It’s that time of the year again. Time to reflect on the past twelve months and everything I’ve experienced and learned. 2019 has been my busiest travel year yet. Out of the 365 days, I was only home in Denmark for 102 of them – days spent primarily between East Jutland, Copenhagen and Ertebølle. I didn’t see my family and friends in Denmark nearly enough, especially since I was busy with my bachelor’s thesis most of the time when I was home. 2019 was my first year being location-independent, meaning that there was no place I HAD to be, only places I wanted to be. I enjoyed it thoroughly, although my own planning had me a little stressed out, especially during the summer.
In 2019, I visited 19 countries and territories, 8 of them new ones. I spent four months in total in my beloved Greenland, met Highland Coos in Scotland, explored Chernobyl and its ghost towns in Ukraine, saw the Sort Sol phenomenon in North Germany, spent six weeks on my favourite island in the Faroe Islands, excavated a Bronze Age midden on the Russian forest steppe, spent a month travelling around Southern Europe and Spanish Morocco, finally travelled to the Holy Land – and so much more. Here’s a recap of my travel year of 2019:
January-February: Greenland, Iceland and Scotland
The year started as 2018 ended – in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. I spent all of January in Nuuk, taking my exams as I finished up my semester abroad. January was also the month where I converted to the Bahá’í Faith after learning about it in October in Nuuk! I left Nuuk at the beginning of February, and headed to Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, for four days on my way home to Denmark. It was a long-awaited return to the city which I last visited in 2015! I spent the days wandering around Reykjavík, meeting with the Bahá’í community and going on a sunset stroll to Seltjarnarnes.
2019 was also the year that my younger brother Brandon moved abroad – to Scotland. Not longer after I returned home from Reykjavík, I was off again, this time to Edinburgh to visit Brandon. I spent a week with him, exploring Edinburgh and the surrounding villages for the first time and going on a day trip to the Highlands, where I hadn’t been since a family trip in 2004!
March: Ukraine, Djursland and Germany
I spent most of March in Denmark, writing my thesis in Copenhagen and East Jutland and BECOMING AN AUNT (!!), but there was also time for a few trips.
At the beginning of the month, my mum and I went on our annual mother/daughter trip. This year, we had chosen Ukraine, one of the least visited countries in Europe, and one I’d always wanted to explore. We based ourselves in the capital, Kiev, where we explored all of the pretty churches, castles and parks. We also went to the atmospheric Pirogovo Open Air Museum and on a tour to Chernobyl and the surrounding ghost towns, which was one of my most interesting destinations of 2019.
I took a break from my thesis writing later in the month to go on a Stone Age trip to Djursland, a hilly part of Denmark, with 31 other archaeologists. At the end of the month, my parents, grandmother and I travelled to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark, to go on a tour to North Germany to experience the Sort Sol (“black sun”) phenomenon, where thousands of migrational starlings gather at sunset and form huge formations in the sky right before deciding on a location to roost for the night. That was a very special experience!
April-June: Faroe Islands, Sweden and Russia
April came, and it was finally time to return to my beloved Faroe Islands. I had rented a house on Nólsoy, my favourite island, for six weeks, to write my thesis in peace. It was wonderful to have so much time to explore the tiny island, and I also took a few trips to the mainland to visit friends. For Easter, I took a five-day break from the writing as my friends Solveig and Mikkel came to visit me. We rented a car and drove around the country, exploring beautiful places along the way, climing the highest mountain in the country, and discovering a cozy café on the island of Suðuroy.
I returned home in mid-May to apply for an express visa to Russia, where I was heading at the end of the month. In the meantime, I spent time with family and friends and went on a day trip to the Swedish island of Ven with my friend Mads.
My visa came just in time (literally the day before!), so I headed to Russia on May 28th for a five-week excavation of a Bronze Age midden near Chernorechye in Chelyabinsk Oblast on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains. It was five very busy months with almost constant work, but we did get some time to hike in the forest steppe, explore the town of Stepnoye where we resided, and bathe in the Uy River. At the end of our time there, we spent a day in the city of Chelyabinsk, before flying back to Denmark.
July-August: Russia, Ertebølle, Italy, San Marino, Monaco, France, Spain, Melilla, Gibraltar, Ceuta, Portugal and Greenland
I left Russia in the beginning of July and headed home to East Jutland for a few days, before travelling up north to Ertebølle. There, I attended the annual European Stone Age Gathering for a week. It was one of the best weeks this year as I got to spend it living in the Stone Age with a bunch of wonderful people, and I also got to spend more time with my dad’s aunt, who lives nearby.
