My annual review of 2017

It’s almost 2018 and it is time to look back on travel year in 2017. What did I do? Did I have new experiences? Which blogs are the mostly read and which trip was my favorite?

Top list of 2017

This year I went on 3 holidays. Two trips I spend with my husband and one trip I was traveling solo. In total I spend 39 days abroad and I traveled to 7 countries. 5 of those countries were new to me and it was significant less like my travels in 2016, but nonetheless very intense experiences.

I only took 5 flights this year. We made a road trip to the France Alps, where we drove about 2800 kilometers. In Mexico we hired a car and drove about 1300 kilometers in 9 days to explore Yucatan province.

On the last minute I decided to head to Eastern Africa to finally got eye in eye with mountain gorilla’s in Democratic Republic of Congo and I made a long hiking to Nyiragongo volcano to see a lava lake. I traveled to Uganda and Rwanda on the same trip.

I didn’t book any weekends as my husband and I had a huge decision to make in April. You can read all about this in this blog.

January

The 1st of January we got home from our trip to Georgia and Armenia. We had a cold and winter wonderland holiday and got to celebrate New Years eve in Tbilisi, Georgia.

March

After a few house visions, Timo and I bought a new house! It is only a few kilometers from where we lived, but the difference is huge! The house would be big with 4 bedrooms and a huge garden for me to do gardening. The location is perfect; next to a green park. We had to wait until December before we got the key.

Mexico
In April my husband and I took a flight to Cancun. We hired a car and drove around for 9 days. After the road trip, we had some relaxing days in Playa del Carmen. My husband took a flight back home and I had one more week to discover Belize before my flight took me back to Amsterdam.

I really loved Mexico! There are many diverse sights to see like the Mayan temples, swamps with many birds, colorful cities, swimming with turtles and of course the white sand beaches.

Belize

Belize was also a nice country for traveling. I spend some time at 2 islands called Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye. Snorkeling was my favorite activity here. I was really pleased to see some turtles and I even swim with nurse sharks!

Although I loved Belize, I think I didn’t get the best out of it. I didn’t plan my trip well and I could have spent some more time in Belize. I really need to get back to go to the jungle and I surely want to visit more island to do more snorkeling.

July

France

For July we planned to take a trip to the Alps to do the mountain sport via ferrata or also named klettersteig. We tried one route in 2016 and we both loved this so much we wanted to do multiple routes. We bought via ferrata gear, because you cannot rent the gear at all routes. So it would be easier to buy so we just can go whenever and wherever we want.

We managed to do 5 routes which were all challenging in their own way. The route at Lac du Vouglance had a magnifficentview and the view from rout mountain Calvin was very far and 360 degrees. This route was also the longest with 9 hour hike and via ferrata all together. We loved so much! We visited a few cities along the way like Nancy, Annecy and Colmar. All very colorful and good for a few days to explore.

November

After some hesitation I decided i really wanted to see mountain gorillas. Seeing the mountain gorillas was on top of my bucket list for years! I was very doubtful to go by myself to Uganda and Rwanda, but I decided I would manage. At the last minute I found a really good offer to not only see the mountain gorillas in Democratic Republic of Congo, but also to make a climb to a very active volcano Nyiragongo to see a lava lake and I made the decision to travel to the high risk country Democratic Republic of Congo. The combination with Uganda and Rwanda was very diverse and I really loved this trip! In Uganda I really needed to relax, so next time I really have to explore more of Rwanda and Uganda.

December

This buys month got us the key of our new house! Because it needs some renovations and re decorations in the future we just took our stuff and moved within a few days. In the next couple of months we will make up our mind what kind of renovations and re decorations we would like to do. The kitchen we already changed the floor and this would be enough for us.

We have some big plans, but not yet sure how we can accomplish.

For now this house feels more like a holiday home.