Trials, Tales and Travels from Twenty Twenty-One

As we come to the end of January 2022 (that went fast) I’m thinking back to 2021. Very much a year of two halves, starting off with stringent lockdown living (which clearly the British government didn’t bother with themselves) and turning into a second half of quite magnificent travels.

Lockdown London Living

From Jan 1 to April 12 (my birthday as it happens) London was in total lockdown. The highlights of life were a trip to the supermarket (carefully timed to avoid too much queuing or getting too close to too many people) or a walk. We walked every day and got to know our local area extremely intimately. I even discovered a Farmer’s Market that I didn’t know existed before, a mere half an hour’s walk from my house. We meandered up and down the River Thames marvelling at its tidal extremes and watching the landscape slowly turn from winter to spring.

A slow-moving life where days merged together in their unremarkableness, Netflix series were devoured (and I can’t remember any of them) and many a jigsaw puzzle was completed on the dining table. I even developed a jigsaw-swapping network in my area. One way to enjoy a bit of human contact, however brief. And then there were those unfailingly gloomy 5pm daily press conferences from Downing Street. Let’s just say it wasn’t the best of times.

Until I invented Cocktail & Canape Friday. Every Friday, taking turns with our neighbour (who became part of a lockdown bubble with us) we came up with a new cocktail and a selection of canapés. Fridays soon became the highlight of our week and we all soon became very good at inventing cocktails and creative canapés. I mean how good do these look?

And then we were let out

The magic day came. 12 April 2021, my 59th birthday, and the first glimmerings of freedom appeared. Restaurants and bars were allowed to open but only if they had an outside area. No eating or drinking inside for us. As much as I love al fresco dining it’s not ideal through one of the most bitterly cold Aprils I can remember in England. Luckily I’ve been to Antarctica and have a jacket I wore there which turned out to be the perfect attire for the chilliness. I think we were just so excited to be allowed to see other people – I mean actually sit at a table with them for an extended period of time and eat food someone else had conceived of and cooked that we would have eaten in a wind tunnel in a blizzard.

And then when a friend’s big birthday came up we grabbed the opportunity to travel to Whitstable (all airports were still closed) for a long weekend. You can read all about our trip here. We were beyond excited to go somewhere different and stay away from home! We piled on the layers and valiantly ate oysters and other seafood al fresco with the icy gale sweeping off the Thames Estuary a regular companion at our table. But hey we were happy! We felt like we were living again.

Loving the Allure of London

Foreign travel still seemed like an impossible dream so as London opened up little by little we took the opportunity to holiday in our beautiful home city. With no tourists in town the streets were relatively empty and the usually inevitable queues practically non-existent. We rode high on the London Eye, took boat trips down the Thames and explored the city’s myriad magnificent parks (some of which had elephants visiting them). We meandered through the deserted City of London stopping at ancient pubs along the way, and discovered more al fresco eating and drinking opportunities than you would have thought existed in a Northern Hemisphere town.

I returned to my beloved Covent Garden where newly pedestrianised streets were framed with beautiful flower boxes and restaurant owners literally welcomed you with open arms.  The tube was deserted and I often was the only person riding on the top deck of my bus. Everything felt totally surreal. And we all had to learn all over again how to be social animals (while still keeping our distance) with our new Covid vocabulary and deep-rooted (somewhat illogical) fears for what would happen next. Was there life after Covid on the horizon?

Time to Fly Away

Spring turned into summer and restrictions relaxed a little more so we packed away our anoraks and thermal-wear and dusted off the barbecue. And then a new list came out! Those interminable Covid lists of what you could and couldn’t do changed so often it put your head in a spin. But this was an exciting list. Let’s call it The Where You Will be Allowed to Travel to List. A traffic light system with countries allocated green, amber or red  to indicate their suitability for safe travel with green being the only ones you could visit without quarantining on return.

This became a list of such fluidity that could change halfway through your long weekend in Iceland (one of the few places on the original green list) incurring a swathe of inconveniences from testing to quarantining as well as potentially bottomless expense as you tried to get home. Not such a relaxing way to travel. In among all this the vaccination programme in the UK was going strong so another factor entered into play – as well as interminable discussion (usually leading to argument) between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

Could you travel? Where could you travel to? What did you have to do? Before? During? After? Confusion reigned supreme along with stories of complete mayhem at airports and people having to book multiple flights to avoid quarantines or get back home before the allotted random time before travel was suspended.

