2023: It’s Another Mad Year In Review

After the madness of 2022, I think 2023 needed to be a quieter year. Anyone who knows me will be well aware that that’s a challenge for me, and you will soon find out that I failed the challenge exceptionally.

From having a couple of trips planned throughout the year, to suddenly having loads of concerts all over the UK within the space of a month, between my two biggest loves of travel & music I also signed myself up as a hiking buddy for a friend at work, meaning any weekends I did have free were now filled with mountains, road trips and rain.

Not everything went to plan, with flooded tents, cancelled flights and dodgy public transport, but overall it’s been a fantastic year for us – and it’s not all been travel, either.

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After going abroad most months in 2022, I thought I’d finally try and achieve a goal of going abroad every month in 2023… and then we ended up having to drop almost £5k on a bathroom instead. When did adulting become so adulty? Anyway, I was far more excited than I ever thought I’d be about a bathroom. We designed it ourselves and it looks sooo much better than the old one!

It feels like we’ve finally reached that point in our lives where we can invest in where we’re living, and while settling down used to scare me in a lot of ways, I’m very content with where we are right now – both physically and metaphorically.

I’ve also been made permanent at my work, and I was secretly worried about having to find yet another job at some point, especially after going from one I hated to one I actually enjoy, so the relief in being offered a permanent position was real!

Anyway, here’s a look back at everything we’ve got up to this year!

January – South Scotland: Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire

In January, we continued what seems to be becoming tradition by spending a weekend in Scotland. We finally visited Dumfries & Galloway, an area I’ve overlooked for far too long, and actually still haven’t even written about. That needs to change because it was a great trip and there’s loads to do in the area. It’s partly because there’s lots to do that I haven’t written about it yet – because we didn’t do much in a single weekend! I think I will write all about it soon though, as the trip had a theme.

February – the disastrous Dusseldorf & Cologne trip

In February, I booked a very brief trip to Dusseldorf with a night in Cologne. It turned into one of the biggest travel disasters I’ve ever had, although an entertaining story and some great memories to boot. I invited my best friend along, a newbie to travel, and scarred him for life, I think.

We spent a few hours (less hours than planned…) in Dusseldorf before heading over to Cologne for the rest of the day. I loved Cologne, and despite all the mishaps I’m very glad I went! My friend may say something different.

March – Italy, San Marino & Slovenia

A lot more smoothly, we headed to Italy in March. It could have been a very chaotic trip as we tried to pack a lot in, but actually it all went really well and there wasn’t really anywhere that we wished we had more time. The same friend joined us on this trip and I think he was rather relieved that it didn’t all go horribly wrong…!

We flew in and out of Venice, with the plan to finally visit Slovenia, which has been on my list for eons. However, it turned into a bit of a mad trip when we decided to add on San Marino in a completely nuts “lol let’s go to another country” moment. We made it work though, and I’m glad we did – I loved San Marino! Plus it meant we spent a couple of nights in Bologna with some of the best food in the world. Win/win!

But Slovenia… Slovenia was AMAZING. I already want to go back. Ljubljana is a truly lovely city and Lake Bled is astonishing. It was a different experience visiting at the end of winter, but it was actually incredibly beautiful with the snow-capped mountains!

April – very… Aprilly…?

I don’t really remember anything about April. I went from a very busy winter season at work straight into a very busy summer season at work, and then took on more work as somebody left. Story of my life in every job, I swear!

We did visit family for Easter and my Canadian family were here for it too which was lovely as I hadn’t seen them since 2018, but other than that we designated April as a quiet month. Which is weird as I remember trying to plan a weekend trip in April. I wonder what ever happened with that. (She says about many plans…)

Oh yeah, that’s right. That pesky thing called money…

May – Greece, Turkey, Eurovision & Northumberland

In May, we headed out to Rhodes with Jet2 Holidays on a brilliant collaboration. I’ve always dreamed of visiting a Greek island, and I have to admit I knew very little about Rhodes! Naturally, Ash knew a lot more than me as he’s obsessed with Greek mythology, so this trip was very much up his street.

