
Post written by Laura
Happy New Year!
What has now become a ‘From Blue to Green’ new year’s day tradition where we share our travel plans and ideas for the year ahead this post has a very different feel from previous years. In the past we’ve excitedly looked forward to actual travel plans for the new year not at all considering the unthinkable where they might not take place.
On 1st January 2020 I wrote about “a new decade of travel to look forward to” with none of us having any inkling of what was about to happen.
I spent much of 2020 reading about travel, writing about and reflecting on travel (with my blog posts) and planning future travel (I have a few itineraries up my sleeve…) And also literally dreaming of travel! Yes, I am not kidding! Most nights I have weird and wonderful dreams of beaches, towns, countrysides, mountains and planes and I’m often somewhat disappointed when I wake up!
So for 2021 I’m posting about dreams for 2021 rather than plans. Lets hope some of them come true…

Italy
Thanks to Covid disruptions our planned Via Francigena 100 mile walk into Rome has been booked and moved 3 times! Together with a small group of friends the plan is to fly to Rome, travel by train to Bolsena and spend a week walking back into Rome, staying in a different little town each night.
I had taken on the role of travel agent and had booked accommodation in each of the walking route towns together with a luggage company who is to transfer our luggage between each place. This was originally booked for May 2020, then moved to October 2020 and has been moved again to September 2021… fingers crossed!

Other ideas for 2021 include:
Cornwall: we’re hoping to spend a week in Cornwall in February but as we are now in Tier 4 lockdown and likely to be for a while yet, this remains a hope rather than a booking! If restrictions are eased we’ll book something at the last minute…
Azores: We’re still keen to visit the Azores and do some trekking up to Mount Pico; this might be worth the risk of a cheap flight and hotel free-cancellation booking basis…
Borneo: nearly booked for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2020 and while we have an itinerary planned thankfully we hadn’t booked anything. This will remain on hold until we are confident of the ability to travel without the risk of cancellations, positive covid tests, closed borders etc. This may need to be postponed to 2022…
While our adventures didn’t go entirely to plan we were fortunate to have taken some excellent trips in 2020… here are a few memories:

An exotic heady mix of ancient and modern… my solo long weekend to Tel Aviv in January with a day trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem thrown in.

Above is a photo from the last time either Chris or I travelled abroad… we had a fabulous weekend in Porto, Portugal in February 2020.

One week before the first major UK lockdown in March… we had a lovely long weekend in Plymouth with Teresa, our sister-in-law. Chris and I popped over the border into Cornwall and visited Looe and Polperro.

By August Covid restrictions had started to lift and as we emerged and started to venture out, Chris and I had a weekend in Seaton in Devon where we walked for 10 miles along the South West Coast Path, which is also part of the Jurassic coastline. This was not long after the compulsory face coverings were introduced in England.

In September and still within the socially distancing rules we had a family weekend in Norfolk and Suffolk which included a visit to Southwold.

A proper holiday at last! One week spent at the end of September with our friends Yvey, Matt, Clare and Steve in Pembrokeshire. This was great especially as I had Pembrokeshire in mind as somewhere I had been keen to visit. Shortly after arriving back, Wales was put into lockdown and travel from England was banned.

Another holiday… yay! This was an active week at the end of October in the Yorkshire Dales with other friends Russell, Roza, Flo & Mike. Again we were lucky to have squeezed this in just before the November clamp-down in England began.

The November lockdown was lifted on 2nd December and as I returned back to the gym I was rewarded with a lovely sunrise. Unfortunately this little freedom was short-lived as after only 3 weeks or so, Covid cases were on the rise again and we were plunged back into lockdown… just before Christmas…
On Saturday 19th December, Boris Johnson cancelled Christmas and immediately banned any mixing of households for around 16 million people across the south east of England. Chris and I celebrated Christmas day on our own. What is now called Tier 4 this ban has since been extended to most of the country and our chances of a week in Cornwall in February are looking pretty slim at the moment…
Let us hope for easier travel this year. 2020 was quite a challange, but even changed plans can sometimes turn out to be even better 🙂
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Definitely! We may never have gone to the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales which was stunning! It is sometimes good to explore your own little part of the world 🙂
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It is good that you are still planning although with your fingers cross. We are booked to go to Cornwall in February but that is not going to happen. Maybe we will get to the New Forest in April????
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It isn’t looking too good for the short term but we’re cautiously optimistic for the summer… or maybe late summer 🙂
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Happy New Year Laura. Love the sound of your Rome walk, what a challenge that will be. Hopefully you’ll be ok for September but who knows with the way the world is going. All of those UK trips sounded great though, so much to see here without travelling overseas. We hope to get to Pembrokeshire this summer if the situation allows. Keep safe.
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Happy New Year Jonno and Jo! We would highly recommend Pembrokeshire and its incredible coastline. As you say, we have no idea what the future holds for this year and it’s difficult to make any plans at the moment. Hopefully things will soon start to improve.
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Love to have a go at walking some of the coastal path there. Maybe this summer if the world settles down a bit.
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Italy is on my travel list too. Covid caught a lot of people off guard and disrupted many peoples plans. I think people need to enjoy their surroundings and take their dream trip why they are able. Thanks for sharing this post. Will have to get to Italy soon! Let me know if I can be of assistance in the future. Tracy @ Kauffmantravel.com
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Thank you Tracy, we’ll take a look at your site!
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