In the midst of all this I received an exciting email. Inviting me on a Press Trip to the Portuguese island of Madeira (at the time on the highly desirable Green List). I think I leapt around my study with joy! Because along with a fabulous-looking trip (my first overseas travel for nearly 18 months), there were the magic words that all testing would be organised and paid for and of course we would have a guiding hand through the complex process that international travel had now become. Which we did. You can read all about my fabulous trip to Madeira staying the luxurious Savoy Palace Hotel by clicking here.

Madeira has so much going for it. Including their fabulous national drink Poncha. Here it’s made with passion fruit – heaven in a chilled glass.

Next Stop Spain

That trip to Madeira opened up the floodgates of travel – in my heart anyway – and I soon felt like I could take on any admin thrown at me to get on a plane and visit somewhere…anywhere but here! So come the end of June we headed for La Manga in Spain to our timeshare apartment which we hadn’t visited for two years. Hola Espana, estoy may feliz de estar aqui.Three joyous weeks of Spanish sunshine, sangria, tapas and vino. Lazy beach and poolside days and plenty of market shopping. You’ve gotta try to make up for lost time after all.

Like sizzling garlic gambas like these…

Oh and did I mention strawberry margaritas?

The Bewitching White Isle of Ibiza

By now I’d become highly adept at the travel admin! Seriously I could easily win Olympic Gold! So I was ready for my next work trip to the stunning island of Ibiza. More Spanishness to savour and a stay at the stunning 7Pines resort on the west coast. A dreamy spa resort of stunning views and sunsets, spectacular food and possibly the best poolside service in the world. Watch this space for more on this Ibizan heaven. Here’s a shot of a section of the pool to whet your appetite.

And some Spanish snacks from jamon heaven.

The Majesty of Malta

My trio of European island tripping for 2021 is completed by a visit to Malta (again for work). This two-centre stay involved a night in the palatial surrounds of Xara Palace in the ancient town of Mdina followed by two nights at the newly opened and absolutely beautiful Iniala Harbour House on the very edge of the capital Valetta. Again, more of this later…just let me say I was totally enchanted by this island, too, with its incredible food, diversely beautiful scenery, history, architecture and welcoming people. And the hotels…truly places to dream of staying in.

Here’s the view of the stylish courtyard (do love a courtyard) from my elegant suite at Xara Palace.

Here I am outside Iniala Harbour House with some of my lovely travelling companions.

My suite at Iniala had three balconies. Yes three – a lot of random people were made aware of the fact. One of them looked out from the huge stand alone bath across the Grand Harbour.

Happy Days at The Hilton in Hua Hin, Thailand

Are you following me so far? I’m travelling around Europe, filling in forms with alacrity, downloading apps at the rate of knots (every country has a different one) and scoping out the best testing options wherever I go. The rules still keep changing but it’s becoming more manageable. So what do you do when your confidence is high? Well in our house we start booking holidays…so we did. Rumour had it that Thailand (one of my favourite countries) was opening up from November 1 (it had been closed to tourists for over 18 months). Let’s go to Thailand for Christmas we said! And in the blink of an eye it was done. Flights booked, hotel reserved (no deposit required). Excitement was in the air…and suddenly so was a new variant. Hello Omicron. Anyone else getting annoyed with this Greek alphabet thing and the random skipping of letters?

Take a calm Covid moment

If there’s one thing these Covid Years have taught me it’s when something happens…do nothing. Don’t panic, just wait it out and go through the process of what you’re allowed to do. So I started with the Thailand form-filling. Jeepers, that was the biggest admin challenge of recent travelling time. But I did it – Thailand Pass approved. Next step – book our PCR tests – all while waiting for the bad news – more traffic light lists, more restrictions, more lockdowns. The 5pm Downing Street press conference made another appearance (something I certainly had not been missing in my life) but the news was good…lots of cases but no more restrictions. So one negative test later we hopped on the plane to Thailand (via Singapore). We did have a one-day quarantine in a hotel at Bangkok while we waited for the result of another PCR test (negative thankfully) and then we were on our way to our luxurious beach-side retreat – the Hilton in Hua Hin. And yes you’ve guessed it, more of which later. I do have a lot to share with you…lucky people. Here’s the view of the beach from our balcony.

Throughout that long journey east I can honestly say I felt like I was living in a dream. A happy dream for a change. And when I stepped onto the white sand of that beautiful Thai beach with six months of form filling and negative testing behind me – and three vaccinations – a no brainer for me as I want to be able to travel as freely as possible, it seemed like everything was okay with my world. For a little while anyway.

So I’m leaving you with a pic of the beach restaurants in Hua Hin AKA Umbrella Village. Twenty Twenty-One you were quite a year – let’s see what Twenty Twenty-Two sends our way. It’s my year of turning 60 (yikes) so I have high expectations and elevated plans. Bring it on.