2019 Travel Roundup: Hitting country number 30
It’s that time again – time for my 2019 travel round up. I’ve had another big year of travel this year, exploring some old favourites again and setting foot in some new destinations that stole my heart.
This year, my 2019 travel destinations include visiting four continents, six countries and seventeen destinations, with a old favourites revisited amongst the new. In terms of new destinations visited, my 2019 travel round up includes making it to Canada for the first time, which became my 30th country.
Though Canada was the only brand new country I set foot it in 2019, I also spent a lot of time exploring new cities in the French Riviera and the USA.
Some new favourites include the beautiful seaside villages of Menton and Villefranche-sur-mer and the medieval walled town of Saint Paul de Vence in the French Riviera, which I coupled with revisiting the bustling heart of the Cote d’Azur in Nice as well as Antibes a little further along the coast.
I made my fourth trip to London this year and my fifth trip to Japan. I took my parents to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka in January to experience why I keep returning to this spectacularly unique country.
While last year was a year of European summer travelling solo, my biggest trip of 2019 was not actually a solo trip – my boyfriend, Matt, and I spent three weeks traipsing around the USA and Canada in winter.
Together, we explored Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, Schomberg, Toronto and New Orleans for the first time. We also made it to New York City – we’d both been there several times each, but never together.
I also had the luxury of making a super quick work trip to Redwood City on the outskirts of San Francisco and managed to sneak in a day of San ‘Cisco nightclubbing and sun by the Golden Gate Bridge before having to fly back home.
Finally, its not possible to complete my 2019 travel round up without waxing lyrical on my home country of Australia. I live in Sydney and this year I made an effort to explore more of the oceanside city I’ve made my home.
That included another trip to the gorgeous Blue Mountains and Royal National Parks and some more local fun at beaches such as Bondi and Balmoral. I also added Kurin-gai Chase National Park to my list of NSW parks visited.
I also visited the amazing Sculpture by the Sea open air exhibit along the Bondi to Coogee walk, braving the hordes of tourists to enjoy art from around the world in the most picturesque setting imagineable.
I haven’t been back to Melbourne as much this year, but I have visited a few times to see family and theatre shows.
I managed to score tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child parts one and two this year and also saw the classic Australian film Muriel’s Wedding come to life on stage.
I’m headed back there this week to spend some quality time with family over Christmas before my 2020 travels kick in.
Here’s hoping that you get to spend some quality time with your loved ones these holidays or having some quality downtime to recharge the batteries. See you for some more fun in 2020.
Top 3 Travel Misadventures
1. Getting pickpocketed in Nice where thieves stole my entire wallet on a crowded tram.
2. Having ghastro on my first night in the French Riviera. Instead of eating pastries, I spent the first 24 hours sipping hydralyte to recover.
3. Taking a risk on airline staff standby travel in the USA only to be foiled by the 737 Max grounding. To get out of New Orleans, I then had to shell out over $400 AUD for a flight!
2019 Travel Destinations by Month
- January: Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
- February: Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago
- March: Schomberg, Toronto, New York, New Orleans
- April: Sydney
- May: Melbourne
- June: Sydney
- July: Blue Mountains, Sydney
- August: San Francisco
- September: Sydney
- October: Nice, Antibes, Villefranche-sur-mer, Menton, Saint Paul de Vence, London
- November: Sydney & Melbourne
- December: Sydney & Melbourne
