2023 travel – January
2023 was a year of travel and exploration for me and I visited new countries abroad as well as new places in the UK. I made new contacts and new friends. The travel community is really pretty special.
I began with a January trip to Rancho Las Cascadas, the luxury horse riding ranch in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Mexico which is my happy place. Gorgeous horses, gorgeous people, sunshine and the very best in Mexican hospitality make this my go to winter destination. I also visited Mexico City for the first time.
February – the Canary Islands
In February I visited the canary island of Fuerteventura for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at its clean, upmarket resorts and absolutely spectacular sandy beaches. I can see why it’s the home of the world kite surfing championships. The Oasis wildlife park is exceptional and it’s a great antidote to the dreadful UK winter with sunshine and temperatures in the low 20’s every day!
April- the Cotswolds
A wet March saw 2023 travel curtailed for a while. April came at last and we set off for a trip to the Blossom Trail in the Vale of Evesham next to the Cotswolds. In April, which was still pretty wet, we celebrated the annual Asparagus festival. We planted a Pershore plum tree, visited the blossom trail and even painted it! We also sampled the most delicious young asparagus and had a knees up at the Fleece Inn in Bretherton with Gus the Asparagus man.
May – Kalamata and the TBEX conference
May brought a trip to the TBEX conference held in Kalamata, Greece. I flew to Athens and stayed in a hostel which was very cheap, but rather noisy in the centre of the city. I toured the Acropolis for the first time since I was sixteen. Yes it is still there, and I probably understood its significance rather more this time around.
The conference was great and my FAM (familiarisation trip) after the conference into the Peloponnese, was even better. We stayed at the 5 star Euphoria heath retreat at the foot of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mystras. Mystras is a beautiful medieval fortress city atop a hill, in the byzantine style situated in the region of Sparta. Yes, that Sparta. At Euphoria, we experienced luxury treatments, delicious food and a stunning view out over the valley. It was a real treat.
June – a first trip to Sweden
June brought my first ever trip to Sweden on the trail of the Vikings. We visited Viking strongholds Uppsala, Gunnesgard and the Old Uppsala museum where a Viking village has been recreated and we enjoyed a Viking buffet. The Gamla Uppsala museum was fascinating with the opportunity to try on some Viking outfits, shoot a few arrows and try a few swipes with Viking weapons. In Stockholm we had an amazing meal at the Viking Museum accompanied by several different types of Mead. There was a fair bit of reindeer on the menu.
We took the ferry to Birka, another significant Viking destination and home of several significant rune stones which tell individual Viking’s stories. The Vikings were consummate traders and a tough, adventurous, and resourceful people. I admired them even more after my trip than I did before. It was light until 11pm and got light again at 3am. Perfect! Skal!
July – Italy and Switzerland
July started off with a cheeky short trip to Milan another first for me. Lake Maggiore was quite beautiful and the little lakeside town of Stressa, charming. Italy is not the cheapest destination but it is generally the chicest. Pour me a Campari and soda!
Later in July came another first for me a trip the mountain town of Verbier in Switzerland. Better known as a top winter ski resort, Verbier is also home to a hugely popular international classical music festival and has much to offer as a summer destination. The mountains are stunning and there is a super scenic outside art trail you can visit with huge impressive sculptures. Cheese is also big in Switzerland and you can join a cheese making class while you are there.
August – Innsbruk in Austria to Scarborough on our East Coast
August saw me travel to neighbouring Innsbruck in Switzerland. Innsbruck is a lovely historic town and people flock there in the summer to hike the mountain trails and enjoy the summer weather. They also have the extraordinary attraction of Swarovski Crystal world. The huge site celebrates this special famous sparkle with nineteen different chambers of wonder. Definitely worth a visit.
Later in the month I travelled to our East Coast towns of Scarborough and Bridlington. We explored the cinder path cycle route on electric bikes. The path runs along the coast from Scarborough to Whitby. We stayed at the lovely Wrea Head Hall and visited the super cute historical Rotunda Museum. One of the world’s first purpose built museums, it has a first class fossil collection from the area.
September is Sri lanka and Jersey Heritage
September brought a long haul trip to Sri Lanka with the TUI Care Foundation to find out about their project to help with the human/elephant conflict issues they have there. We visited the park where hundreds of elephants gather every year and drove past in our jeep to watch them socialising, tussling and playing. This was a memorable sight indeed. We then travelled to the village where they are trialling specially constructed electric fences to prevent the elephants encroaching on their crops. Elephants coming in to the villages, eating crops and invading the rice paddies are the main reason they are killed in the wild, sometimes in quite brutal ways. We had a whistle stop bus tour around other parts of Sri Lanka, a country that has suffered greatly in recent years from the 2004 Tsunami, followed by a bloody civil war and terrorism attacks.
Later in September I headed to Jersey to stay in two amazing Heritage Properties courtesy of Jersey Heritage. Fort Leicester stands high on the promontory of Bouley bay and was a three storey working fort. If you stay here you will have the best view out over the bay, but you will have a lot of steps to deal with! Elizabeth castle was also great fun. Cut off by the tide you need to cross the causeway either at low tide or board Betty the amphibious vehicle who turns from a bus to a boat when required.
October is Thessaloniki
The end of 2023 travel was in sight. After recovering from a bad bout of Covid which I had miraculously escaped up until then, I flew off on a gastronomic trip to Thessaloniki on the Greek mainland. This is Greece’s second city and a cultural centre. The weather was lovely for October and Elena from Marketing Greece had put together an exceptional feast of fresh Modern Greek cuisine from all over the city. It certainly made an impression on me and changed my view of Greek cuisine completely. Read more about this trip here.
November – home again with the Tynemouth Castle Inn
Back in the UK I visited a big new Hotel in my local area which was an old art deco building and has been completely restored and refurbished by the Inn Collection Group. The Tynemouth Castle Inn occupies a prime spot right on the sea front and has also opened a new Fish and Chip (always popular here) emporium – Oswins next door. They also have a new gelato parlour called Cones. It’s a UK seaside spectacular!
December in the Tree House
My final trip of 2023 was to Felton near Morpeth where we stayed with Woodland Chase glamping in a charming Tree house. This particular weekend it was really snowy and the Tree house and the farm it it’s placed in looked so pretty. This is a pretty luxurious tree house with all mod cons. There are lots of fire making opportunities and it features in Robson Green’s Latest series called Weekend Escapes on BBC. Check it out on episode 14!
2023 travel was quite something! I do feel I have moved things forward with my travel writing. I had some precious experiences by putting myself out there as much as possible. Let’s see what 2024 has in store!