Collage of travel photos
Sunday Stills,  Travel in general

Looking back at a year of travels (2024)

December 29, 2024 / 47 Comments

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.

Bill Bryson

Travel is indeed a luxury, one not everyone can indulge in. Those of us who have the resources and health to be able to indulge have a responsibility, I feel, to value the experiences it brings us. One way I try to do this is by capturing those experiences through my photography and through this blog. In that way I aim to preserve my memories, inspire others who can to travel too, and (I hope) to make those experiences come alive for those who cannot.

Lofty aims, I know! But I keep trying, and this year to date have shared 167 posts (mainly) on this theme!

At the end of the past two years, I’ve enjoyed compiling a summary of my travels, so here is this year’s version. It shows I travelled more than in 2022 (based on number of journeys and number of nights away) but less than in 2023. Clearly I need to address that in 2025!

A travel year in numbers

In 2024 I had five trips within the UK, three in Europe and two long-haul. That’s four fewer than last year. But they were longer on average, as I spent a total of 79 nights away from home (three of them on planes) compared with only three more than that last year.

I slept in 32 different beds, took 14 flights and made nine journeys by train, 24 by road and one by ship! Here’s where they took me:

JANUARY

Newcastle

Starting the year in Newcastle, the second half of a week that had begun in the previous December. We’ll be finishing the year there too, as a New Year visit is one of our traditions.

Misty waves breaking on rocks
Waves at King Edward’s Bay, Tynemouth

Memorable times: crisp winter walks by the Tyne and coast.

Memorable sights: crashing waves and sea fret over Tynemouth Priory.

FEBRUARY

Mexico

A tour that took in colourful cities, ancient ruins, stunning landscapes and awe-inspiring whales

Row of single storey brightly painted shops
An Oaxaca street

Memorable people: Montse, our excellent guide to the sights of Oaxaca and its surroundings; Dona Catalina, a Rarámuri healer and shaman in the Copper Canyon region; Yvette, who took us out to see the blue whales off the coast of Loreto and as a bonus supplemented the provided lunch with her own delicious homemade chocolate banana bread and fresh strawberries.

Memorable times: learning about Aztec and other pre-Hispanic beliefs at Mexico City’s excellent Museo Nacional de Antropologia; exploring the ruins of Teotihuacan; enjoying street food in Oaxaca with Montse; whale-watching trips in Baja California.

Memorable sights: the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Coyoacán; the colourful buildings in Oaxaca; the early morning light at the ruins of Monte Albán; the Copper Canyon system, larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon; blue whales, the largest animals in the world.

APRIL

Cagliari, Sardinia

Getting to know this likeable Italian city and an island we’d never previously visited

Ruined stone tower on a hill with wildflowers
Nuraghe Piscu, Sardinia

Memorable people: Claudio, the friendly owner of the apartment we rented, whom we never met but who checked in with us regularly to make sure everything was OK.

Memorable times: evening pre-dinner drinks and antipasti at pavement cafés; wandering the ancient streets of Cagliari’s most historic districts; a walk by the sea in Poetta

Memorable sights: views from the hills of Cagliari and the city’s narrow lanes; the Torre dell’Elefante, one of the ancient city gates; the ancient nuraghi, Bronze Age strongholds which dot the Sardinian countryside; surprising street art in remote rural villages.

MAY

Newcastle

A long weekend in Chris’s hometown to meet up with an old friend visiting the city from Germany

Three people y a river
Waiting for the Shields ferry, North Shields

Memorable people: our friend Pete, always great company.

Memorable times: riding the ferry from North Shields to South Shields (a first for me); leisurely breakfasts and dinners while catching up with Pete.

Memorable sights: kittiwakes nesting on the Tyne Bridge; street art in Ouseburn; Arbeia, a reconstructed Roman fort in South Shields.

Split and Kotor

The annual Virtual Tourist meeting in Kotor, preceded by a few days in Split with a smaller group of friends

Imposing stone castle on a hill
Klis Fortress, Croatia

Memorable people: all my particular Virtual Tourist friends, and especially Marit who introduced us to the sights of Split.

Memorable times: exploring Split, a city I really fell for; a visit by boat to quaint Trogir; travelling by ferry to Dubrovnik.

Memorable sights: the impressive Klis Fortress, high on a hill top; beautiful soft yellow stone buildings in Split and Trogir; my first sight of Kotor’s Square of Arms from my hotel bedroom.

