My travel year of 2018

I can’t believe that 2018 is already coming to an end. Where did the time go!? This year has been one of the best in my life, and especially the last four months of it. I finished up my studies in Copenhagen while travelling once or twice per month to exciting destinations in Europe, Asia and South America, and in September, I finally moved to another country, Greenland, for the first time. I’m still living in Greenland right now, and I’m excited to begin 2019 right here.

January: Moscow and Azerbaijan

The year started off with two new destinations, as I headed to Moscow and Azerbaijan to celebrate the end of my third semester.

Because of work obligations, I only had time to take a week off, and since Azerbaijan had been on my mind for quite some time, I chose that country as my destination. It was close enough to fly to without spending too long on travelling, and small enough to be able to travel through a decent part of it in that short amount of time. I did have one stopover though, but I actually chose to prolong it – because it was in Moscow!

I had never been to Russia before, so I was excited to be able to spend 21 hours in the beautiful capital, which I ended up loving much more than I thought I would. I managed to see quite a lot that day, including three of Moscow’s UNESCO sites!

Then I headed to Azerbaijan, where I based myself in Baku, the nation’s capital, although I did also go on a two-day trip to Sheki, a city located in the mountains of North Azerbaijan, and also on a day trip to the Gobustan National Park, home to ancient petroglyphs and 400 mud volcanos! I loved everything about Azerbaijan and have been dying to return to the region ever since.

February: Macedonia and Zagreb

Cheap flight tickets had me jetting off to Skopje in the beginning of February. I wanted to spend my last weekend of freedom before the fourth semester started exploring a new country, so despite only having two days in Macedonia, I couldn’t say no to an offer for cheap return tickets.

I spent the first day exploring Skopje, Macedonia’s quaint capital, which was a rainy yet beautiful experience. The next day, I decided to catch a bus to Ohrid, known as the most beautiful city in the country, despite the 3,5-hour bus ride each way and terrible weather conditions. Walking around Ohrid in pouring rain was definitely a different experience from what most tourists get when they visit the city in the summer, but I enjoyed my time there nonetheless.

At the end of the month, I was off again, this time with my mum on our annual mother/daughter trip. We were going to Zagreb and Slovenia, and spent the first day of our trip and the last day of the month exploring Croatia’s capital.

March: Slovenia and the Faroe Islands

The second part of our trip started on March 1st, when we headed to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. We based ourselves there for the next four days, while taking day trips out to some of Slovenia’s natural gems. We visited the famous fairytale lake in Bled, took a gondola up to the Vogel Ski Resort, located 1535 meters above the incredibly beautiful Lake Bohinj, and spent two hours hiking through Škocjan Caves, one of the world’s largest underground canyon. Slovenia was an incredible country to experience with my mum, but there’s still so much to see and so many hikes to embark on there, so that was definitely not my last time in Slovenia.

At the end of March, I headed to the Faroe Islands for my eighth visit! I was invited to spend Easter with my friend Andras and his family in Sandavágur. For the first few days, we spent our time hiking in Tórshavn and on Vágar, where we found my favourite view yet on Mount Høgafjall.

April: Faroe Islands, North Jutland and Öland

When April came along, I still had two more days left in the Faroe Islands. I spent those days enjoying Easter with Andras’ family and visiting my friends around the country. My last day there actually ended up being longer than expected, as my flight was delayed for four hours! It was perfect, because that meant that I got an extra full day and was able to join in on more Faroese Easter traditions!

April was also a month of explorations in Denmark, as I spent more time biking around Copenhagen, where I was living at the time, and also went on a two-day field trip to explore Stone Age sites in North Jutland.

The last weekend of April was spent on the Swedish island of Öland, to where I decided to take a spontaneous trip as I needed to get out of the city. Despite having two exams to write, I spent most of my time roadtripping through the island, which was a huge positive surprise. It’s such a beautiful and idyllic island and has so much history, archaeology and incredible nature to offer.

May: Greece and Eastern Jutland

The calendar turned to May and it was time for another archaeological field trip, this time for nine days on the Greek mainland! Greece is a beautiful and diverse country with so much to see and do, so I was really excited for this destination choice.

We had nine exhausting but amazing days travelling all around the mainland and Peloponnese to amazing destinations such as Delphi, Meteora, Thessaloniki, Sesklo, Ancient Corinth, Mycenae and Marathon. Our last few days were spent in Athens, before it was time to return to Copenhagen for the exam rush.

