Travel Bits: December 2017

2017 Travel Review.......

In terms of travel, 2017 has been the year where I travelled the most in recent memory. For the year, I have clocked a total of almost 130,000 miles in air travel alone. I basically travelled at least once every month; for all 12 months of the year.

Three-quarters of my travels in 2017 were for work with the rest being vacation trips. New cities I had travelled to included vacations to Atami and Ito (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Tallinn (Estonia).

A street in the Old Town of Tallinn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tallinn, Estonia (2017)

The Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki, Finland (2017)

Vat Manorom Temple, Luang Prabang, Laos (2017)

Other cities that I had travelled to in 2017 were mainly for work and they included cities which I had previously visited multiple times. The repeated visits to these cities did not in any way diminish the enjoyability of these trips and I did manage to snatch time out from my hectic work schedule to do some sight seeing and to immerse myself in the local cultures and lifestyles.

A wild Nubian Ibex, Mitze Ramon, Negev Desert, Israel (2017)

The British Museum, London, England, United Kingdom (2017)

Bangkok, Frankfurt, Haifa, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Tel Aviv and Zurich were visited while on business trips. Atami, Helsinki, Ipoh, Ito, Luang Prabang, Nakano, Phuket, Tallinn and Tokyo were places where I spent my vacation times during the year.

For the first time in many years, I skipped my annual personal retreat to Bali due to the increasing cost of air tickets to this beautiful resort island. I instead switched the destination of my annual beach holiday to Phuket and enjoyed myself just as much. The carefree and relaxed atmosphere of Phuket was great during my visit in July 2017. Despite the warmth and humidity, I managed to find my place in the sun, sand and sea, I got to experience dinning barefooted by the the beach with the sands between my feet. I also got to mingle with the tourist crowds and shopped at the many street stalls near the beach, clad in nothing but a pair of shorts. Working out with weights at the hotel gym in my own time and convenience, enjoyed ice cream by the beach in the wee hours of the morning and received therapeutic foot reflexology in town. Life was beautiful, sweet and liberating when I was enjoying my beach holiday!

As I wrapped up the calendar year, I also wrapped up a very interesting year of travel.

The Atami Castle, Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (2017)

Looking forward to 2018, I have scheduled work and vacation trips to Bangkok, Fremantle, Hong Kong, Ipoh, Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka, Perth, San Francisco, Taipei, Takashima and Tokyo. I will be setting foot on seven of these cities for the first time. They are Fremantle, Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka, Perth, San Francisco and Takashima. It is always both interesting and exciting to be visiting a city for the first time and I certainly look forward to these trips.

And if my travel records of recent years hold, I do expect new and unplanned trips to crop up during the course of the year while scheduled trips may be postponed or canceled as the respective travel dates draw near. Changes and adjustments are definitely part and parcel of life in the 21st century. :-)

Where will you be traveling to in 2018? Time to plan early and get those air tickets at a lower cost. Remember the most basic of travel hacks. Book early and save! :-)

Cherry Blossoms a.k.a Sakura in April, Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan (2017)

Cherry Blossoms a.k.a Sakura in April, Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan (2017)