A few days after the gathering, I flew to Milan, Italy, to begin my one-month journey through Southern Europe. I explored the tiny countries of San Marino and Monaco, got pleasantly surprised by Nice, France, visited the two Spanish exclaves in Morocco, Melilla and Ceuta, enjoyed a day in the UK in Gibraltar, city-hopped in Andalusia, chased castles and bone chapels in Portugal, and had my stuff stolen (and retrieved) in Bilbao. It was a tiring trip as I’d jammed way too many places into a short amount of time – and also had to write my thesis on the go. Originally, I had also planned to go to Morocco for five days, but I was already exhausted when I got to Melilla, a week in on my trip, so I decided to postpone it and instead spend more time in Spain. It wasn’t all bad though; I really loved San Marino and Melilla, which was an interesting mix of Spain and Morocco, but I learned the hard way to prioritize quality over quantity!
I returned home on August 10th for my niece’s Christening, and spent the next two weeks at home with family and FINALLY finishing my thesis! At the end of August, I flew back to Greenland.
September-November: Greenland and Germany
September started with a two-week holiday in Nuuk, where I revisited some of my favourite places and spent time with friends. I also went on a four-day trekking trip with two friends to the village of Kapisillit, hands-down the hardest physical challenge of 2019 due to incredibly tough terrain.
On September 14th, I flew via Kulusuk to Tasiilaq, the largest city on Greenland’s East Coast, for a ten-week internship at the local museum. When I wasn’t working at the museum, I spent time hiking in the mountains and valleys, visiting the cutest sled dogs on the planet, exploring the village and getting to know the unique East Greenlandic culture and language. My favourite week was at the end of October, when my friends Augusta and Eleanor came to visit me. We went on a sailing trip through the Sermilik Icefjord to the village of Tiniteqilaaq, climbed a mountain, went on hikes, cuddled adorable sled dogs and relaxed!
On November 27th, it was time to leave my temporary home in Tasiilaq behind, and head back to Denmark, via a stopover in Kulusuk, where I had time to explore the village. I also had an overnight stopover in Keflavík, Iceland, but I didn’t see anything apart from the airport hotel.
Two days after I got back home, I was on the road again, although this time with my family. We travelled to Kiel, Germany, for our annual German Christmas market trip, which was a wonderful time.
December: Israel and Latvia
I finished my bachelor’s degree with a presentation of my internship in Tasiilaq on December 9th, and flew to Israel the next day. I spent the next five days in Jerusalem, exploring the old and new towns, falling in love with the Yemin Moshe neighbourhood, meeting with old and new friends, going on a day trip to Masada and the Dead Sea and learning about Judaism at a shabbat dinner that I got invited to. Jerusalem is an incredible city, and one I’m extremely excited to revisit someday!
My main reason for coming to Israel was to go on a Bahá’í pilgrimage along with six Greenlandic Bahá’ís. We met up on December 16th and spent the following nine days together with people from all over the planet, visiting the Bahá’í Holy Places in Haifa and Akka.
My time in Israel ended with two stormy days in Tel Aviv, before returning back to Denmark via a seven-hour stopover in Riga, Latvia. I visited Riga in 2015 and was excited to revisit the city, although only for a short amount of time – enough to explore the Christmas markets though!
The end of the year is being spent in Denmark, at home with my family. Honestly, after such a crazy year, there is no place I’d rather be.
Coming up in 2020
The first half of 2020 is more or less planned already. I’m flying to Scotland on January 3rd, where 2,5 months of work awaits me on the Isle of Skye, where my younger brother is currently living. I’ll be back home in Denmark for my niece’s 1st birthday, before going on a roadtrip with my mum through Switzerland and Liechtenstein, two countries I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time! In April, I will head to Norway for a conference and to visit two friends in Kristiansand and Bergen (and hopefully Desirée in Oslo too!), before returning to my beloved Faroe Islands for some solo camping/hiking time.
In May, I’m moving back to Nuuk – temporarily permanently, as I call it. I will be working as a tour guide in the Nuuk Fjord, while enjoying life in my favourite city on earth and exploring more of Greenland. In the summer, I hope to attend the annual European Stone Age Gathering in the Netherlands and a conference in France. I have no idea about the autumn yet, although I will probably still be living in Nuuk. I hope 2020 will be the year where I finally get to explore North Caucasus or Saudi Arabia (or both?). It will be exciting to see what the new year brings!
What did you get up to in 2019? And what is in store for the new year? 🎉
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