Ready for … 2016?

And so we said goodbye to 2015 and welcomed 2016, another year, more years fly by…. And for us, it’s another chance to realize our dreams and goals. This is going to be a special year for us, we are planning a lot of new posts, trips and other surprises.

We enter 2016 with several ideas for ourselves and the blog…. and already looking forward to their implementation :)

But for now, a brief summary of 2015 – welcome :)

First, why a summary only now? As we wrote on our Facebook page, we’ve only just returned from holiday travels, so there was no time to get down to a recap beforehand. Thus we take off…

What was 2015 like?

Looking back at 2015, the first question that comes to mind is how, with 26 days of vacation, to fly for four two-week trips plus a few smaller weekend getaways? Can it be done? Sure it can be done! You just have to get the calendar and vacations right – we are a prime example of that :)

In 2015 we were in many new places, but also returned to places where we had already left our footprints in the past. We came back in a different group, saw new places and you know what? It’s worth coming back for! Places change, people change. We begin to look at the familiar surroundings completely differently, from a different perspective.

We look where we didn’t look the first time (or it was too little time, or something didn’t interest us or wasn’t available). It is with this impression that we close this year, as we bid farewell to the Canary Islands, where we had already been. Expect updates soon :)

Our TOP 10 of 2015

This year was full of many events, both positive and negative. If we had to choose our top 10 travel memories of the past year the list would look like this:

1)
Iceland’s aurora borealis
– looked forward to, anticipated throughout the trip. Oops, sorry for the spoiler of subsequent posts :)

2) Christmas Eve in Tenerife: a climb up Teide and an evening at the police station (more on that soon!).

3) Landing at Funchal Airport (Madeira) – as if it wasn’t obvious: we landed and took off happily at one of the most dangerous airports in Europe ;)

4) Havana destroyed and falling apart – Are we disappointed? Some. Do we regret having been there? Never in my life, one of the best memories! You can read about it in our post about Havana.

5) Glacier and Jökulsárlón Bay in Iceland – We don’t know ourselves what influenced more the fact that we put this item on the list: whether the fact that we didn’t expect such a sight at all, or the heartbreaking cold, the silence and only the sounds of the pieces of ice hitting each other, the contrasting ice on the black sand or maybe the lovely seals that swam joyfully between the stalls…. or maybe just the whole thing made us never forget this place.

6) Food and drinks in Trinidad – credit to the family who hosted us and made us taste typical Cuban food, while admiring, by the way, the old cobblestone roads of beautiful Trinidad (remember to definitely try Canchanchara!).

7) Thermal pools in Iceland – modest, small, but clean and hot :) We associate them exceptionally well with relaxation and blissful laziness, after an eventful day in Iceland. The whole environment, the rules on how to behave, wash and use the pools deserve a separate entry (coming soon).

8) Cliffs and steep slopes in Madeira, with Teleferico and Cabo Girao in the lead – and we don’t mean the most popular train in Funchal, but the smaller, individual ones that bring farmers, to small pallets right at the foot of the rocks. The sensation of falling into the abyss unforgettable ;)

9) Buffet in Iceland – the best food we ate during the whole trip! One of the few places where you can taste real Icelandic food.

10) Charming Lanzarote – a very positive surprise. We were on this island for the first time, during our last visit to the Canaries: a volcanic, small island that has a lot of potential and a lot to offer tourists.

We definitely have more memories, and the blog helps us to preserve them, after all, you don’t know when sclerosis will hit, so some trace will always remain :)

2015 in numbers

Here are some numbers that sum up these 365 days quite neatly:

• We have had 16 flights.
• We visited 12 different airports.
• In total, we flew 38,516 kilometers / 23,932 miles.
• We spent more than 60 hours on board the planes alone.
• We were on board 8 different airlines.
• We visited 5 different countries, some of them several times :) Our destinations included. Canary Islands, Cuba, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Portugal (Madeira).
• We were liked by more than 6,000 fans on FB (thank you!).
• We took part in all, 4 editions of BikeOrient orienteering rallies.
• We completed a bicycle marathon around Lake Sulejowski.
• For the first time we participated in an event for bloggers – SeeBloggers in Gdynia.

Well, and to sum up more visually, our travel map has expanded with new points:

What was missing

In 2015 we neglected our Poland a bit, except for a few bicycle trips, day trips and sightseeing ‘on the way’ (Tricity, Torun). However, we hope to change that this year. What will come out of it? We will see soon enough :)

What will 2016 be like?

We will make sure to make it even better! That it will be full of new memories, lots of photos, and that there will be no shortage of time and views that we can share with our loved ones. At the moment we already have two European trips planned, but we hope the list will grow with more local outings, as these can be organized more spontaneously. In addition, as you can see in this post, we still have plenty of places and attractions to describe so we are not resting on our laurels, we are catching up :)

As we mentioned, privately, this will also be a year of change, new challenges and projects for us. We will keep you updated on everything, as the blog has become a place for us to share our memories and thoughts.

Thank you for your support, comments, feedback and any questions and we hope that in the New Year, you will stay with us :)

Finally, the most important: we wish you lots of joy, smiles, dreams come true and, of course, many travels in the coming year :) Share in the comments what your plans or dreams are for this year :)