Travel Round-up 2022

Since 2017, I have been doing an annual travel round-up, reflecting on all of the places that I was lucky enough to visit throughout the year. 2022 was an odd year as I sat many exams but still managed to travel substantially, especially following the easing of restrictions following covid.

January - Lisbon & Madeira, Portugal

I spent New Year's Day in Lisbon with my boyfriend at the time, which is where we'd met and shared a lot of memories, as well as one of my favourite cities to live in. A few days later I went to Madeira, which is where my parents are from, for my cousin's wedding. I spent most of the time visiting family, however I also worked from there remotely for a couple of days. Funnily enough, I caught the bouquet at the wedding, however what I hadn't realised was that that meant I'd have to dance with the singleton that then caught the garter in front of everyone. This was an issue as I'm not a dancer; luckily, I was quite a few drinks in at this point and I knew the guy (who hated dancing equally as much) so it ended up just being a funny memory.

February - Pristina, Kosovo & Skopje, North Macedonia

In February, I visited Skopje, Kosovo and Pristina, North Macedonia for a long weekend. I didn't know much about either country prior to visiting, however both ended up being very fun to explore, with fascinating histories and cultures. I think that both of the cities will change significantly within my lifetime and I'd love to go back in a few decades to see the progress of each city. Read about my full experience here.

I also went on a couple of trips within the UK in February, including a couples trip to Sawston (near Cambridge), a weekend in Manchester, and to visit a uni friend in Ascot and go horse riding (despite having had horse riding lessons as a child, my horse bolted and took a while to stop - as it turns out, polo horses respond differently to commands than regular horses).

March - Lisbon, Porto & Braga, Portugal

Whilst on study leave for two ACA exams, I decided to go abroad to visit family. I spent the weekend with my boyfriend in Lisbon, before staying with my cousin in Porto, with a day trip to another city in the North of Portugal which I'd wanted to visit for years: Braga. Both cities are beautiful and I would strongly recommend visiting each of them.

March - Milan, Bellagio, Como, Genova & Portofino, Italy

I have mixed feelings about Italy, following several bad experiences in different parts of the country, however I always seem to be drawn back and whilst on study leave once again, I decided to spend a week across various parts of North Italy with my boyfriend. For the first half of the week, we were based in Milan but spent the first weekend visiting Como and Bellagio (some of my favourite places in the country), where we witnessed a bust up on a bus. For the second half of the week, we were based in Genova, where prostitutes were prolific, but spent the second weekend in Portofino, which was the epitome of beauty. The food was great throughout and we remained busy, without feeling that we were rushing, which was ideal. My full post on the trip can be found here.

April - Tunis, Tunisia

Tunisia had been on my Bucket List ever since I'd visited Marrakesh, Morocco in 2018. Annoyingly, our original flights with Nouvelair got cancelled (the refund for which we still haven't received almost one year later), so we had to stopover in Milan, which wasted a day. We also hadn't realised that we'd be visiting during the month of Ramadan, however it would be an experience nonetheless. Coincidentally, a colleague of mine was there at the same time so we met up with her and she introduced us to a very kind local who acted as a guide for us and taught us a lot about the country, which was extremely interesting. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the food, especially the stuffed dates and tea, and I would strongly recommend visiting Sidi Bou Said (reminiscent of Santorini) if you have the opportunity.

May - San Francisco & Hawaii, USA

Another of my Bucket List destinations was San Francisco. My mum had wanted to visit for her 50th birthday, however this had to be postponed due to Covid until 2022. This ended up working out for the best as initially we'd planned to do San Francisco with Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon (which is now on the cards for 2023), however we actually ended up doing it with Maui and Oahu, Hawaii. I know I'd love all of the destinations, however they did also surprise me in different ways.

On the day that we arrived in San Fran, we headed to the Mission District, and throughout all of my travels I have never seen such high levels of homelessness as I did on that walk - it was absolutely shocking, especially given the number of open wounds I spotted. Other than this, San Fran was great and pretty much exactly what I expected. We then headed to Maui, which was reminiscent of Madeira, and absolutely gorgeous. We hired a car and drove around the island, which is fairly small but kept us very entertained. This island is heaven on Earth. The scenery was a mix of 'Lilo and Stitch' and '50 First Dates'. We then visited Oahu (where the capital of Hawaii, Honolulu, is located), which was pretty but was heavily over-populated and I was once again surprised by the level of homelessness here.

This trip was definitely the highlight of 2022 and unforgettable - read more about it here.

June - Lisbon, Portugal

I sat two exams (my final Professional Level exams) in early June, and the same weekend visited my boyfriend in Lisbon. Although I'd been several times over the past two years, this would be my last weekend in the city for a while, as my boyfriend was moving back to Denmark, so we wanted to make the most of it. We went to various of our classic food spots (including Zenith and Don Costini), sunbathed on the beach, and played various sports bar games, including snooker, air hockey, and table football. I couldn't have wished for a better weekend and it was the perfect end to our time in the city.