Rhodes was lovely, and I even managed to squeeze in a sneaky trip to Marmaris, my first ever visit to Turkey. I absolutely LOVED the old town of Marmaris, and spent the day taking far too many photos of dreamy alleyways. Rhodes was more about history and relaxing – a perfect combination for a holiday!

A week later, I went to Eurovision which was one of the most fun experiences of my life! I couldn’t believe it when I got tickets to the final. I genuinely cried – although so did my bank balance!

And a couple of weeks after that, we visited friends in Sheffield for a weekend, with a stop off in Northumberland which we really enjoyed.

June – Orkney

June started with beautiful weather. Start the summer as you mean to go on, right? WRONG. After 3 weeks of glorious sunshine in June, we then had constant rain for two months solid.

I know this because June is when my friend from work & I decided to start taking hiking seriously. She was off to Nepal in November, and I had suggested going on hikes every weekend to help her gear up for a ten day trek. (Remember when I said 2023 should have been quieter?)

Anyway, our first proper hike was amazing. We hiked up Ben A’an, which has been on my list for years. It was absolutely beautiful. It’s also only one of two hikes we’ve done this year where there were blue skies, and the *only one* where we haven’t got wet.

The following week, Ash & I were off to Orkney for our first visit since my folks moved away. It was a very strange visit – my first time ever being up there and not having my childhood home to stay in. We caught up with lots of friends, and made it to a couple of islands, including one I’d never visited before, Stronsay. I haven’t written about Stronsay but I have written about Hoy, my favourite Orkney island.

July – Hiking

July was mostly full of hikes, with a disastrous camping trip near Fort William where the rain was so bad that our tent flooded.

It was almost a waste of a trip too, as the weather was so bad that we couldn’t actually do the big hike that we planned (at least not without being totally miserable). We settled for some shorter walks, including the lovely Steall Falls which I’ve been meaning to get to for years.

During the rest of the month, we managed to climb a munro in horrendous weather, and then stayed closer to home and hiked in the nearby Pentland Hills, dodging the rain as much as we could.

August – Norway

We had been planning to re-book the cruise that got cancelled last year, but I was keeping an eye on it and the prices were… out of our budget. It’s a shame because my parents were considering going, but couldn’t due to some circumstances which then changed so they would have been able to after all. I think if we had all gone, it would have been brilliant – but also a very different trip to the one we ended up having.

Determined to go anyway, I booked an independent trip there, planning our route and devising the perfect itinerary between Oslo and Bergen.

Part of me wonders if we missed out by not taking the cruise. Equally, there are plenty of things we did that we would never have been able to do if we’d been on the cruise. So I’m very, very happy with how things turned out, as it really was a pretty perfect trip, apart from the storm-battered rail tracks causing havoc.

We also went up to my folks to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday – another reason it’s a shame we couldn’t do the cruise, as it was the perfect celebration!

Of course, we did a couple of hikes around Edinburgh too, when we could…

September – London, Newcastle, Glasgow & Skye

September was the maddest month of the year, with my favourite band (*cough* Busted) touring the UK. My friend from Australia had decided to come back over for it, so it was great to see her again, but it meant a really full on month! We headed down to London for a weekend, Newcastle for a weekend, Glasgow mid-week, followed by a weekend on Skye, which is a trip we’d been planning with her last year but just hadn’t managed to quite fit in.

We got lucky with the weather on the first day in Skye and managed to fit absolutely loads in – but day two was a complete wash out, meaning we had to miss the Fairy Pools a second time! One day I’ll get there.

We even went to a club night on a Wednesday as one of the band members was doing a DJ set, and I was working the next day. I have discovered through this enlightening experience that I am just a little bit too old for that now.

October – a rest (just kidding – more hiking!)

October started with a trip to see family after Ash’s sister got married in September. They eloped on a cruise, so there were a few catch-up celebrations when they got home!

The following weekend, we were off to Glasgow for another gig, and a final farewell to my friend before she flew back to Australia.

