With 2024 coming closer and closer (only 1 month away!), I am starting to wonder about what that year will bring me. Work, personal, but also travel wise. Which places would I like to visit and will it even be possible? Let's dream away?
What to expect in this article?
Looking back at 2023
Every year I try to write an article about my travel plans, also in 2023. I will quickly look back at the destinations I wrote down and where I went.
In 2023 I wanted to visit these destinations: Sri Lanka, Turkey, New York, Morocco, and the Netherlands; Vlieland, and Breda. Out of this list, I only got to visit 1 unfortunately.
I got to visit Sri Lanka, which was my nr 1 since forever, as my dad was born there.
Furthermore, I got to visit Belgium, Bremen, and Berlin in Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, India, Sweden, Venice (Italy) and Luxembourg. Not bad right?
Oman
Ever since I was planning to visit Oman in 2022, but it got canceled as we didn’t realize it would be Ramadan (so nothing would be open apparently), my eagerness to go to Oman has not gone down.
It is actually a quite safe country, not yet discovered, but it has beautiful architecture, nature, and a welcoming culture. Oman is a photographer’s dream! I am hoping to meet Shu Ting next year again. She is living in the Philippines right now and I have seen her last year when I visited Cambodia and Thailand with her. By July it will be 2 years since I last met her, so I desperately hope we get to meet somewhere in the middle. As she loves cultures and talks to anyone, I would love to explore a country like Oman or Nepal with her!
After having visited the Middle East more often (Jordan, UAE), and working a lot with Syrian people, I am starting to love the welcoming culture more and more and can’t wait to go to beautiful Oman! Oman belongs on my travel bucket list.
The Netherlands: Breda & Vlieland
As I live in The Netherlands, I would love to visit a couple of new places.
This country has 5 islands, called the Wadden islands or Frisian islands and these are all located in the North of the country. When I was younger, my family and I wanted to visit one island every year. We did a pretty good job, until the year I moved to Sevilla, and after that Corona came along. Vlieland is the one island that is still pending and then we have visited all five. I was talking about this a couple of weeks ago with my family, and I put it in my agenda now, so hopefully we won’t forget and visit it next year!
All the islands are super pretty, green, and lovely to spend time on. Every year we hired bicycles and cycled around the whole island, except Texel, because it is a bit bigger. I would love to do the same with Vlieland.
Breda is another city I would like to visit. It is located in the south and I have a couple of friends and relatives living there, whom I really want to meet up with. Breda is supposed to be a nice city according to many students. So I hope I can do this.
Colombia
I haven’t yet had the chance to visit South America, and Peru used to be super high on my list, but Colombia is rising on my list more and more. So high, that I put it on my new travel bucket list!
As I see this country more and more often on Instagram, I am wanting to go there a lot!
”Colombia is one of the world’s most diverse countries with two oceans, a range of climates, energetic cities, astonishing wildlife and things to do’ – aka Colombia.co
I want to go for its beautiful nature, the colorful cities, and the amazing coffee, but also for its interesting history about Escobar (which apparently the locals don’t like to hear about, so I am sorry Colombians!)
Denmark - Copenhagen
When I was a child I visited Denmark for the first time, as my father has a friend living there. We had a good time, as his daughters are the same age as me and my sister. As it has been a long time, since we last visited them, I would love to see them again. Copenhagen would be a nice bonus, as it has been on my list for some years.
I imagine Copenhagen to have a similar vibe as Amsterdam, but more colorful. Correct me if I am wrong!
East Europe / The Balkan region
I would love to visit a country on the east side of Europe! In 2023 I got the chance to visit Croatia and Slovenia.
Before 2023 I also visited Greece, Czech Hungary, and Slovakia. I feel like the east side is not that famous (yet), but there are so many beautiful countries.
At the beginning I wanted to say ‘Balkan’ instead of ‘East Europe’, but I noticed it isn’t quite clear which countries are considered Balkan.
According to Google, these countries are in the Balkan: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, European Turkey, Serbia and Croatia.
I would love to go to any of these countries! Not just because of the beauty, nature, and culture, but also to understand more of their fascinating history. Just look at the pictures below, especially Kotor (Montenegro), doesn’t that look amazing!?
Now let me know what YOUR plans are for 2024!
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