Post written by Laura
A busy year of memory building!
In January 2022 we had just three trips booked for the year these being: walking the final part of the Via Francigena to Rome; a long weekend in Krakow and a week in Pembrokeshire. We were keen but cautiously optimistic about being able to travel as we didn’t want to go through too much hassle cancelling and re-booking should the Covid restrictions suddenly ramp up again.
By March 2022 with our lovely holiday to Tenerife, we felt that things were mostly back to normal and with Covid almost forgotten we went a bit mad on short and longer trips throughout the year:
- Jan: New Year in Oxfordshire
- Feb: A short break in the Peak District
- Mar: A weekend in Brighton
- Mar: A week in Tenerife
- Apr: Easter long weekend in the Lake District
- May: Via Francigena in Italy
- Jun: Long weekend in Krakow
- Jun: Weekend in Lincolnshire
- Jul: Weekend in Suffolk
- Jul: A week in Pembrokeshire
- Aug: Hiking and camping weekend in Somerset
- Sep: Short weekend in Oxfordshire
- Oct: 6 nights in Mykonos
- Nov: Short weekend in Norfolk
- Nov: An adventure in Ecuador and the Galapagos (Laura)
- Dec: Short weekend in the Peak District
- Dec: New Years’ Eve in Brighton
Throughout 2022 I visited 3 new UK cities: Lincoln, Oxford and Norwich.
One new country: Ecuador
One new Greek island: Mykonos
One new European city: Krakow
One new area of Wales: Gower
Had my first experience of coasteering in Tenby
Had my first experience of travelling business class
Travel throughout 2022 was not without its stresses. Some countries still have covid restrictions; some have visa restrictions (check carefully if you have a Cuba stamp in your passport and plan to visit the US) and disruption due to cancellations and strikes was a strong possibility.
As if 2 years of covid wasn’t enough life in the UK has become a miserable struggle for many people. Inflation at over 10%, energy bills rising to exorbitant levels and yes strikes by rail staff, border control staff, ambulance staff and even nurses.
Taking a trip on an average monthly basis may seem extravagant in these tough times however Chris and I have crafted our lifestyle into one that enables this. We live in a low maintenance top floor apartment which keeps our costs down and gives us a secure base from which to travel. I drive a 9 year old car rather than upgrading every couple of years. I’ve pushed myself hard to progress at work and earn a decent wage in an organisation with a generous annual leave allowance and which allows me flexibility in the hours I work.
We’ve all experienced for real that our freedom to travel can be snatched away at any time and this is a powerful reminder to ‘jump while you can‘ if you have the means to do so.
Adventures don’t have to be expensive and precious memories and life experiences often come from the most basic of trips. A hiking and camping weekend is as cheap as staying at home. Camping isn’t luxury but offers the same level of excitement and anticipation of a new adventure and the subsequent memories as any trip.
Foreign travel doesn’t have to cost more either. We spent less on our weekend in Krakow than we did on our weekend in Brighton!
But despite the possibility of last minute disruption and the hassle of delays, traffic jams and cancellations you can try and minimise the stress by booking on a free cancellation basis, travelling on off-peak days, driving across England and Wales at 4.30 am…
At the beginning of 2022 I had no idea that travel would resume pretty much back to ‘normal’ so it was good to take a few trips and publish posts on current travel. I still have a few throw-backs of past holidays in the pipeline…
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