In between all of the exams, I found time to head to Eastern Jutland to spend quality time with my family, and also go on an epic bridgewalk along the Old Little Belt Bridge that connects Jutland with the island of Funen.

June: Endelave, Canada and Peru

June meant the end of my fourth semester, so I could start focussing more on travels! The month started with a family trip to the idyllic Danish island of Endelave to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday. It was a beautiful day and a welcome break from exam stress.

On July 11th, it was time for one of the biggest travels that year, as I headed over the Atlantic Ocean for a month with my younger brother, Brandon. First, we had a 23-hour stopover in Montréal, Canada, a beautiful city where we saw raccoons for the first time!!

Next up was Peru, the first (and so far only) country I’ve ever visited in South America. The first two weeks were spent in high altitude in Cuzco, where we went on day trips to the not-so-Rainbow Mountain and the Sacred Valley, before embarking on a four-day trek along the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu with a group of other archaeologists, who I would be working with for the following two weeks. The trek was absolutely incredible, and possibly the best and most challenging thing I did all year.

Afterwards, it was time to head to Lima, where our two weeks of field work at the Huaca Pucllana pyramid began. I also spent some time exploring Lima, but I have to be honest and say that I didn’t like the city. Thankfully, the company made it a great time!

At midnight on the last day of June, we set off for a weekend trip south of Lima. We spent that day flying over the intriguing Nazca Lines and then headed to the desert oasis of Huacachina, where we spent the evening driving sand buggys and sand boarding in the dunes, which was great fun!

July: Peru, Canada, England, Athra Gathering and Faroe Islands

July began with the second part of the weekend trip south of Lima, where we first headed to Islas Ballestas, an island group known as the Galapagos of Peru. We saw so much incredible wildlife there, including sea lions, penguins and enormous crabs! Afterwards, we spent a few hours driving thorugh the national park Reserva de Paracas, where we saw several archaeological sites, astonishing nature and a beach full of flamingos!

The last week in Peru was spent working at the pyramid in Lima, and enjoying the company of my new friends and the hostel cat, Pablo. The month in Peru went by so quickly, but I’m forever thankful for the opportunity, especially because of all the amazing people I met on the trip.

On the way back to Denmark, Brandon and I had an eight-hour stopover in Toronto, but unfortunately, I got hit by an awful food poisoning, so I wasn’t worth much during our hours there.

A few days after we got back from Peru, I was off again – this time to Tunbridge Wells in England for a few days to visit my Australian bestie, Bethann, at her aunt Rebekah’s place. I had two lovely days in the idyllic city, where we wandered for hours around the English countryside, catching up on everything since we hadn’t seen each other for 2,5 years!

Back to Denmark again and this time to attend a Stone Age Festival, the annual Athra Gathering in the Land of Legends in Lejre! Five days of sleeping in the wilds, cooking traditional foods, wearing Stone Age-inspired clothing and practicing my crafts skills with a bunch of Stone Age enthusiasts from all over the world. What an incredible week!

July was a really busy travel month, but that’s just how I like it – at least sometimes, hehe! Of course, I couldn’t end the month without a little travel, so on July 26th, I headed to the Faroe Islands once again, this time accompanied by my friend Amanda. The first few days of our trip were spent sightseeing and hiking on the island of Vágar, before going to Tórshavn to attend the annual national celebrations at Ólavsøka! The last day of July was spent on the tiny island of Svínoy, which was my first visit there.

August: Faroe Islands, Nekselø, England and North Jutland

The last part of the Faroe Islands adventure was spent hanging out with my Faroese friends and families, and hiking and camping on the island of Sandoy. On the last day, after Amanda had left, I met up with my friend Laura and showed her around my absolutely favourite island, Nólsoy.

August was the month that I finally moved away from Copenhagen, a city I’d felt stuck in for too long. It was sad saying goodbye to my friends and the Land of Legends, my beloved workplace, but leaving was for the best. A few days before I left for good, I went on a day trip to the island of Nekselø with my friend Mads. I was surprised by how different the island looks from the rest of Denmark with its hilly terrain, and I really enjoyed exploring it by foot.

My mum’s cousin’s wedding had me on a flight back to England in mid-August, accompanied by my grandmother and Brandon. We spent a week there, mostly relaxing and catching up with our family, but also visiting a few new villages and the Neolithic flint mining site of Grime’s Graves. It was great to be back in Thetford again – something we used to do every summer when we were younger!

