It’s time (again) for my review of the year, it only seems like a few months since I wrote the last one. 2014 has gone really quickly, it feels like it’s been a bit of a strange year not only just for me but for the world at large.
There’s been many highlights and achievements this year but also a few lows. It’s been challenging and I get the sense that it wasn’t just me who was relieved when we could look forward to 2015?
The Travels
On the travel front I managed to visit far away places, places I love and also discovered some truly unique places at home in London and the UK.
I got my snowboarding fix for the year on the beautiful slopes of Catalunya, was honoured to attend my close blogger friends European wedding in Belgium (Chris – The Aussie Nomad and Isabella – Isabellas Travel Guide) and organised my first festival, BlogStock (complete with the inevitable changable UK weather).
I spent a few weeks in Bali discovering the east coast and Ubud, although I was struck down with Salmonella (confirmed with blood tests) after eating some dodgy street food on the stop off in Kuala Lumpur. The illness was pretty serve but the worst part was not quite knowing what it was for most of the trip, thankfully I still managed to travel and enjoy most of my time there despite having the strangest splitting headache behind one eye. I survived.
The Stresses
Both Traverse 14 and BlogStock were huge successes and amazing learning experiences but I’d be lying if I pretended it wasn’t a stressful year. Blogging, organising a conference and festival in my spare time did take its toll. It’s a lot of work, there are challenges and sometimes you have to make time sacrifices that most people probably don’t make.
Instead of sitting down and relaxing at the end of the day I would be fixing a website, attending a meetings, producing content, networking, calling people, emailing people and attempting to blog. It’s quite a lot to have on your plate and whilst I thought I could handle it all it did have an effect and I wasn’t quite myself for a while.
Thankfully it didn’t last but was a sign for me to slow down a little and is probably the reason why I decided to pass up on quite a few travel opportunities that I might have taken the year before.
The All-nighters
I pulled a fair few all nighters in 2014, no not working but out celebrating! I joined a couple of vloggers, Nick Trueman plus Louis of Food For Louis/Fun For Louis fame and friends for a roadtrip to the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge. We gathered along with an estimated 37,000 people in the circle of Stonehenge, on the longest day of the year to wait for the sun to rise between the stones. Needless to say it was a facinating gathering with a plethora of colourful and interesting characters from all different backgrounds and of all appearances playing bongos, singing, dancing and celebrating. I randomly found myself attending my first (and probably only) druid wedding at the epicentre of Stonehenge as the sun began bleed over the horizon.
As if visiting Barcelona earlier in the year wasn’t enough, in October I was in the Spanish capital, Madrid to discover the nightlife, thankfully it happened to coincide with my birthday so staying out all night three nights in a row didn’t seem so bad! I had a great time in Madrid and began to understand the city a little better than previously. One of the highlights of the trip was a surprising tour of Teatro Real (Royal Theatre).
Hello 2015!
2015 ended in a very civilised meal, followed by a trip to the cinema and a wander up to the top of Primrose Hill in London where we managed to catch sight of the New Years fireworks.
2015 has only just appeared over the horizon but I’ve already got the feeling it’s going to bring a lot fun, success and surprises.
Early in the year I tried snowshoeing for the first time in Catalunya! We stomped up the ski slopes crunching the snow underneath our feet to reach a look out point where we admired the the view of the mountains. On the way down I snapped this shot of our lodge as the sun faded behind the mountains.
In February we braved the Northern weather and headed up to Newcastle for a inspiring Traverse 14. Part of the conference included experiences in the local area, I decided to soak up a bit of history at Hadrian’s Wall.
I spent a weekend with my girlfriend in one of my favourite cities, Barcelona. Here’s the video I made above.
I tagged along with a few vloggers for the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, it was a long, crazy, eventful night, rounded off with a stunning sunrise.
Plenty of interesting characters descended on Stonehenge to celebrate the shortest day of the year.
Those waiting for the sun to rise gathered in and around the stone circle.
We found plenty of cheeky little monkey’s in Ubud’s monkey sanctury in Bali, Indonesia.
Even though I was suffering from food poisoning, I still managed to take plenty of footage whilst in Bali. Above is a highlights video from the trip.
I was honoured to be looking after the rings for my good friends wedding in Belgium. Although Chris does looks like he’s doing a spot of last minute organisation!
BlogStock in August really surpassed all our expections and took on a vibe of its own. The blogging sessions were inspiring, super interesting and educational. The environment for networking and socialising was really unique for a blogging event and I was proud to be part of creating something really unique. Camping was pretty fun and the UK weather didn’t let us down either… let’s just say it was “changable”!
It was my birthday and I was tasked with finding the Madrid nightlife, numerous shots were downed and from what I remember dancing happened. I discovered a new found fondness for Madrid as one of my favourite European cities.
Happy New Year and have a great 2015!