My work friend and I then apprehensively attempted another camping trip – and wouldn’t you know, the October camping trip where it was forecast to reach -2 degrees was far nicer than the mid-summer Camp Of Soaking Doom! We did the Pap Of Glencoe, the hike we had wanted to do in July, which was a much harder hike than either of us were anticipating. We managed it though, and even got pelted with snow at the top!

And, despite the snow and a shower soaking us towards the end, it was also only our second sunny hike of the year! Ffs.

We also took a shorter walk for her final weekend, checking out the autumn colours in the Hermitage, an hour north of us in Perthshire. We went with another friend from work and had a lovely afternoon out, despite – guess what – the rain.

(October – a rest month where we did something every single weekend!)

November – Glasgow & Poland

The first half of November was very much a rest. We finally had a couple of weekends doing absolutely nothing, except dog-sitting for my folks, before the madness of the rest of the year.

We headed through to Glasgow for a weekend as two bands were playing – one is Ash’s band of the year, and the other is mine, and they happened to both be playing at a weekend, one day apart. Both were equally excellent live too, so it was a great little trip! Between the gigs, we also met up with a pal, went to the Barras market, watched a bizarre mechanical puppet show, and of course got absolutely drenched in the rain. (When in Glasgow!)

The following weekend, we flew to Poland for a weekend in Gdansk. Our plans were thwarted when Ryanair cancelled the return flight, and after re-juggling the finer details, we added on a day in Warsaw.

We absolutely LOVED Gdansk! We ended up going with a friend from work & her boyfriend, but stayed in different places. We had gorgeous weather, fell in love with the old town immediately, and visited the Christmas markets. It even snowed, making it all that much more magical!

From there, we headed to Warsaw, and we didn’t love the Polish capital to be honest. It was a bit too much of a city, which was unexpected but it’s fine. It’s not somewhere we would have made a conscious effort to go, so I’m glad we went!

December – Netherlands & Riga

December continued to be a rollercoaster, with literal rollercoasters in the Netherlands as we headed there for Efteling, a fairytale theme park! We had a fabulous weekend with one of my best friends and the hiking friend from work. I successfully drove in and out of the third largest airport in Europe, which I’m pretty proud of, and we even went to the Lord Of The Rings town – I’ll be posting all about that at some point!

The following weekend, I went to Riga for more Christmas markets… with the other girl from work again! This was definitely a year of adventures with colleagues haha. We loved Riga and had a great time right up until we had to come home. I think I’ll end up writing an entire post about it as this particular misadventure trumps even Dusseldorf as the worst travel experience I’ve ever had.

Long, long, long story short – after an unnerving failed take off, it took us 19 hours to get home and we had to miss a day of work. Being that I was with someone I share part of my role with, work CANNOT have been impressed with us!

Thankfully, that was my last flight until March, and at this point even March feels too soon.

Highlights of 2023

1. Norway. This has been hovering near the top of my travel list for a long, long time. I had planned to visit on a cruise, which didn’t work out, so I decided to make it happen anyway! What an absolutely amazing country.
2. Slovenia. I was worried that March would be totally the wrong time to visit – and we didn’t get all that lucky with the weather, but the day we finally did visit Lake Bled was amazing and we had the added bonus of snow-capped mountains! Ljubljana is officially one of my favourite European cities, too!
3. Eurovision. When it was announced that the UK would be hosting Eurovision this year, I never in a million years thought I’d get tickets to the actual final. They were the most expensive event tickets I’ve ever bought. Worth every penny though – one of the best nights of my life.
4. Busted. Getting to see my favourite band playing their greatest hits, with one of my closest friends – what an absolute joy!
5. Taking a sponsored trip with the blog. I don’t tend to take this blog as seriously as I should, so when an opportunity came up to visit Rhodes with Jet2 Holidays, I was so excited. We had a great time, and I even snuck in another country, taking the ferry over to Turkey!

Music

Hot Milk – A Call To The Void

Straight off the release date, I happened to notice this album on Spotify. I’d listened to their older stuff quite a bit but this is their first album and it’s a way more punchy affair than their previous pop punk tracks. I listened to the entire album and knew after one listen that it would be my favourite album of the year. Every single song is great, the production is slick and the songwriting is polished and solid. Absolute cracker of an album, well done guys.