The last week of August was spent in Denmark, getting ready for my big move up North. But you know me – I can’t sit still for too long, so I also found time to attend an archaeological excavation of a Mesolithic kitchen midden for two days, and spend two days exploring Thy National Park in North Jutland with my parents. A perfect way to say farewell to them.

September: Moving to Nuuk, Greenland

Oh September, what an exciting month that was! For the first time in my life, I moved to another country. I moved to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, where I’m currently spending my fifth semester!

I moved there on the first day of the month, where I first had a long stopover with time for explorations in the village of Kangerlussuaq, where the biggest airport in the country is located. Then I flew to Nuuk, where I finally met my four new roommates in our home in Blok 15! The best adventure of my life was about to start.

September was spent getting to know my roommates and settling in Nuuk, finding a job at the national museum and getting into the study rhythm again. The weekends were mostly spent exploring Nuuk, and going on day trips, to the Narsap Sermia glacier by the ice sheet, to the abandoned village of Kangeq and the first European settlement on the Island of Hope, and on a fishing trip (which vegan-me didn’t really enjoy too much).

At the end of the month, it was time to explore Greenland further, as I headed North with three of my new friends, on a two-day sailing trip en route to Ilulissat, stopping by small villages on the way!

October: North and South Greenland

We arrived in Ilulissat at the beginning of the month, and spent four days exploring its beautiful surroundings. We went for five hikes to the famous icefjord, sailed amongst enormous icebergs, saw seven whales, petted the cutest sled dogs, experienced two incredible sunsets, saw the northern lights dance across the entire sky and even woke up to a world covered in snow on our last day! Everything about Ilulissat was magical.

On the way back to Nuuk, Charlotte and I got stuck in Kangerlussuaq for five hours, which we actually didn’t really mind, as that meant we had time for another hike; to the idyllic Lake Ferguson. In Greenland, being stuck somewhere can never really be a bad thing, especially if you love nature!

Four days after arriving back to Nuuk, I was off again, this time on a solo trip to the South! I caught the ferry once again and spent the next two days visiting small villages along the Southwest coast, before finally arriving in Qaqortoq in the afternoon of the second day. There, I had a three-hour stopover, which I decided to spend on climbing a mountain for the sunset!

The next stop was Narsaq, where I stayed put for two days. I spent the time hiking to a mine, hunting for rare minerals with a new friend and exploring old Norse and Inuit ruins on a nearby island. My last two days in the South were spent in Narsarsuaq, where I had some great adventures. I hiked all the way to the ice sheet by myself and spent an entire day wandering through Greenland’s only forest, which looked beautiful with the vibrant autumn colours. I had chosen the perfect season to come.

November-December: Living in Nuuk

Ever since getting back from South Greenland, I have not been outside of Nuuk. But to be honest, I don’t mind at all. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love Nuuk, I love my life here and I love exploring everything that the city and its surroundings have to offer.

In November, I visited a few new places in the city, and also went for an incredibly fun hike up to Mt. Quassussuaq with Regine and Charlotte. The best part was actually the descent, as we slid down on our butts the entire way! It was awesome.

December has been all about Christmas and experiencing it the Greenlandic way. Soon, I’ll be welcoming my parents, grandmother and younger brother, who are coming here to spend Christmas and New Years with me. I can’t wait to show them everything in the city I’ve come to love so much.

So what does 2019 have in store for me? I can assure you that 2019 is going to be just as exciting as 2018, if not even more! The year will start off with my last month in Nuuk, before heading home to Denmark for two months. I won’t stay put for long though, as I’m travelling to Ukraine for a week with my mum and also plan on visiting my younger brother in Edinburgh.

On April 1st, I’m moving again, this time to my beloved Faroe Islands, where I plan to stay for two months while writing my bachelor’s thesis. I’m thinking that I might take a short trip to East Iceland as well, maybe in early May. In June, I’ll be back in Denmark for a short while before jetting off again. I don’t know for sure where this will be yet – but it’ll either be to Argentina or Chile for the next total solar eclipse or back to Greenland to work on excavations for the summer. My archaeological heart is praying for the latter to happen. Even if I don’t get to go on the excavations, I will be heading to Greenland later in the summer to see my friends and hopefully do an internship in Tasiilaq on the East coast.

In December, the plan is to head to Haifa in Israel with a bunch of my Bahá’í friends, and I’m thinking I might combine this trip with visits to the neighbouring countries of Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria (if the situation there is stable!).

Regardless of what happens next year, I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting ride. What do you have planned for 2019?