JUNE
Kotor

The annual Virtual Tourist meeting continued …

Still lake with waterlilies
Lake Skadar, Montenegro

Memorable people: again, my many Virtual Tourist friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen for several years.

Memorable times: exploring the narrow lanes of Kotor with my friends; a very rainy visit to Cetinje and the Njeguši-Lovćen national park; a beautiful boat ride on Lake Skadar.

Memorable sights: mountains emerging from the clouds as the weather slowly improved; waterlilies and birds at Lake Skadar.

JULY

Broadstairs

A few days by the sea on England’s south coast

Colourfully painted huts lining the base of a cliff
Beach huts, St Mary’s Bay, Broadstairs

Memorable people: Phil and Michaela, aka the Hungry Travellers, who proved to be just as great company in real life as they are online!

Memorable times: walks by the sea; our evening in the Charles Dickens pub with Phil and Michaela.

Memorable sights: coastal scenes and seascapes; colourful beach huts.

AUGUST

Newcastle and Masham, Yorkshire

Our annual summer visit to Newcastle and our ‘pilgrimage’ to Grinton in Swaledale, meeting up with family friends for lunch before overnighting in Masham

Stone built pub
The Bridge Inn, Grinton, Yorkshire

Memorable times: a visit to Warkworth, one of my favourite Northumberland villages, with a walk by the sea; a lovely walk in the gardens at Gibside, a National Trust property on the edge of Newcastle;  lunch at the Bridge Inn in Grinton (formerly a house, where my father-in-law lived when evacuated and where our friends lived as children).

Memorable sights: a stunning sunset from the apartment we rented in Newcastle; sea and river views and the castle in Warkworth; flowers, trees and a cute robin at Gibside.

SEPTEMBER

Paris

Our regular annual visit to celebrate our wedding anniversary

Mural of Father Christmas drinking beer
In the Tunnel des Tuileries, Paris

Memorable times: a visit to the excellent VR experience, Eternelle Notre Dame; an excellent anniversary dinner in Comme Chai Toi, on the Left Bank quai almost opposite Notre Dame; revisiting a favourite area, around the rue Mouffetard, and discovering a new one, SoPi (‘South of Pigalle’); people-watching in a café in the Place de la Contrescarpe.

Memorable sights: an almost fully restored Notre Dame; street art in the Tunnel des Tuileries; the Olympic flame still burning in the Jardins des Tuileries (for the Paralympics); the elegant spiral staircase and interesting art in the Musée Gustave Moreau.

California

A wonderful road trip revisiting a US state we fell in love with 33 years ago!

Coastal view with rocky shoreline
At Laguna Point, California

Memorable times: exploring Haight-Ashbury; walks by the awe-inspiring Pacific and among the coastal redwoods.

Memorable sights: the Golden Gate Bridge; coastal scenery from San Francisco to Eureka; cute squirrels and beautiful birds; sea fret at Fort Ross; the majestic redwood trees.

OCTOBER
California and Nevada

The latter stages of our California road trip before finishing in Las Vegas

Landscape with a river, trees and mountains
Valley View, Yosemite National Park, California

Memorable people: Brett, a ranger at Grant Grove in Sequoia National Park, who gave a fascinating talk about the sequoia trees; various friendly locals we met along the way.

Memorable times: revisiting Lassen Volcanic and Yosemite National Parks, and discovering Sequoia and Death Valley; driving through amazing landscapes; visiting the intriguing Mob Museum and photogenic Neon Museum in Vegas.

Memorable sights: stunning views of the Sierra Nevada; the haunting abandoned houses of Bodie; the tufa of Mono Lake; early morning light on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley and views from Glacier Point; the stark beauty of Death Valley; the madness of the casino slots in Vegas.

DECEMBER

Back to Newcastle for New Year

Coastline with a small lighthouse on a jetty and some ruins
Looking south towards Tynemouth from Cullercoats

I’m posting this from Newcastle on our regular New Year trip up north. That brings me full circle, and I’ll finish with another photo from one of our favourite haunts, Tynemouth, just as I started, but in rather different weather conditions. No crashing waves or sea fret today, just calm seas and a hint of brightness in the sky to the south.

I’m linking this review to Terri’s Sunday Stills theme for the end of the year, as she asks us to share our memorable moments from 2024.

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