2020 was destined to be a big travel year for me: I'd planned to go to Thailand, Malta, San Francisco, Seattle, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Peru by September 2020. COVID-19 had other plans. Nonetheless, I did manage to explore a lot of the UK, which I wouldn't have otherwise done, and visit a handful of countries throughout the year when possible.
January - Australia & New Zealand
Following on from Christmas 2019, we spent New Year's Eve in Melbourne, and on 2nd January headed over to New Zealand. At the time, Australia was ablaze with wildfires, and on one of the days the sky in Auckland was completely orange - it felt like a 24 hour sunset. We stayed in Auckland, but managed a day-trip to Hobbiton, which I'd strongly recommend, and a tour of Rangitoto Island. Nonetheless, I'd love to go back to New Zealand to explore the South Island, Waitomo Glowworm caves, and maybe even Bungee Jump!
February - Mexico & Cuba
This was one of my favourite holidays I've been on to-date. I didn't have very high expectations for Mexico, but ended up absolutely loving it - we went on a couple of day trips, including to Chichen Itza, Tulum, Valladolid, Playa del Carmen, and to various cenotes (sink holes that you can swim in), whilst also managing to have a couple of beach days and many fun evenings. On the contrary, I had very high hopes for Cuba, which ended up with a trip to the hospital for my friend, me being sick, and a series of frustrations. Nonetheless, we ended up having a great time, and I definitely would recommend Old Havana. To read more about this trip, click here.
March - Andorra & Barcelona
I'd wanted to visit Andorra for quite a while, but given that it's not a very popular destination, I decided to combine this trip with one of my favourite cities: Barcelona. We booked the trip a few days before going and I loved this trip a lot. The food was amazing, the Airbnb was perfect, and our road trip to Andorra was exactly what I'd hoped for. The only downside was that Barcelona went on lockdown on our last day there, meaning that we couldn't visit Park Güell, and instead spent the day in the airport. Nonetheless, I had a great time and can't recommend Barcelona enough.
April-June - Lockdown
Over these months I had planned to travel quite a bit, but instead I spent these 3 months in London, which was the longest amount of time that I'd spent in London in several years. I genuinely didn't mind lockdown however, and kept very busy, which you can read more about here.
July - England
As soon as lockdown was over I was ready for an adventure and definitely made the most out of the little travel that we could do. I went on several road-trips, including to Brighton, Cornwall and the North (Liverpool, Manchester, and Blackpool), as well as several day-trips, including to Windsor, Dover, Margate, Sandbanks, and Bournemouth. I actually ended up loving a lot of these places, and was particularly impressed by Cornwall, Windsor, and Liverpool. To be honest, I wouldn't really recommend Margate or Blackpool, but I learnt that UK in the summer can actually be very nice indeed. To read more about my British Summer, click here.
August - France, Germany, The Netherlands, Madeira
Over August, I'd planned to be exploring South America, backpack in hand, however given the pandemic, I settled for a road-trip across Northwestern Europe instead. Although I visit continental Europe fairly often, I actually haven't spent much time in Germany, so we decided to take the Eurotunnel to Strasbourg, which was stunning and reminded me a lot of the book I'd read earlier this year (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). We then drove to Munich for the first time, where we spent a couple of days and which ended up being my new favourite German city, followed by Berlin, which I hadn't visited in years. The trip ended in Amsterdam, which I also hadn't been to in years, and although it was 37°C, I managed to catch up with a mate over a rooftop cocktail so I definitely can't complain.
Following the little road-trip, Madeira got added to the UK's 'travel corridor' list, and so I booked a flight straight away. I actually ended up booking the flights the wrong way round and only found out the day before I was due to fly, but my mum found a solution (flying back to Bristol), where I managed to catch-up with one of my closest friends on return, so it all worked out in the end. I love Madeira a lot, and for suggestions of what to do there, click here.
September - Edinburgh, St Andrew's
On 7th September, I started my new grad scheme. Given that it was remote and my brother had a free place in Edinburgh until the end of the month, I decided to take advantage of this and spend the week up in Scotland. Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the UK and I managed to fit a lot into my week, which you can read more about here. One of my workmates (whom I'd only known for a week or two at that point) decided to come up for a couple of days too since she'd never been to Scotland, and we went on a day-trip to St Andrew's, which was a lovely little town. We weren't too excited for the drive down, as we were slightly hungover, but we drove through Northumberland National Park which was stunning, and stopped over at a friend's house in Newcastle for a cuppa and chat, which broke the journey up slightly. As we arrived into London, I ended up taking the wrong exit on the roundabout and driving up the M1 again for several miles, adding 30 minutes onto our 10 hour journey, but it was worth the views nonetheless.
October - Oxford, Cambridge
Although Oxford and Cambridge are two of my favourite English cities, I hadn't been to either in about 5 years. The last time I was in Cambridge, I'd had an awful interview and had balled my eyes out (for more on my Oxbridge application, click here), so I didn't have the fondest of memories of the city and wanted to change that. Funnily enough, on the day we went everything was closed to visitors, and after a pub lunch I ended up being very sick - so I can't say my memories of Cambridge have improved much. Nonetheless, the city is beautiful and I'd strongly recommend visiting if you haven't already. The following weekend I went to Oxford, and had a lovely experience. It happened to be over Matriculation, which so fun to see, and we had a great lunch and afternoon tea. We also managed to go punting and all-in-all it was just a lovely day out.
November - Lockdown 2.0
Although I did manage to go to Bray on 1st November for a Sunday roast at Heston Blumenthal's 'The Hind's Head' (which I enjoyed greatly and would strongly recommend), followed by drinks with some uni mates, England was shortly thereafter put under another lockdown, preventing any November escapades. Nonetheless, towards the end of the month I also managed to escape to Savill Garden near Windsor for an autumnal walk with some friends.
December - London
I had big plans this December; I'd worked out over Summer that I'd have 10 days off over the Christmas holiday and was excited to go skiing in Canada or swimming in Aruba. Although at the time of writing there are a handful of countries that I could visit without quarantining, in the end my family decided to stay in London over the Christmas holidays. This will be my third Christmas in London, and although I can't say I love the idea, with the pandemic it's impossible to know what's going to happen. Nonetheless, I've managed to make the most of my December in London, and am hopeful to spend at least a day or two somewhere else in the UK with some friends.
Although I had more exciting holiday plans for 2020, given that I managed to visit 4 new countries, and 11 countries overall, during a pandemic (all legally, of course), I really can't complain. 2020 was actually quite a good year for me as I managed to complete several bucket-list items, including starting a blog, getting into shape, getting a Master's degree, and reading over 52 books in a year, but I definitely hope that next year travel is more feasible.
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