My 2020 in travels
Every year, I write a round-up of countries that I visited. And ever since I started this blog, I always traveled to more countries than I did the year before. 2020 is obviously a big exception. At first, I doubted if I should write my annual travel list post, but even a ‘terrible’ year like 2020 had its highlights. Yes, even travel wise! So, without any further ado, here’s the countries that I’ve traveled to in remarkable 2020.
Portugal
Technically this trip to Portugal is still part of my 2019 travels as I flew out of the country on 1 January at noon, but hey, I did spend New Year’s Eve and started 2020 here. Surrounded by thousands of others in an overcrowded Avenida dos Aliados in Porto, stuck right between two buildings and not being able to see any of the fireworks. I swore I would never spend NYE at main squares anymore. Little did I know that I would spend my next NYE at home with just my boyfriend and my dog!
The Netherlands
2020 was the year of domestic travel, so you would expect to see me out and about exploring The Netherlands. Nope. I didn’t even get to see my beloved tulip fields this year. Because I had my own version of lockdown going on: bachelor thesis & master studies. With deadlines due at crazy times and often at the beginning of the week, most of my weekends in 2020 were spent studying. And just like that, the year went by and I hadn’t seen any new places within my home country. I did however return to a few spots:
- Amsterdam: I went to Amsterdam twice for fun this year. For a photoshoot in January and a casual lunch in July. Other than that, I traveled to Amsterdam for classes, until my university switched to online education.
- Veluwe: I went to see the purple heather in national park Veluwezoom, located in the east side of The Netherlands.
- Zeeland: I also went to the province of Zeeland for a very special occasion: ticking skydiving off my bucket list! A friend of mine won a skydive for two and she let me jump together with her.
- Maastricht: I went to Maastricht with that same friend in December. Normally we would be going to German Christmas markets around this time of the year, but with everything being canceled we thought that a good ol’ shopping day in Maastricht would be a nice substitute.
Slovakia
Despite 2020 being an unusual year for travel - and every other aspect of life -, I still managed to visit my 30th country this year: Slovakia. I traveled to Bratislava in January, it was my first solo trip and the last one before the c-word spread all around the world. Crazy to look back and see how 2020 started out as such a normal year. Where you could hop on a plane and give no second thought to it... O well, I’m rambling now. Back to Slovakia. A country that wasn’t even on my radar, but which I ended up visiting because Bratislava was close to another capital, Vienna.
Austria
Which brings me to the next country of 2020: Austria. This was my second time in Austria, the first time was in 2016 when I visited Salzburg. And I hopefully this won’t be my last! As for Vienna, I think it’s the most elegant city I’ve ever been to. There’s opulent buildings everywhere you look!
Luxembourg
My mom lives in the Belgian province of Luxembourg, and as soon as European borders opened up again for travel in June, I drove down to hers and stayed there for almost two weeks. It was blazing hot, I was anxiously waiting for the result of my bachelor thesis and I also had to take an online resit for another course to pass my premaster. I spent most of my days there locked up in a hot room, studying like my life depended on it - a bit dramatic, but my future did. So I literally jumped and cried out of joy when I passed both! Finally time to celebrate in Luxembourg with a sushi dinner and a day at the pool - of course, after all those blazing hot days, it had to start raining right when I was sunbathing by the pool. But whatever, I was too happy to care at that point!
Hungary
My first ‘real’ trip after c*vid was Jaime’s birthday weekend to Budapest. If you would have told me in 2019 that I would go six months without travel, I would have laughed straight in your face. I’m embarrassed to admit that because I realize how spoiled that sounds. But 2020 showed me how to be happy without travel and seeking deep joy in every day things. If travel ever returns to the way it was, I will definitely not take it for granted as a ‘normal thing’ anymore. Okay, I’m rambling again haha. As for Budapest, it was amazing to return to this city for a second time, this time with sunshine and flowy dresses instead of cold weather and winter coats.
Greece
Right after Budapest, I went on what I consider my highlight trip of the year. No, my highlight week even! After six years, my roommate and I finally returned to Athens together. We spent four days in Athens and then continued our trip with four days in Paros. Even though I had returned to Greece quite a few times myself, it just felt a lot more special with her by my side. It felt like we had never left in the first place, that we were roomies just the year before and not like six years went by. At the same time, everything had changed. It was a very emotional moment to pass by our old house and to not have a key to open the door. To not even be able to ring our friends, because other people live in their appartments too. Whoever they are, I hope their time in Athens will be just as unforgettable and life changing as ours was.
Belgium
In between classes for my master studies and a new lockdown, my travel life was on hold again. But I managed to squeeze in a few last days of travel to my moms for Christmas. No visits to Luxembourg this time, just cozying up at the house together. And there was snow everywhere on my drive back home! I just HAD to stop alongside the road to admire it. Okay, to take a photo, I admit it haha.
I know this post is a lot more cynical than my usual style of writing. I truly enjoyed and appreciated every single travel moment that I had this year. I always did, but this time even more. However, I just couldn’t write this travel round-up without mixing in some sadness. I promise my next post will be a happy one again! For now, I just want to end this post by saying that I hope that 2021 has been treating you well so far, and wishing that we can all enjoy our freedoms soon again.
Much love, AR
