mytravelbugbite

At the beginning of last year I looked at what travel plans I had for 2016 and so now to celebrate 2 years of mytravelbugbite and the end of the year I will look back at what did end up happening.

Countries revisited: 2 (Canada, Scotland)

New countries visited: 5[6] (Romania, Denmark, Thailand, UAE [sort of], Nepal, Bhutan)

Travel highlights:

Skiing/ snowshoeing in Whistler as it is something I have wanted to do for so many years and it is safe to say it didn’t disappoint. I had so much fun on the slopes and actually managed to persuade Fraser to try skiing for the first time ever, a great accomplishment as it is one of my favourite pastimes.

Eating at Granville Island Public Market for three meals in one day as the food was so good and relatively cheap. The smells and colours were beautiful and assaulted the senses.

Cycling around Stanley Park and False Creek to reach a terrific view of Vancouver. It was relatively easy but felt like a good workout in a very pleasant environment.

Staying in an ice hotel is something you see on TV but never actually think you may be able to do, mainly due to the steep costs, however in January we were able to do this on a tour with Untraveled Paths to Romania. This is much cheaper than the more famous hotels in places like the Scandinavian countries. The ice hotel was cleverly carved, surprisingly cosy and provided a once in a lifetime experience (that I now want to do in all countries that have one)!

Acting like children in the charming, old world atmosphere of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Yes it may have been pricey but getting to go round and round on the rides and see the park light up at night was magical.

Getting fit and learning a new sport at Phuketfit, Thailand, was both hard work and highly rewarding. Muay Thai is amazing and I am so glad I had the chance to have a go, I definitely want to return.

Conquering Ben Nevis was my challenge for the year and although I found it a struggle and at times was unsure I would reach the summit but the fact I did definitely catapults this into my highlights list, plus the views were sweet as.

Visiting Alnwick Castle (which I’m aware isn’t on the blog yet). For anyone who doesn’t know this is where Hogwarts was based for the first couple of Harry Potter films and it lived up to all expectations. Both the inside and the outside were impressive and it is a must see in Northumberland for anyone, even muggles.

Our trip to the Kingdom of Bhutan earns its place on the list. I struggled to pick out one stand out moment of the tour as we saw some spectacular things but of note would be the flight in/out of the country past Everest, the Dochula Pass, Punakha Dzong and the hike up to the Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) Monastery.

We are so lucky to have had some amazing travel experiences over the past year and I was also able to see plenty of great theatre (my other big passion). Of the shows I saw my top picks were certainly Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Dreamgirls and the UK tour of Cats (which has always been one of my favourites).

What were your travel highlights of 2016? Was there anything in particular you enjoyed reading about on mytravelbugbite? Anything to suggest for next year, I’ll be doing a look ahead to 2017 post soon?!