I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas. I had a lovely time with family, food and too much Prosecco and am now enjoying a bit of down time before New Year.

At the end of 2021, my year in review was all about travelling in England during the pandemic and visiting 12 English counties in 12 months. 2021 was also an awful year with my near death experience so I was determined to make 2022 a year of fun! I normally set my goals on New Year’s Eve but last year I was in hospital on NYE, finishing off what I can only describe as a year to be forgotten. So I didn’t set any goals, just said f*ck it, I’m going to say yes to everything and live the life I’m lucky to still have.

So, 2022. How did we do?

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Country 1 – The UK

Of course I spent a lot of time in the UK this year. I’ve found true joy in discovering my home over recent years. In March, we had a lovely break to London exploring the Bloomsbury area including The British Museum. At Easter, we had a weekend away in Staffordshire at The Tawny Hotel, enjoying a walk in The Peak District. I had solo trips to Windsor, and then to York in May, visiting Whitby, Rievaulx, Ripon and Thornton-Le-Dale.

In June, we had a weekend trip to Canterbury and in July we had a weekend in the sea side city of Brighton. In the autumn I visited Sandringham, Oxburgh Hall and Audley End, spent a weekend in Dedham Vale, and was treated like royalty for a weekend at Cliveden House. I also took a trip to Matlock with my parents for a weekend of walking, and finished off the year with a festive visit to Wimpole. I’m truly honoured to be able to showcase England on this blog and have loved sharing more of it with you.

Also in the UK this year lots away from travel happened. I invested more time in the people I love, making plans and taking trips with them. My younger cousin had his first baby, three of my best friends also had babies and I was with my amazing group of girlfriends all together in the same country at the same time for the first time in 9 years!

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Country 2 – Denmark

Rolling back to the first overseas trip of 2022, I headed to Copenhagen for my birthday in February, and stayed at Nimb Hotel. A lot of healing happened on this trip and it will forever have a special place in my heart. We laughed, we cried, we ate some amazing food, we saw the Queen of Denmark and had a Royal Palace to ourselves. It was perfect (apart from the taxi ride which cost us nearly £300 – I still haven’t let it go).

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Country 3, 4 and 5 – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

What. A. Trip. This was probably the highlight of my year. May saw my first 2 week break in years, and I found it informative and restorative as we drove from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn. On the way we visited fairytale castles in Trakai, Kaunas and Cesis, unique spots like the Hill of Crosses, beautiful nature in Lahemaa and explored Soviet history in Patarei. The Baltics were beautiful and if you’re looking for an underrated destination in Europe – there’s none more so than these stunning countries.

Visiting these countries was also a reminder of the horrors of the Ukraine war and a reinforcement of knowing how lucky I am to live in a country which hasn’t known a war on its soil since the 1700s . That is a true privilege none of us should take for granted.

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Country 6 – France

In July, we headed to Carcassonne in France with my parents for their wedding anniversary. We watched the famous fireworks, took a day trip to Narbonne, did one of my favourite hikes ever to explore Lastours Castle and of course drank wine and ate too much cheese! Going away with my parents is special as I know I won’t be able to forever so I treasure our adventures.

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Country 7 – Portugal

All of my close friends I used to go away with have babies now and aren’t in a position to travel on a whim. But I am, and I’m grateful for that. A last minute decision to head to Porto for the weekend was impulsive and exhausting – with an 11.30pm Friday night flight out and a 10am Sunday return I had a day exploring this wonderful city. I was a little delicate (the port really is so good) but the sun was gorgeous and the food delicious. It was so freeing to be able to be so impulsive.

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Country 8 – Turkey

Mr Travelling Han (MTH) travels a lot with work and this comes with pros and cons. On the positive side I quite enjoy being on my own and when I don’t want to be – off I jaunt to meet him for the weekend. Turkey was one such weekend. I fell in love with how beautiful Istanbul is, enjoying ancient palaces, incredible food and too much wine. It was chaotic and a completely different culture to that here in England – I love that travel can expose us to completely new things and broaden our understanding of the world.

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Country 9 – Romania

A last minute addition to the travel itinerary, again MTH was here already and I tagged along for the weekend to meet him in Bucharest. At this point of the year I was really struggling at work as I’m working on a huge global project with a lot of pressure so the weekend here was restorative. I learnt all about the Communist regime and pressures still facing the country and loved exploring this unique city. Travel is always a great way to find perspective and I definitely went home feeling more balanced.

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Country 10 – Costa Rica

Wow. A rival to the Baltics, this trip was one of my favourite trips of all time. We visited Costa Rica and explored stunning jungles, strolled glorious beaches, walked with sloths, had spider monkeys playing above our heads and to top it all off we even climbed a volcano in Arenal National Park. A truly special country which filled me with pure happiness (and lots of cocktails), finishing off my year of travel in style.

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In summary, 2022 was pretty damn awesome. It was restorative, peaceful, calming and a year where I finally felt myself again after years of IVF and hormone treatment. I’ve long learned that it’s good to talk. But honestly, sometimes it’s not. It’s not good to talk if you’re talking to the wrong person, it’s not good to talk if the other person isn’t able to listen, or if you’re not listening either. It’s only good to talk if both of you are able to come to the conversation with honest words and listening ears. Otherwise there’s no point talking at all.

This year I’ve tried to do that – I’ve worked on my own journey of healing after a difficult time, talking when I’ve needed to the right people but more importantly I’ve worked on opening my ears to listen. I’ve invested my time in the people I care about, and had some absolutely wonderful adventures along the way. It’s so nice to be back travelling again, so nice to be making happy memories regularly, and so nice to be alive to enjoy it all.

Let’s hope 2023 is just as amazing. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful festive season – Happy New Year everyone.