(Also incredibly fun band live, with a mad crowd!)

Busted – Greatest Hits 2.0

Got to be on here, doesn’t it? My favourite band re-recorded their most popular songs, but what made it really great was that they collaborated with some incredible bands on every song, like Simple Plan, Bowling For Soup and DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL?? I would never have seen that coming in a million years. All of the new versions are great, and the Bowling For Soup one, above, is VERY fun.

Kaarija – Cha Cha Cha

Going against almost everything I’ve ever listened to, my third choice for music this year is a Finnish rapper. It had to be Eurovision based, because going to Eurovision this year was one of my LIFE highlights! And this was my winner. It was everybody’s winner except the jury, apparently. Anyway, this song is absolutely nuts and I had a feeling it might actually be my most listened to song this year… Spotify Wrapped concludes that this is a correct assessment. Oh dear! Or should I say, CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHAAAAA!

Honorable mention: Ren

I think this might have been the first song I heard by Ren, and I was hooked on his unique style of storytelling with intricate guitar work and theatrical videos. It’s almost impossible to create a unique formula in today’s music industry, but Ren is the exception and he does it exceptionally. To be honest I’m not a big fan of his “normal” songs, but lyrically they’re still fantastic. If you like the above video, I wholeheartedly recommend checking out some others like Hi Ren and Money Game Part 3 (this might be the best music video ever created).

A second honorable mention: Holding Absence’s album The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction came out on the same day as Hot Milk. Ash prefers Holding Absence. I love both, but Hot Milk had to clinch it for me. Anyway, there are some fantastic songs on the album, and they’re an absolutely cracking band live. In any other year, this would have easily made my top 3.

TV Shows

Heartstopper

As a surprise to absolutely no one, Heartstopper was again my favourite show of the year. I loved season one so, so much. I watched it relentlessly (at least once a month) and fell in love with the characters and everything they represented, and watching it is like a giant hug. I was therefore a bit scared about my expectations for season two.

Somehow… it’s even BETTER than season one. Innocence has given way to real-life problems and emotions, and mental health issues that were implied in season one are full-on tackled in season two. A couple of scenes hit me like a brick. It’s heavier, but still full of the comfort and joy the first season provides. I truly hope they win awards for the final scene. I was bawling for the last ten minutes; as soon as that Taylor Swift song kicked in I was gone.

Ted Lasso

Here was me thinking Heartstopper was the ultimate heartwarming show, but then along came Ted Lasso. A lot more sweary and a lot less innocent, Ted Lasso is an assault on the senses and the heartstrings, and it’s perfect. I love all the characters (except Rupert obviously, but who can hate Anthony Head, really?) even though almost all of them are the types of characters or people I’d normally hate. The whole show is just done SO well. Sadly we got into it just in time for the final season.

Also, Hannah Waddingham is a national treasure and I’m SO glad after watching this that I got to see her hosting Eurovision!

Ghosts

I can’t believe we’ve only just got into Ghosts, and it was right before the final season as well! This fun comedy follows a couple who inherit a mansion, but after an accident in the first episode, the wife can see the ghosts who already inhabit the house. It’s hilarious and strangely heartwarming, and I love ALL of the ghosts!

I actually love that all my favourite TV shows this year are British – well, Ted Lasso is technically American but almost everything about it is British – and all of them are really lovely shows.

Movies

Barbie

Oh boy. I had zero interest in Barbie and then the trailer came out and I thought, “you know what, this looks like it’s going to be fun.” I ended up arranging to go with a bunch of people and we had such a great time! (All wearing pink, of course.) It’s hilarious, goofy and clever. It gets a bit existential towards the end, but it’s not really a film to be taken seriously – it’s just fun!

