Travel Bits: December 2016

Review of my travels in 2016...

2016 has been an extremely busy year for me. It also marks a year when many of my planned trips could not proceed as scheduled due to a hectic work schedule. However, there are also a great many unplanned trips which happened during the year.

Trips which I have to cancel in 2016 include visits to Osaka (Japan), Barcelona (Spain), San Francisco (California, United States) and Auckland (New Zealand) as well as my annual personal retreat to Bali (Indonesia). Unforeseen projects that crop up along the way as the year progressed lead to these cancellations which I will eventually undertake at a more appropriate time in the foreseeable future.

Trips which were not planned but happened in 2016 include visits to Thiruvananthapuram (India) to attend a friend's wedding and to Orlando (Florida, United States) to attend a software conference with my customers. The visit to Thiruvananthapuram and Orlando were my first ever visits to India and the United States respectively. Both visits were eye openers and exciting for me despite these not being vacation trips and thus, sightseeing were not on the agenda.

During my business trip to Orlando in May 2016, I stayed at one of the hotels at Disney World, Orlando, Florida, United States (2016)

Besides these two trips, I also get to travel on vacations to Ipoh (Perak, Malaysia), Phuket (Thailand), Hong Kong (SAR, China) and Taipei (Taiwan). Other business trips include short hops to Bangkok (Thailand) and Johor Bahru (Johor, Malaysia) during the last quarter of 2016.

The Hong Kong Island skyline at night as seen from my room balcony on the 11th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Wan Chai, Hong Kong SAR, China (2016)

The famous and iconic A-Mei teahouse at night, Jiufen, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan (2016)

On the home front, I have re-visited many places in Singapore which I have not done in years, some for as much as more than 10 years since my last visit! These places include the rural island of Pulau Ubin, the Singapore Zoo which ironically is just a 15 minutes drive from my home and the National Gallery which I visited for the first time ever in the month of April.

National Gallery, Singapore (2016)

Going forward into 2017, my travel plans are extensive as I will need to travel for business as well as my usual planned vacations. My profession switch from a salaried employee to a self-employed business owner in the new year means I get to have more control over my time but also means I will be more restricted in my budget as I strive to build my new business from the bottom up.

Business trips planned for the first half of 2017 include trips to Hong Kong and Bangkok (Thailand) in January, Frankfurt (Germany) in February and more trips to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Ningbo (China) up until June.

Vacation trips previously planned include a trip to Tokyo (Japan) for the cherry blossoms season in April as well as trips to Helsinki (Finland), Tallinn (Estonia) and London (United Kingdom) in May. I am also separately planning short trips to climb Mount Merapi (Indonesia) and to experience some jungle trekking in the rainforests of Borneo. The Mount Merapi climbing trip and Borneo trekking trip are both in the planning phase but they should go ahead with little hassle since both locations are less than 2 hours by flight from my home country. And if I have the time and money, probably a trip to Nepal will be ideal to wrap up my travel year for 2017.

What's your travel plans for the new year? Get planning soon as lots of airlines are currently running promotions where you can fly to your favourite or dream destinations in 2017 at prices that are really affordable. Get packed and start travelling in the brand new year. 

Happy New Year 2017 to all my readers! :-)