This year was one of much change for me. I already talked about how it influenced my professional life when I left my old job and started a new career. Today, however, I want to concentrate on everything travel-related that happened in 2017. There was a lot, and some of it represented long-existent travel goals. Let’s take a look at my 2017 travel highlights:
London and Brighton
In travel terms, my year started with a weekend in one of my favourite cities: London! I went there in March with friends, and although we only stayed three days we had an absolute blast. As we had one London first-timer with us, we did a lot of typical tourist stuff that I was already familiar with. I didn’t mind, though. It’s always worth taking another look at Buckingham Palace and Westminster or taking another stroll down Southbank. This is one city I’ll never get tired of!
Instead of going home with the others after the weekend, I took the opportunity to move on to Brighton. A friend of mine moved there some time ago and I took the chance to visit her and at the same time explore this cute little seaside town. While I have to admit I didn’t find Brighton to be the most exciting of places, I nevertheless enjoyed its charming atmosphere, with many cute cafes, interesting architecture and of course the beach. Although, the latter was still rather cold at this time of year.
View from the London Eye
Tower Bridge by night
The Lanes in Brighton
Brighton Beach
Edinburgh
The travel year continued with more of the United Kingdom. In June, I spent a weekend in Edinburgh with my mum and sister. I had only been there once before and that had only been for 2 days. Accordingly, there was a lot left to explore.
I really enjoyed Edinburgh. It’s small enough to walk everywhere, which I find to be the best way of exploring. At the same time, it offers enough sights not to get boring. I love the medieval, historic feel of the old town. It’s almost like time travel. And then, there is so much history and stories connected with the place. The writer and book nerd in me completely digs all the literary connections, the legends and the ghost stories of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle
My first ever Africa trip!
As much as I enjoyed London, Brighton and Edinburgh, the undisputed highlight of the year was my trip to Africa! I had never been on the continent before and always dreamed of going. This summer, a friend of mine happened to be staying in Botswana, and I took the chance to visit her. I spent two days at Victoria Falls first, before meeting her and some of her friends in Livingstone, Zambia. We kicked off our adventure together with a rafting trip on the Zambezi – a frightening, but ultimately highly enjoyable experience!
After that, we spent a week travelling through Botswana. I got to do two wildlife safaris: at Chobe National Park and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe. Seeing animals was always my main idea of a proper Africa trip, and it was even better than I always hoped it would be! I was beyond myself with excitement at spotting plenty of elephants at Chobe and meeting rhinos at Serowe. While I missed out on some animals (I’m looking at you, lions!) there were so many others it was impossible to feel disappointed. What an unforgettable experience!
In Gaborone, I left my travel companions behind and continued to Johannesburg, where I stayed the last few days of my trip before returning home. While the city was certainly a different experience than the countryside and National Parks, I still found it a fascinating place. I learned a lot about the history and culture of South Africa.
I can’t wait to get back to Africa to see more of this very special continent.
Victoria Falls
Baby rhino at Khama Rhino Sanctuary
Chobe National Park
Two young elephants having a mock fight
Johannesburg
Holidays in Germany
The rest of the year I spent in my home country, with a couple little trips to the countryside.
At the end of summer, I spend a weekend at the Ratzeburg Lake with a bunch of fellow travel bloggers. We worked on our blogs, talked, laughed, ate good food and drank lots of wine. A perfect weekend!
The last trip I took this year was a spontaneous short trip to the Bavarian Forest with a friend. We have been there together a few times already in past years, so I know a lot of the area. Still, every time we’re there we try to find some new places to explore. On this visit, it was Regensburg and Nuremberg, two beautiful historic towns. I wouldn’t have minded spending a bit more time in each of them. Also, we visited the animal shelter Gut Aiderbichl.
Nuremberg
Ratzeburg Lake
That was all the travel I did in 2017. It included some old favourites as well as some new destinations that had been on my wishlist for I don’t even know how long. I visited a new continent and travelled with lots of friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen for a long time, as well as with my family. Overall, I had a complete blast on each and every one of those trips.
Now, I’m preparing for the travel year 2018, which will again take me to a new continent: South America. I’m flying to Santiago de Chile in early February and will explore as much as I can of the country from there, and possibly some other nearby countries as well. I can’t wait!
Thank you 2017, you were certainly a very exciting year!
Over to you! What were your 2017 travel highlights? Share in the comments!
