Summing up the best adventures of the Corona year

I have been thinking about how to sum up this year for a couple of days but haven’t really came up with any great idea how to summarize the weirdest year of my 35 year old life this far. Was thinking about summing up every month, best of, things that I did due to Corona, things I didn’t do due to Corona and so on. I have been reading quite a few 2020 summaries from fellow travelblogging fellows and the majority has not traveled abroad at all or just one or two times and changed focus to experience blogs. Myself, I have spent the whole January until middle of March traveling. Then I went for some trips abroad in the summer and early autumn and since the 26th of September I have been gone traveling abroad for work though except my two weeks vacation in Bulgaria, Portugal and Madeira so traveling is something I have been doing in 2020 but it has been different. Finally I decided to do a top 10 travels and adventures that happened to me in 2020. Ready, set, go and let me present my personal cremé é la cremé of 2020.

Top 10 of 2020

Roadtrip at the Irish countryside

Exploring the Irish countryside has never ever been on my bucketlist but when I was there for work in January/February my colleague showed me the rough and beauty of the coast and I loved it. The nature was so beautiful especially Cliffs of Moher and Giants causeway. My rainjacket was the most used thing I brought with me to the green island.

Skiing at Riksgränsen

In late April when it wasn’t allowed to travel. I couldn’t resist going skiing and had one of the best ski trips in 2020. Did both crosscountry and alpine skiing. Weather was literary perfect every single day and although there were corona restrictions, not really allowed to move around the country and so on it was so worth it. I am sure that the friend that joined me thought the same.

Marathon weekend in Sofia

One marathon, one chance to go for sub 4 in 2020. 42K of running is far and a lot of things can happen. Although I don’t have anything to prove for anyone except myself it was a great feeling to run a good race and do sub 4. I also had some sunny days in the capital of Bulgaria with some fellow traveling and running friends and the whole trip was way above my expectations.

The big sightseeing tour in Italy

For quite some while I have had the Amalfi coast on my bucketlist. Finally I got to see it and it wasn’t even crowded. So, so beautiful. I also managed to squeeze in a trip to Cinque Terre which I have been longing for over 10 years and some days in Florence and a express visit to the leaning tower of Pisa although I spent the last handful of days managing a peak of work and sightseeing in between. I loved Italy before and after this trip even more.

West coast summertrip

Same story every year, a West Coast trip with my West coast partner in crime. My absolute favorite place in Sweden (and top in the whole world). Did everything like fishing, running, met relatives at safe distance, boating, swimming, eating ice cream, playing boardgames until way to late during the days I was there. A safe card for top of the year is to add some West coast to the travel plan.

Midsummer at Gotland

I haven’t been to Gotland since 1988 but in less than a month I ended up going there twice. First for an outdoor trip and then to spend midsummer there. The midsummer trip was really, really fun including a visit to Fårö, random hangouts and a bit of everything together with my fellow travel blogger friend Readyfortakeoff.

Palma weekendtrip

During the first weekend of September I flew to Palma with a friend to just chill. We created plans to do the same in October and Marbella but that never happened. Although Spain was in corona mode we were in Palma we had some great and sunny days (until the last one when we bought sweathers to not freeze to death in the rain) going to nice bars, hanging out at the rooftop pool and beachclubbing.

Hiking and camping at Sörmlandsleden

Hiking and camping was the BIG thing in 2020 and although I always been out in the nature quite a lot I did more of that especially in the nearby area. I finally started the project to hike Sörmlandsleden and one weekend I was even out camping with two friends. That was so fun so hope for more of that in 2021.

Island hopping in Croatia

I managed to squeeze in a short island hopping trip to Croatia in the beginning of July for the third year in a row. Got to see some new islands and had wonderful days. There were almost no tourists at that time and having the place almost alone during the peak season was fantastic.

Travels of 2020

I had a long list of exciting places I wanted to go to in 2020 like Jordan, Seychelles, US, Bahamas, Sri Lanka and so on but did it happen? no. Travel the world doesn’t mean everything to me but a lot. Although I even before this pandemic rated to have the health as top and everything in life appreciate it even more now. The months I was grounded at home wasn’t the end of the world but it was tough. Apart from the top ten adventures listed above when I sum up 2020 in terms of travels didn’t ended up that bad after all although loads of canceled plans and wishes. Got to visit only two new countries but quite many new places. After all I wasn’t that bad off personally in 2020, I am adaptable and in the end I managed quite well to adjust to the “new normal” that I hope will be replaced with the “old normal” within short.

Jan: Malta, Ireland

February: Ireland, Poland, Germany, Lithuania

March: Vasaloppet, Swiss, Lithuania, HOME

April: HOME, Riksgränsen

May: Gotland

June: Skåne & Gotland

July: France, West coast

August: Croatia, Italy

September: Palma de Mallorca, Finland, Estonia

October: Estonia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Madeira, UK

November: UK

December: Malta

How do you sum up your 2020? what are you looking forward to in 2021?

/ Pernilla that keeps on dreaming for new adventures