How is 2025 only days away!? 2024 has flown by, and I can’t believe another one is already peeking around the corner. In this post, I’d like to share my 2024 travel highlights with you. This year took me to some truly fantastic destinations across Europe and Asia. It was also the first year I truly embraced my 100% online job, working remotely from five different countries. Without further ado, let’s recap 2024!
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The year started in Hamburg with the usual grey, gloomy winter vibes. January passed by easily enough, catching up with friends after the festive period and hosting cozy dinner parties where my husband, Ian, cooked for us all. I took on the important hostess duty of keeping everyone’s wine glass topped up. Our friend Alyssa visited us in late January, and the sun actually came out to celebrate! We showed her many of Hamburg’s highlights, including the historic centre, the harbour, the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, and our favorite neighbourhoods.
Then February came and… ye gods, it was rough. The post-Christmas joy faded away, and no amount of Vitamin D tablets could make up for the severe lack of sunshine. By late February, I was an emotional, whinging pain in the butt. Ian gently encouraged me to book a solo working holiday. “Why not go to Athens? You’ve always wanted to go there,” he suggested. Say no more, mon amour! The very next day, I started planning my trip and flew there in early March.
I spent eleven nights in Athens and initially worried it would be too long. From my online research, Athens seemed like a very divisive city. Some people raved about the delicious food, the friendliness of the locals, and the awe-inspiring ancient ruins, while others complained about the neglected and run-down parts of the city, with half-demolished buildings spoiling the cityscape. It’s true that Athens has its grungy, gritty areas, but I absolutely loved my time there. If you’re a huge fan of Greek mythology like me, there’s nowhere like it. Just turn a street corner and you’ll be blown away by 2000-year-old ruins and spectacular temples dedicated to the Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes from the myths and legends. Athens is a fantastic destination for a long weekend and you can check out my 4-day itinerary here.
In April, my husband and I visited Italy, our much-loved annual tradition. We spent time with Ian’s family in Cassino, enjoying quality time and delicious home-cooked food, before heading to Naples to eat all the pizza we could handle. We also did day trips to Pozzuoli and Pompeii. Pozzuoli is a laid-back coastal town a short train ride from Naples, where we enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch by the sea and visited Anfiteatro Flavio Neroniano, the third-largest amphitheatre in Italy. Pompeii was incredibly impressive, enhanced by Rick Steves’ audio guide which gave us a better understanding of what life was like before the volcanic eruption of 79 AD. After Naples, we traveled to Rome, where I celebrated my 37th birthday. It coincided with the first Sunday of the month, when all the state museums in Italy have free entry. Perfect timing! We went sightseeing and indulged in pasta, pizza, and cocktails throughout the day. What more could a birthday girl want?
At the end of April, my sister visited Hamburg, and we had a lovely weekend together. The weather was wonderful, and we caught up on each other’s news over long walks and cold beers in the city’s beer gardens. April rolled into May, and I enjoyed meeting up with friends and attending local events. There’s always a lot going on in Hamburg during the spring and summer, like neighbourhood street parties, flea markets, and free concerts.
I also attended an opera performance for the first time. There was lots of weeping and angst, and I had no idea what was happening 80% of the time. I went with an Italian friend who was equally baffled (so at least it wasn’t a reflection of my Italian level!), so we read the plot summary on Wikipedia during the interval (“Oh, that guy was her husband?? I thought it was her brother! I was wondering why they suddenly started kissing…”).
At the end of May, Ian and I travelled to Tønder, Denmark to get married. Tønder is a sweet, picturesque town which dates back to the 12th century. It’s very compact and walkable, with traditional half-timbered houses and cobblestone streets. Denmark is a popular wedding destination for international couples living in Germany, as getting married in Germany is a very slow, complicated and bureaucratic process. My dad and Ian’s parents came to our wedding, which was fortunately conducted in English as none of us understand a word of Danish!
In June, I did another working holiday, this time in England. My dad and I looked after my niece and nephew while my sister and brother-in-law went to a music festival. We had so much fun with the children – who are at a particularly fun, playful age – that I made plans to visit again later in the year. In July, my husband and I visited Goslar with some friends.
