2017, in travel

This post is a little late going up but I still wanted to post it to document my 2017 travels more for myself than anything else. 

Part of me feels like I didn't do a lot of travelling, especially when I compare it to 2016 where I went on four separate trips, three of these being backpacking trips.

However, I've actually done a lot more travelling this year than I realise.

I mean I spent four months this year backpacking Asia. That's a third of the year I spent travelling. So when I look at it this way I think it's safe to say that 2017 was a good travel year!

I visited seven countries in 2017. Three new countries and four revisits.

Myanmar

Myanmar was the first country I ever visited in Asia and also the first country I ever backpacked. I went back there during my trip to Asia because the friend I was travelling with had not been and also because I didn't feel like I'd seen enough of the country the first time around.

I'm so glad I returned as I was able to see things I didn't the first time like the temples of Bagan. We also got to experience the Thingyan water festival which is similar to the Songkran festival in Thailand.

Thailand

My first new country of the year. Thailand was a pleasant surprise. I'd imagined a constant swarm of tourists but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought. Of course, the beaches were pretty touristy and Bangkok was crazy busy but I left the country with plenty of good memories and severe withdrawal symptoms for the 7/11 ham and cheese toasties!

Laos

Laos was stunning. Even the bus rides were beautiful. They also have great sandwiches with baguettes that actually tastes like bread and not some horrifically sweetened version.

I may have spent too much time having fun in Laos rather than exploring the country but I met some amazing people and had a lot of fun.

Cambodia

Cambodia was a country that surprised me. In a good way. It's also a country with a very violent history. The locals are amazing and it's hard not to start a conversation with them. I learnt so much about the country and its' people.

Kuala Lumpur

I can't really write Malaysia because I only went to Kuala Lumpur. There's still so much of Malaysia I want to explore but there just wasn't time on this trip.

Instead, I returned to Kuala Lumpur, another revisit. But like Myanmar, it was definitely worth seeing again. We pretty much covered the standard things to do in Kuala Lumpur although I would have liked a bit more time to explore the less touristy side of the city. We also stayed in an amazing Air B n B which made our stay feel more like a mini holiday. 

Indonesia

Another revisit. I tackled both Mount Bromo and the Ijen Crater again, as well as, revisiting Gili T and Yogyakarta. But I also discovered some new places, we explored Bali and fell in love with Ubud. Yes, it's touristy but it still manages to have a charm about it. 

This was the last country of our trip, this combined with the fact that it is catered towards tourists (Bali I'm looking at you) meant that our backpacking trip almost turned into a holiday. We ate a lot of Western (and very healthy) food, we shopped a lot more and we chose to sit and relax than cram the sites in.

Madrid

My friends and I seem to have chosen Spain as our weekend getaway location. In 2016 we visited Barcelona and this year we decided to explore Madrid. We only had one full day there and in all honesty, we didn't make the best use of it but it was a chance to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in six months whilst drinking plenty of Sangria.

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So there you go, my year in travel. While I didn't visit as many countries as 2016, I'm becoming more and more aware that it's not about the numbers. My Asia trip is one of my favourite trips ever, if not my favourite, there were so many happy memories. Revisiting countries allowed me to explore them in more detail while visiting new countries and cities allowed me to discover new favourites.

How was your year in travel? If you've written a post about it I'd love to read it so make sure you leave a link in the comments!

Sophie

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