Towards the end of the month, we also spent a weekend in the North York Moors National Park, which was gorgeous and a lovely summer getaway from London.

July - Copenhagen, Denmark

Straight after visiting the North York Moors National Park, we headed to Copenhagen, so I could drop my boyfriend off. I'd been to Copenhagen as a kid, but only truly remembered the changing of the guards, so it was nice to have a recap. This was another highlight of my year, as I was given a personalised tour of the city (after which I ended up with a bad sunburn and aching body after walking 26km in the summer heat). The Tour de France happened to coincide with our trip, so many roads were closed on the first day, however the rest of the weekend was perfect. I look back on this trip very fondly and couldn't recommend visiting enough - there is plenty to do and see and the city is wonderful in the summer.

July - Jersey, UK

Jersey was one of those places that didn't start high on my Bucket List, but as I visited more and more of Europe, it was one of the few places that I hadn't been to and didn't need to take any annual leave for. Therefore, in mid-July, a friend and I visited the island. It was bigger (and hotter) than expected, but offered beautiful views and lovely walks.

August - Porto, Coimbra, Gerês, Viana do Castelo, Guimarães, Ponte de Lima, Portugal

In August, I was once again on study leave (this time for my first Advance Level exam), so as usual, I went to stay with my cousin in Porto. Coincidentally, my parents decided they wanted to do a road trip across the North of Portugal around the same time, and I was desperate to visit Gerês National Park, so we decided to meet up whilst there. I stayed in Porto for the first half of the week, followed by Coimbra (another Portuguese city I'd wanted to visit) for the second half, and finishing off with a long weekend in Gerês National Park. The whole trip was great, however Gerês really stood out, as we rented a house with various family members by the lake, and spent our days swimming in the pool, having BBQs, eating watermelon, and playing cards. It was the epitome of relaxation and exactly what I needed. On our last day, we had time to kill before my evening flight so we visited various smaller towns in the North of Portugal, including Viana do Castelo, Guimarães (the birthplace of Portugal) and Ponte de Lima, all of which you can read more about here.

My boyfriend was in London for a few weeks over August, so whilst it was a busy month, I didn't travel much - other than a day trip to Brighton (a rite of passage for any summer spent in London), which happened to coincide with Brighton Pride and was a lot of fun (and also where we paid for a very questionable caricature of ourselves).

September - Guernsey, UK

Similarly to Jersey, Guernsey wasn't too high on my bucket list but I was keen to visit nonetheless, especially given the lack of 'big' holidays in Summer 2022. Initially, I'd planned to go alone, however my parents joined at the last minute and we hired a car, which was very fun. My aunt had actually lived in Guernsey at one point and I was surprised by how pretty the island was, with various honesty boxes on the roadsides in exchange for fresh produce, which reminded me of Maui.

October - Munich, Germany

Despite being intolerant to beer, Oktoberfest had been on my Bucket List for years and I was keen to finally see what it was all about. I only went for a weekend and despite a couple of creepy men, it was so much better than I'd anticipated. I went at a time when I was slightly struggling so it was a nice break and a good opportunity for some novelty.

November - Valencia, Alicante & Murcia, Spain

During the summer of 2021, I went on a road trip across the south of Spain, which was supposed to start in Sagres, Portugal and end in Valencia, Spain, however it got cut short. Therefore, for my dad's birthday this year, we concluded our road trip and visited Alicante, Murcia, and Valencia. We were there over a long weekend and had only anticipated on visiting Valencia, but since we'd been to the city previously we decided to explore further cities nearby. The balmy weather made a nice change from London's climate and I was very happy to be eating Spanish food once again.

November - Thailand, Cambodia & Malaysia

One of the trips that I was most excited for in 2022 was my trip to South East Asia. I went straight after my first Advanced Level exam so I was filled with anticipation, and although I'd previously been to Vietnam, I was excited to explore other nearby countries. Our trip was just over one week and we visited Krabi & Bangkok, Thailand, Siem Reap, Cambodia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Truth be told, I was slightly nervous that we were cramming way too much into one week, however it ended up being the perfect pace for us and neither of us felt rushed or that we'd missed anything in particular. That said, the trip was very eventful, involving a Cambodian hospital, a quasi-dine and dash, and a monsoon. It was a highlight of 2022 and I would strongly recommend visiting SE Asia if you get a chance. Read about my chaotic week here.

December - Mont Tremblant, Montreal, Quebec City, Canada

My last trip of the year was over Christmas and was spent with my family in Canada. We spent 5 days skiing/snowboarding in Mont Tremblant, followed by a couple of days in Québec City and New Years in Montreal. I love snow sports as well as Canada and hadn't been to either of these cities so it was a much needed break and I had a lovely time. That said, there happened to be a huge snow storm during our first few days there, which meant a lot of powder on the slopes but also very slippery roads, power outages which affected the ski lifts, and extremely low visibility. Regardless, the warm fires and hot chocolates kept us nice and cosy and the break was exactly what I needed and a great end to 2022.