Last Updated on 03/04/2021 by kami
The time is passing by way too quickly. I remember very well how exactly a year ago I was enjoying the first days of my trip to Egypt, falling for Cairo and being annoyed at all the touts when visiting the Pyramids. It feels like it was only a few weeks ago yet we are at the end of December again. It’s time for another recap of the past 12 months!
You can find the past year’s reviews here: 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018
The year in review post is usually my favorite one to write. It lets me reflect on the past 365 days and see how much I’ve actually managed to achieve, and all when working full time! Even I’m sometimes impressed by my time management skills.
Travel
Travel-wise it was a really good year. I spent 110 days traveling (I will add one more tomorrow) which is not my personal record but still a very good result.
I returned to some of my favorite places in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, but also rather unexpectedly I visited Kazakhstan again. I also visited five new countries (I’m at 72 now), including one place I’ve never really dreamed of visiting – the United States.
This year I also achieved something big for myself, something that was my biggest travel goal – in May I visited Andorra, it was the last country for me to visit in Europe. Now I can proudly say I’ve been to all of them!
I’m still catching up on the posts I want to write after my 2019 travels. But here is where I’ve been this past year and what I wrote about it (all the links open in the new window):
January:
Egypt
- Egypt travel tips
- All you need to know about visiting Pyramids of Giza
- Egypt itinerary – what to see in Egypt in 10 days
Jordan
February:
Georgia
- How not to visit the Chronicle of Georgia in Tbilisi
- Tbilisi guide – 21 Tbilisi travel tips to make your trip easier
March:
Belarus
Croatia
- 23 Amazing Things to Do in Dubrovnik, Croatia
- 50 pictures that will inspire you to visit Dubrovnik, Croatia
- 23 Great Day Trips from Dubrovnik, Croatia
April:
Cieszyn, Poland
Spain
Chile
May
Bolivia
Spain
Andorra
June
Belarus
Austria
Slovenia
USA
July:
Ukraine
Moldova
August:
Serbia
Croatia
Bulgaria
September:
Lithuania
- Discover amazing street art in Kaunas, Lithuania
- Guide to Impressive Modernist Architecture in Kaunas, Lithuania
Lower Silesia, Poland
Germany
North Macedonia
October:
Ukraine, twice
November:
Georgia
December:
Kazakhstan
Armenia
Blogging
This was my 7th year of blogging and I still think that starting this blog was one of my best decisions ever. I’m still enjoying writing the articles and all behind the scenes work a lot and nothing makes me happier than the messages I get from you.
Already last year I changed my approach to blogging a bit and so I focus on the articles that will be a great use for you in planning your own travels. I love promoting less know areas such as Eastern Europe, the Balkans or the Caucasus and I will always do my best to encourage you to visit these places.
That’s also why a while ago I started the Facebook group about traveling to these regions – it is still one of my favorite places online, if you are not a member yet you are more than welcome to join here.
2019 was a bit of a ground-breaking year for me in blogging – not only I almost doubled my goals for this year, in all the fields, I was also invited to speak at the conference, twice. In June I spoke at TravelCon in Boston, the US, about solo female travel and in October I was telling local tourism boards in Ukraine how to collaborate with travel bloggers. Even if I’m not a big fan of speaking in public I enjoyed both events a lot (or maybe if you are passionate about something giving public speeches in this topic is a piece of cake?).
I’m very curious what 2020 will bring for the travel blogging industry since Google is making some changes that are unfavorable for both, content creators and users. But no matter what I will continue to create good quality articles that will hopefully help you during your trips!
Life
I don’t really like to talk about much about private life here. After all, this is a travel blog.
Let’s just say 2019 was a fine year, nothing extraordinary but also no big dramas. My full-time job can be still busy and annoying but I like it a lot and can’t imagine my life without trains. My social life was good, with some amazing people I can always count on as well as with some new promising friendships. My health can act up a bit every now and then but things are under control.
All in all, I’m happy with my life. It might not be full of fireworks but it’s good.
The only thing I really missed in 2019 was the time for reading. My pile of books and magazines to read is growing bigger and bigger but I’m working on finding the routine that will give me more time for one of my favorite things to do.
Plans for 2020
I have some nice travel plans for the upcoming year and my first trip of 2020 starts actually today. I’m flying to one of my favorite cities – Yerevan, Armenia – to celebrate the New Year’s there and to hang out with my friend Megan. After a few days in Yerevan, I will go for a few more days to my other favorite city – Tbilisi, Georgia.
My next travel plans include Israel, Lviv (Ukraine), Kosice (Slovakia), Lebanon, Vilnius (Lithuania), North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Russia, and Central Asia. Most of these will be returns but I’m also hoping to visit some new countries this upcoming year. We will see.
Outside of travel and blogging, I don’t wish for anything grand. If things will remain the same I will be still happy about them. Maybe except of books, I really hope to read more!
I write these yearly posts for myself mostly and I don’t really expect anyone to read them. But if you did read I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything: for following my travels, for your support and for reading my articles. This means so much to me!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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6 Comments
Kelly
06/01/2020 at 19:28Happy new year, Kami! Hope your 2020 is full of even more exciting travel adventures. :)
kami
13/01/2020 at 12:37Thank you so much, Kelly! Have a wonderful New Year too!
Julia
11/01/2020 at 11:09Thank you for the review! I am looking forward to hear more about your 2020 travel adventures! :-)
kami
13/01/2020 at 12:38Thank you so much, Julia! Happy 2020!
Graham SHELDON
23/02/2020 at 08:16Thanks Kami, for your thorough review of Kotor Old Town, I got quite excited reading all the info.
As a result we did stay there for 5 days in September 2019, with absolutely no regrets. Highlights were Perast & a Tour of Mt Lovcen to Njegos Mausoleum & Certinj. Thanks for whetting our appetite.
Kotor was a terrific ‘add on’ to our travels from Venice & through Croatia.
I continue to read your articles … all fascinating. Intrigued by stories from Sarajevo & the Homelands War.
In Australia, these events were only superficially covered in the media. You help with a wider appreciation & education of places. Best of luck in your travels in 2020.
( PS what is your involvement with trains? ) Graham
kami
05/05/2020 at 07:35Thank you so much for your comment, Graham! I’m so glad you liked Kotor and Montenegro. This is one of my favorite places ever, I was actually supposed to fly there again today but obviously I didn’t. Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are super interesting, I hope you will go there one day too!
I work for the local railway company, planning schedules and rolling stock :)