Goslar is one of the prettiest German towns I’ve been to. It dates back to AD 922, and has a castle, lots of half-timbered houses, cobble-stoned streets and picturesque babbling brooks. We spent a long weekend there, appreciating the beautiful nature and hiking up Blockschutthalden am Rammelsberg, a large hill which offers fantastic views over the town and the surrounding countryside. We also enjoyed some tasty Gose beers, brewed right there in Goslar, along with some regional food.
In August, Ian and I flew to Scotland to stay with his brother David and sister-in-law Kelly, who live in Stirling. Kelly and David, who have lived in Scotland for years, took us all over the place and created a wonderful itinerary for us. We explored Glencoe National Park in the Highlands, Doune Castle (which you might recognize from Game of Thrones and Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Loch Lomond National Park, Stirling Castle, and the William Wallace Monument.
We enjoyed fish and chips in Anstruther while driving along the Fife coast on our way to St Andrews. We sampled a variety of whisky at Glengoyne Distillery and gin at Stirling Gin Distillery, and ate lots of delicious food, including traditional haggis and black pudding. We also did a day trip to Edinburgh, where we ate our way around the city, explored the National Museum of Scotland, and searched for gravestones with Harry Potter references in Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery (where JK Rowling got inspiration for many of her character names!).
In late September, I took my trusty laptop with me on another working holiday to Sicily. It was my third time in Sicily and I never grow tired of the island. I spent most of my time in Siracusa. Swimming in the sea after work felt incredibly luxurious, and the restaurants in Siracusa and Ortigia (the tiny island next to Siracusa) did not disappoint. I attended a fantastic cooking class in the Sicilian countryside, easily the best cooking class I’ve ever done which you can book it here via Airbnb).
I spent several nights in Catania, enjoying the city’s energy and indulging in delicious dinners, local wine, and €5 cocktails. I did a guided tour of Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena and joined this full-day tour to the Valley of the Temples, some of the best-preserved Ancient Greek ruins in the world. The tour also included a stop at Villa Romana del Casale, which has a magnificent collection of mosaics still in excellent condition despite being thousands of years old.
In November, I returned to England to spend a long weekend with my sister and her family. We had such a lovely time together, including a visit to London to watch ABBA Voyage. If you haven’t heard about this concert, it’s performed by digital avatars using groundbreaking technology. I was so impressed by how realistic the “ABBAtars” looked; they had facial expressions, shadows, and reflections. Photos and videos aren’t allowed inside the stadium so if you’re visiting London soon, you should see it for yourself.
In late November, it was time for our final holiday of the year. Ian and I flew to Thailand for some sun, sand, and Vitamin D. We started in Bangkok, which is such a fun and vibrant city. I loved the colour, chatter and chaos of Chinatown, the lively student areas with incredible food at great prices, the arty bohemian neighbourhoods, vintage street markets, cool cocktail bars, trendy coffee shops and friendly street cats (who mostly looked very happy and healthy, and didn’t give us rabies!).
After Bangkok, we visited Kanchanaburi, a gorgeous luscious part of the country. It’s where you can find the River Kwai, lush forests, rolling hills, hot springs and green fields as far as the eye can see. The beauty contrasts with the tragic history of the region. Prisoners-of-war were forced to build a bridge over the river to connect Thailand to Burma, working in atrocious conditions that cost thousands of lives. During our time there, we visited the bridge, Hellfire Pass, and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, stayed in an idyllic floating bungalow on the River Kwai and visited Erawan National Park, which has seven waterfalls that you can hike up to and swim in.
After Kanchanaburi, we flew to Krabi in southern Thailand. We sunbathed on Railay, Pai Plong and Noppharat Thara beaches. We joined a kayaking tour, which snaked through mangrove forests and around towering limestone cliffs. We enjoyed ridiculous amounts of irresistible Thai tea and slippery hour-long oil massages which cost a fraction of the cost in Europe!
All too quickly, it was time to fly back to Germany (which seemed especially bleak after two and a half weeks in Thailand!) then to England to spend Christmas 2024 with our families. The post-holiday blues were brutal but the festivities, games, laughter and abundance of delicious food and drink quickly cheered us up!
I’d like to end this post by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for all the support you’ve given my blog throughout 2024. I really enjoy sharing my experiences, ideas and itineraries with you and every comment, like and share is noticed and very much appreciated. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in 2025…
Izzie, the Curious Sparrow