19 countries, 22 flights and around 100 nights away from home – whichever way I look at it 2013 has been my busiest ever year of travel. Most of my travels were made on the back of pre-commissioned work, but a few were done just for fun (because everyone needs a holiday). My wife Sam managed to travel with me on most of the trips and has supplied photos to go with most of my commissioned articles – most of the photos in this post are hers.
So where did we get to?
January began on the Pacific island nation of Palau. While New Year celebrations on an island with a population of 10,000 are bound to be modest, midnight was certainly a noisy affair. We explored the main island of Babeldaob on the first day of the year.
The route home from Micronesia was a slow one, as I had a couple of commissions to research in Brunei and Macau and one on the Philippine island of Bohol.
Only two weeks after getting home I was off again, this time to the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. I had two articles to write for Coast magazine, the second of which will appear in the next issue (Feb 2014, on sale in early January). On my way there my flight even made the BBC news when it was struck by lightning during a storm.
March saw a rail trip between Malmo and Amsterdam and despite travelling at the end of the month we spent the entire week in sub-zero temperatures with heavy snow an almost constant companion.
The weather thankfully picked up for our next trip, which took us to the Greek Cyclades islands for a magazine commission and to Athens – a city that has for a long time been on our wish list.
One of the most pleasing things about our travels during 2013 is the number of trips within the UK we managed to do. In good weather I can fully understand why some people don’t feel the need to put up with the hassle of travelling abroad.
I was back in the air in September, making what is a regular trip to my ethnic homeland, Poland. I spent a week wandering through forests and along mountain paths and meeting a variety of fascinating characters, all in the name of work.
Less than two weeks after returning and having barely written up my Polish adventures, we headed to the Balkans for three weeks. Starting in Ljubljana (which is definitely NOT in the Balkans, as any Slovene will tell you), we travelled by train, bus and car through Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, before flying home from the Bulgarian capital Sofia. It was a busy trip, but one that was packed with memorable encounters that stirred emotions ranging from despairingly sad to truly inspirational.
Our final trip of the year took us to Brazil. With three commissions to research in two weeks we had an intensive itinerary, but there was more than enough time to appreciate that this is a country we’ll certainly plan to visit again.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to travel so much in the last year and look forward to 2014. The New Year promises more travel adventures and no doubt trips to several new places that I can’t even guess at this stage.