienced throughout the year?

Having this blog obviously helps, as I can just scroll down and see what journeys I have written about (well, if I have actually yet written about them, my current list of unfinished posts seems to get longer, not shorter).

But this annual stock taking didn’t start with my blog in 2017 (can you believe that it’s been two and a half years already, since I published that very first blog post). As I checked my Facebook memories this morning (guess me still using Facebook makes me officially uncool and old), the count for 2016 and 2015 popped up.

So, without further delay, let’s start with the 2019 stats:

I’ve done fifty trips in 2019. Despite me thinking travel would quieten down this year, it didn’t. I am still on the road more or less each and every week of the year.

During those fifty trips, I visited 14 countries, and whilst some areas or cities were new, I had been to all countries before.

I’ve spent 137 nights away from home. This is a much higher number than the previous years. This is obviously both for leisure and work, but the biggest part of it was work-related travels.

What has gone down quite considerably is the number of flights. For 2019 I’ve ‘only’ flown 59 times. Compared to my record number of 94 flights in 2018.

But then, you can add 34 international train journeys for 2019. Bringing the overall total back to ‘normal’. Obviously, most of those train journeys are my Eurostar trips between London and Paris.

However, I’ve been to 27 airports (including five out of six London airports) and have flown with eight different airlines. Including four that I’ve never flown before: LOT, Lauda Motion, Vueling and Hop.

2019 has been quite different from the previous years. The project I have been working on since 2013 is gradually coming to an end, therefore the amount of site visits has gone down considerably throughout the year. But at the same time, two exciting new projects came up, that kept me busy and travelling.

So, let’s take a look at the year in more detail, shall we?

January

Travel started slow this year and my only big work trip in January was a week in Slovenia. I had been in Ljubljana once before, but this time I had a chance to explore Ljubljana a bit more.

February

A few short trips to Germany, a trip to Paris (including getting stuck in Paris due to a cancelled flight), plus a weekend on the Isle of Wight with Mr T.

March

One of the highlights of 2019 for sure was the week in San Francisco. It was our first time on the West Coast, and we made the most of it. Viewing the Golden Gate Bridge from every possible angle and even cycling across it during our day trip to Sausalito and Tiburon.

April

No big travels in April, but a few day and two-day trips, including a visit to the Vitra Campus and a quick sightseeing tour through Rome.

May

Combining work and leisure meant a site visit turned into a weekend in Vienna with Mr T.

June

A couple of days back in Germany for Mr T’s 40. Followed by a few work trips within the UK, a two-day road trip through Switzerland to visit 10 different dealers and a few trips to Germany.

July

July was the big one in terms of travels.

It started with a work trip to Portugal and Spain (so gutted that I stayed both in Porto and Barcelona for the first time ever without actually seeing a thing).

Then a family vacation in Brittany / France, which didn’t quite go to plan (unless nan being admitted to hospital and half the family going home early was part of the plan). Somehow, I have yet to finish the posts about this holiday, but bear with me, I promise I will finish them sooner or later (well, make that later, we are already approaching the six-month mark).

Swiftly followed by another trip to France (Toulouse and Marseille), this time for work.

And the month finally concluded with me starting my new project in Paris, which lead to almost weekly travels to Paris for the rest of the year.

August

Paris trips aside, we spent a weekend in King’s Lynn (with Mr T’s first ever bike touring experience to get there). Plus, two trips to Germany.

September

More Paris trips gave me a chance to explore Paris in the early morning and after work.

Other than that, we spent a few days in Germany before heading to the Netherlands for a rather wet week in a lovely Airbnb in Wemeldinge, the perfect base for day trips to Antwerp and Rotterdam.

October

More weekly trips to Paris, plus a weekend in Germany for nan’s birthday.

November

I finally managed to spend that long wished for weekend in Budapest with mum, including an indulgent afternoon in one of the thermal baths Budapest is so famous for (blog post to follow).

And with the Christmas season slowly creeping in, it was finally time to get Mr T over for a weekend in Paris. After all, neither of us had ever been to Paris during Christmas time.

December

One last trip to Paris, slightly spoiled by the ongoing train strike in Paris and it was time to pack my bags to head home for Christmas with the family.

With 2019 over and done with, what will 2020 have to offer?

Well, for one, we are already counting down the days until our next New York trip. Yes, I know. We’ve been there before, loads of times. That doesn’t mean I don’t get excited about it. Because I sure do. After all, New York is my second favourite city in the world. Even though we’ve visited five or six times before, there are still loads of places to see and things to do. And we will stay in our favourite hotel again. The one we stayed in for our honeymoon.

The other big news is that we are buying a house. How exciting is that? This probably means we finally have to grow up and pretend we are responsible adults. But I am super happy and excited to finally get my own place to call home.

On that note, what were your highlights of 2019? And what are you looking forward to for 2020? Tell me.