The Year in Travel – 2014

Posted in Travel.

Yes, I’m a little late with my ‘2014 round-up’ post. But I figure we can keep saying ‘Happy New Year’ until January’s in double digits, so it’s not too late for a quick look back at 2014… travel-style.

In 2013’s Year in Travel, I kept it quite local and visited lots of amazing UK locations. 2014’s jaunts were a little more far-flung and included a few countries that were brand new to me. Let’s start with…

visiting hamburg
things to do in hamburg
Hamburg, March

This was my first trip to Hamburg, and my first trip to Germany! I absolutely loved Hamburg – the architecture, the graffiti, the food! This was a trip with the Hamburg Tourist Board so our tour guides were amazing and along with the rest of the group, I learnt lots about this fascinating city. And The Beatles!

Read my Hamburg posts here and here.

edinburgh travel blog post

best shops in edinburgh
Edinburgh, March

Oh Edinburgh, how I love you! As soon as I touched down from my Hamburg trip, Rob and I headed up north for a weekend in Edinburgh. I will never tire of this amazing city – despite our numerous trips we still found new things to do, like climbing to the top of Arthur’s Seat. As always, I was sad to leave and searched Rightmove for ‘properties to rent in Edinburgh’ on the train ride home.

Read my post on Things to do in Edinburgh here.

P1020362
P1020684
New York City, April

I’m going for at least one trip to New York each year – it’s a 3-year tradition that’s still going strong! In 2014 I went with my friends Lauren and Nic and we had the best time. Cycling in Central Park, brunch in Chelsea, cocktails in secret bars at 3am, loads of sightseeing and a base in Brooklyn. Take me back!

See more from our girls’ trip to NYC here and here.

P1020777
P1020811
Spain and Portugal, June

I love city breaks, but sometimes a week in the sun with little/nothing to do is perfect. In June, Rob and I went away with my family to a gorgeous villa on the Spain/Portugal border. It was quiet, hot and my mum did all the cooking – absolute dream. Apart from the night I dropped my phone in the lake, but never mind. RIP, Orla Kiely phone case.

I did a whole week of posts about this holiday – here they are:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

P1040102
P1040034
Berlin, July

My second trip to Germany saw me heading to Berlin Fashion Week as a guest of Tamaris. It was super short but very sweet – like Hamburg, Berlin’s architecture and street art had me hooked and I just wish I’d had more time to explore. All the most reason to go back, I guess… particularly as I’m in serious need of another schnitzel.

Read more on Berlin here, and about my Berlin Fashion Week experience here.

climbing in lake district
lake district hen do
Keswick, August

August was the month of my friend Laura’s wedding, but first was the hen do. We headed up to Keswick in the Lake District for a weekend of drinking, dancing, debauchery and… erm, climbing! I loved this quaint country location almost as much as I loved the classic 90s RnB they played in the town’s nightclub.

Here’s the post about my Keswick adventure. 

tourist attractions paris
planning a trip to paris
Paris, September

And then, it was Paris. Another girls’ trip, this time to see the final night of Jay Z and Beyoncé’s On The Run tour. Like Edinburgh and New York, Paris is a city I’ll just never be bored of – there’s so much beauty, so much excitement, so much wine. And Bey and Jay (plus special guest Nicki Minaj) killed it – one of my fave weekends of the year.

Take a look at An English Girl in Paris Part Une and Deux.

scottish highlands cottage
visiting scottish highlands
Scottish Highlands, September

Late September saw Rob and I jump in the car with our pals Matt and Lil for a quick 12-hour drive up to the Scottish Highlands. The journey was more than worth it (especially with the stop at Ox and Finch in Glasgow) for the epic views, amazing walks and endless cheese boards.

The full post on our second Scottish trip of the year is here.

jollydays luxury camping review
glamping yorkshire
Nunnington, October

Another trip with the girls, this time much closer to home – Jollydays is only an hour away but our stay under canvas felt like another world! We ate, we drank, we toasted marshmallows and enjoyed the novelty of a roll-top bath… in a tent. Amazing.

More on my Jollydays stay here.

prestonfield house edinburgh
prestonfield house hotel edinburgh review
Edinburgh and Newcastle, October

My last big trip of the year was with Barbour… and to Scotland! Again! I headed back up to Edinburgh to see Barbour’s Winter Tartan range, then on to Newcastle to explore Barbour HQ in South Shields. This was one of my favourite-ever press trips – everything was so perfectly thought out, and it was brilliant to discover a brand on its home turf.

My post on the Barbour trip is here.

And that’s it! Another Year in Travel  – done. As we move into a new year, I want to spread my wings a bit and visit some new places – maybe somewhere beachy, and far away…

Where would you like to go in 2015?

6 Comments

Hannah

Wow, looks like you had a wonderful year in travel! All the photos are so vivid and bright, they’re lovely! Hope you have a great evening 🙂
Hannah x
Hanniemc.co.uk

Reply
Stephanie Canham

Wow, such great places you lucky girl and amazingly clear photography. We’d love to visit more places this year, whether abroad or the UK but sadly have big financial things going on. Oh well, will enjoy looking at your travels for 2015!
Steph
x

Reply
Domestic cleaners Islington

It looks like you had a wonderful year! You have visited so beautiful places. I wish you this year to visit more than last 😛 There are so much amazing places around the world waiting to be seen.

Reply
Amy

I always do the same when I’m coming home from Edinburgh – it’s just the most gorgeous city, I’d love to live there!

This year travel is definitely higher on my agenda – it got pushed to the side for savings purposes this year but 2015 is the year of travel. I’ll be re-looking up your New York guides for our trip in September!

Reply
Jemima

I love visiting new places, i recently uploaded my trip to paris, reims and Tokyo on my blog if you want to check it out 🙂 I love your photos, they make Paris look so cute 🙂 xx

Reply

Leave a comment