2016: My travel year in review

I love reading bloggers monthly and yearly round ups of their travels so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon! Unfortunately, I don’t travel enough for monthly round ups but I do for a yearly one! So here is my 2016 in travel.

Number of countries visited: 4 (UK, Denmark, Germany, Austria)

New countries: Denmark, Germany, Austria

Total countries visited: 20 (using UN country list)

Places visited: London, Copenhagen, Lake District, Devon, Munich, Vienna, Manchester

Flights taken: 6

Nights spent on trips: 22 (I think)

Favourite place visited: This is too hard, I loved Vienna and Copenhagen, and was so excited to see Neuschwanstein castle. I also fell in love with the Lake District and Manchester is my favourite UK city.

UK

 

Copenhagen

 

Munich

 

Vienna

 

Plans for 2017

I actually have very few plans in stone at the moment. In fact, the only confirmed trip I have is a long weekend in Northumberland in May. I’m still working on seeing more of the UK!

I think I’m going to head back to London in February to see friends and am hoping to get a city break in April. I’m also hoping for a summer trip this year, as well a possible October city break. It would also be nice to spend New Year abroad next year but I don’t think this will necessarily happen.

 

Where have you been this year?

A new list to use!

As you may know, I have set myself the challenge of seeing 40 countries by the time I’m 40. I’m worrying that this may not be achievable and I still have 10 years to go!

At present, using the UN list of countries, I have visited 17 countries as highlighted above. These include Vatican City, Gibraltar and Malta. I have one more definitely booked in and potentially 2 new countries in the summer.

However, I have discovered a new list to use! The Travellers Century Club. This is a club for people who have visited 100 or more countries. They structure their list differently and consider territories that are removed from the parent country as a separate country, eg Tasmania, Sicily, the Balaerics.  They have 325 separate countries, compared to the UN’s 195. With this in mind, I think I will be using the Travellers Century Club list from now on for my 40 before 40 challenge. (Their rules also state you can count any visit to a country, even if it’s just a plane fuel stop!)

My new list in  no particular order:

• Australia
• USA
• Canary Islands (Gran Canaria)
• Balearic Islands (Menorca & Majorca)
• Crete
• Croatia
• England
• France
• Gibraltar
• Hungary
• Ionian Islands (Corfu)
• Ireland
• Italy
• Wales
• Vatican City
• Spain
• Scotland
• Malta
• Egypt
• Abu Dhabi (2 hour stopover, never left the airport)
• Thailand
• Singapore
• Indonesia

This totals 23, so I only have 17 more to go!!

My travel map

To help with my 40 before 40 quest, I’ve created my travel map on Matador website.

It shows the 15 countries I’ve visited around the world! Can I add Abu Dhabi to make it 16 even though I only visited the airport?

I love that it’s a digital visual track of my travels! I just wish more of it was blue!! I’m going to set myself the ambitious goal of upping my number to 20 by the end of 2015.

Here’s my map:

emily has been to: Australia, Egypt, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican. Get your own travel map from Matador Network.

How many countried have you visited?

Announcing my first trip of 2015

Eeeeeek!! I’m mega excited! In full on holiday planning mode!

I recently posted about my 2015 travel wishlist and put a trip to Budapest at the top. I’m pleased to say that the trip has now been booked! Whoop whoop!

February 2015 will see me embark on my first foreign jaunt of the year to Hungary. I’m also excited as it’s a new country to add to the 40 Before 40 list, bringing the total to 16. Plus, Budapest is on the 50 cities to see in your lifetime list I also posted about.

So far, I’ve got all the major sights on my to do list such as the parliament building, the Chain Bridge, Szechenyi Baths… I’m interested in hearing about other less obvious things to do. Things that are maybe off the beaten track or less touristy.

Please share any ideas and advice below! I shall be scouring blog posts for tips as well.

For now, I’ll leave you with this lovely image of Budapest!

Source

Have you been to Budapest? What was the highlight?

40 before 40

I love lists. I love the conciseness and succintness (is that a word?) of a list. I have a million lists knocking around for various things. I also love a challenge that has a numerical value involved. Think 30 day squat challenge or eating 5 a day. I rarely achieve the goal but I believe it’s the taking part that counts.

As I am growing older and feel I want a bit of direction in my life, I have decided to turn my love of travel into a bit of a challenge or goal to work towards. Lots of people have a 30 before 30 list which is great. I have one but it isn’t going to be completed in time. Also, it isn’t restricted just to travel. I wanted to set myself a travel goal so I created my own 40 before 40 list!

I’ve worked out that I’ve currently visited 15 different countries (yes the Vatican City and Gibraltar are classed as a country according to Google!). With it only being about 18 months until my 30th (really, where has my life gone!) and I work full time, travel is my hobby, I thought to travel 15 more countries in 18 months is unrealistic. However, 25 countries in 12 years is much more achievable!

My country list, in no particular order is:

1. UK
2. USA
3. Spain
4. France
5. Italy
6. Thailand
7. Indonesia (Bali)
8. Singapore
9. Australia
10. Vatican City
11. Gibraltar
12. Ireland
13. Egypt
14. Greece
15. Malta

The slight flaw in my plan is that I currently have no plans to visit any new countries this year. My holiday this summer is to Italy which I’ve already visited several times. I may just have to squeeze a cheeky European city break in soon!

Some countries that I hope to include on my visited list include: China, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Peru, Brazil, Canada and Hungary to name a few.

This blog is my way of documenting and sharing my travels for myself and anyone who cares to read! Please feel free to share any advice or tips!