Hope you all started the New Year well? We sure did.
As we said good-bye to 2018, it was time to start thinking about our upcoming travel plans for 2019.
Thanks to different annual leave schedules (one by tax year, one by calendar year), every year Mr T and I end up with a week’s worth of annual leave that needs to be taken in the first three months of the year. So what to do and where to go? Last year we went to New York end of January, the year before it was a week in Normandy in February.
As 2018 is in its final hours, it is time to take stock and review these past twelve months.
I’ve added up all my flights and trips and nights away and 2018 has been a very busy year. It didn’t just feel like this, the numbers do actually confirm that.
And I have added plenty of new countries to my travel map. Back in April I asked myself whether I would be able to visit 40 countries before turning 40. But the count only came up to 21 at the time. Meanwhile I have added another 5 countries (Poland, Hungary, Israel, Slovenia and Serbia), so a 50 before 50 goal looks a little more doable.
I made it. The last trip of the year is over. Well, when I say last travel, I mean last work related travel. By the time this post goes live, I have done one more trip, this time back home for Christmas.
This last travel now saw me venture out to yet another new country, this time Serbia. Which is new country number 5 for this year (well on track for that 50 before 50 challenge since I so miserably failed the 40 before 40).
I was really excited about going to Belgrade, as I’ve never been, but then I got a terrible cold the day before and all I really wanted was to stay in bed.
Some business trips are straightforward, appointment near a major airport and in and out in a day without a problem. Others aren’t as easy. Two weeks ago was a prime example of that. I had a trip to the North East coast of Germany planned, which could have been done fairly easy with one overnight stay. Then a second meeting made it onto the agenda and what should have been a quick trip ended in a four-day spree across Germany.
So let’s start at the beginning (for those of you hoping for some useful travel information, sorry to disappoint, but this is not going to happen, this is me writing my diary instead. So don’t say I didn’t warn you).
I just love Christmas and everything to go with it. And one of the things I miss most now that I live in the UK is Christmas markets. Yes, we do have the odd Christmas market in London (and a nice big one in Birmingham). But they are not quite the same as the traditional Christmas markets you’ll find in other parts of Europe. Whenever I get the chance, I love to go and explore some of the best Christmas markets whilst out and about. In the last few years I’ve been to the Christmas markets in Nuremberg, Hamburg and Vienna.
So, in time for the first Advent weekend, I took the opportunity and visited not just one, but eight of Vienna’s Christmas markets with my mum.
Yes, you heard right. EIGHT! And those weren’t even all the Christmas markets Vienna has to offer. There are still some left that we did not manage. Or that weren’t open yet, as it was very early in the season.
But let’s start at the beginning.
Who doesn’t love getting up on a Monday morning after a lovely weekend? And how about getting up extra early, so that you could catch the first flight out? Yep, the stuff dreams are made off. Especially if we are talking work trip, not heading to some remote dream island for a week by the sea.
I generally don’t mind getting up early and since I always ‘lose’ an hour heading to mainland Europe, I am used to going for the first available flight out. But getting up on a Monday morning is just that little bit harder than any other day of the week.
So this week’s Monday morning meant catching the 7.05 am British Airways flight from City Airport to Frankfurt for a short notice meeting. And flying back at 5.55 pm the same day. In theory that should give me plenty of time, what could probably go wrong? Well loads as it turned out.
It must have been more than 20 years since I have last been to Lake Constance (Bodensee). So I was delighted to get a chance for an overnight stay here during a recent trip.
To get there, I flew into Zurich and took a train (well three trains actually) to Radolfzell. My time here was fairly limited, as I was being picked up the next morning for a meeting nearby, before travelling to Stuttgart to catch my afternoon flight back to London.
I travel a lot for work and I love exploring new places. But travelling for work is usually limited to travelling within Europe and it does not always leave enough time to actually explore the cities / areas I visit thoroughly.
Growing up, we usually went on a 2-week holiday each summer. Alternating between visiting my family in England and camping somewhere in France. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it (I still love England and have moved here for good and I do still love going back to France, although nowadays I rather book a hotel or holiday home than go camping), but it meant the number of countries I explored was fairly limited.
April has been an usually slow month. Both for the blog (I do apologise and promise to better myself going forward – at least I will try) and in terms of travelling.
For the first time this year I’ve taken a breather from my weekly travels with not just one but actually two consecutive weeks on the ground and in the office.
Yesterday I came across the ’30 before 30 challenge’ by London based travel blogger ‘WonderHereWanderThere’
Her aim was to visit 30 countries before turning 30 and with mission completed her post concluded with the thought of now doing a 40 before 40 challenge.
With my 40th birthday imminent in just a few weeks (whoops, did I just say this loud and admit to the WHOLE internet that I am turning 40?), it got me thinking…
How many countries did I actually visit so far?