Sorry but also sharing this here because it is EXCELLENT:

I don’t think I have any other particular film highlights (I haven’t seen Oppenheimer yet!), but Dungeons & Dragons was surprisingly very fun, and although I’ve dropped off the Marvel bandwagon, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 is brilliant and way more emotional than any story about a space raccoon should be.

Reads

I have to admit my book-reading levels have not been great this year. So instead of books (my favourite one has probably been Nala’s World, a book about a Scottish guy who cycles around Europe and picks up a stray kitten along the way), I thought I’d share some of my favourite articles, as there have been a few:
⭐ The complicated truth of mental health and the outdoors
⭐ Wish you weren’t here! How tourists are ruining the world’s greatest destinations
⭐ This Tube tour is your chance to see hidden London
⭐ Their Band Ended in Tragedy. 20 Years Later, the Last Surviving Member Is Ready to Talk
⭐ The Halloween Sweets That Poisoned Bradford

Blog highlights

I haven’t been quite as active on here as I would have liked, owing to the fact every spare weekend was spent hiking! I’ve actually managed to write about all our travels this year up to this month, but it’s definitely been a lot to keep up with in between everything else.

That said, I’ve got a few posts doing well on Google, including some that have surprised me:
⭐ 20 Photos Of Marmaris Old Town, A Surprising Turkish Delight – ironically, one of my more popular posts isn’t about Rhodes, but actually the side trip I took on that holiday! Still, it’s nice that one of my mad ideas has paid off.
⭐ A Day Trip Guide: San Marino From Bologna – this is ranked #1 on Google, which is surreal to me because there were already a few posts out there. And another of my mad ideas which has paid off!
⭐ Szechenyi Vs Gellert: Battle Of The Budapest Spa Baths – despite already writing about Budapest’s baths in my full Budapest guide, I decided to write a useful comparison post – this has become my 2nd most read post this year!
⭐ Christmas In Kaunas: Feeling Festive In Lithuania – technically this post is from last year (just!) but it’s getting a whole bunch of traffic at the moment and is #1 for “Christmas markets in Kaunas”. A slightly niche search but nice to see it doing well!

In the past, most of the posts that do well on Google are Scotland related, so it’s great to see some different European destinations getting noticed on their algorithm! My Norway itinerary has been bringing in traffic too.

I definitely need to switch up my useful content and work on SEO because it’s actually working! Who knew? I have plenty of content ideas in this little noggin – as always, it’s just finding the time to put it together!

As an aside, I read every one of your comments, and usually reply in my head before realising months later that I never actually sent the reply. I won’t lie – I do this with messages from friends all the damn time. And I am truly sorry, but I do appreciate all your comments!

What’s coming up in 2024?

2023 was another year of European cities, with Venice, Ljubljana, Bologna, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Oslo, Bergen, Gdansk, Warsaw and Riga. To be brutally honest I’ve been feeling a little “citied out” so I think a lot of future trips will be less city break and more nature-based.

So what IS coming up in 2024? Well, finally…

JAPAN!!!

Yes, our trip from 2020 has *FINALLY* been re-booked for March! I won’t believe it until we’re there, but I’m allowing myself to get rather excited now! Regular readers will know that this is my ultimate dream trip. The final country on my actual bucket list. We waited for the perfect time and it turned out that the perfect time didn’t exist.

We’ll be heading to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Mount Fuji, with two of our closest friends!

We’ve also been thinking of a beach holiday next year, and managed to get a deal in the Black Friday sales for Cyprus! A new country for both of us.

Other than that… I actually have no idea. I’m eyeing up taking the train across Switzerland – and Liechtenstein. I’ve been slowly working my way through European countries I haven’t been to yet, so hopefully a few weekend trips will get me to Andorra, Monaco and Luxembourg. Possibly a year for micro states! The other two potential Europe trips are completing the Baltic countries (Finland and Estonia, which I hoped to do this year along with Latvia), or a trip to Romania with a side trip to Moldova.

Whatever we end up doing, I am VERY excited for 2024!

One thing’s for sure though – I DEFINITELY need a quieter year!! This year was a lot.

Although we are probably going to get a dog, which will put an end to that idea.

How has your 2023 shaped up?