My Travel Highlights in 2019

We outdid ourselves in 2019. Our personal goal for this year was to see at least three new countries. In the end, we went to 9, and we completed the year in Vietnam, although this country was not on our list at the beginning. How come? Because we moved to Singapore in the middle of the year. From Singapore, new destinations are easy to reach, while others are far away out of a sudden. Hence during the last few weeks in Germany, we made every day count and flew to some of the most beautiful cities or regions of Europe. Tuscany, Corfu, Helsinki, just to name a few. Also, we’ve been to New York, where we were every May for the last couple of years. Unfortunately, New York is quite far away now, which means that our annual visit will not happen, unfortunately. But on the other hand, from Singapore, a whole new world will open up, and we already have a few destinations in mind for 2020. But for now, here are my travel highlights of 2019:

• Riga, Latvia (February)

• Cape Town, South-Africa (March) – This trip was so fun, it made my highlight of the year. South Africa was insanely beautiful. The wine regions, the Chapman’s Peak Drive, lots of nature, the Cape of Good Hope, the city view from Silent Hill, afternoon tea at the Grace Hotel at the harbor, penguins in the wild, the fantastic food at unbeatable prices, Woodstock and its markets, unbelievably good coffee at every corner, Camps Bay and Clifton Beach and the weather <3 I could go on like this forever. South Africa is worth a trip, and I want to come back soon!

• Copenhagen (March), Denmark

• Dublin, Ireland (May) – Dublin itself might not have been a highlight, but it was definitely worth a visit. If not only because of the Spice Girls, who opened their Spice World Tour 2019 here and made a childhood dream come true. 

• Tulum & Holbox, Mexico (May/June) – Holbox is an insider tip in Mexico and has made our entire Mexico trip another highlight of 2019. The island in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico was just incredibly beautiful and authentic, the Mexican food was fantastic, and the tan index was unbeatable. Unfortunately, the corruption rate and the contaminated food (I had a nasty food poisoning) are a bit daunting, but I can still picture flying back to Mexico soon. Next time, I want to explore the other coast, such as Baja California, or Mexico City.

• New York, USA (June)

• Seehausen, Germany (June)

• Tuscany, Italy (June) – We spent our 1st wedding anniversary in Tuscany, in the middle of nowhere, among vineyards, olive groves, and cypresses, and full exclosure: We were eating all day long. For some activity, we did a truffle hunt followed by a wine tasting, which was accompanied by pasta and the truffle we found. We also visited Pisa and Lucca, two charming little towns. 

• Singapore (July, October, December) – We’ve flown to Singapore three times this year and it would not be my end-of-year review if I didn’t dedicate a highlight to Singapore. In July we were in Singapore for the first time, for our so-called Pre-Move-Visit or to look and see if we like the city and thus could imagine living in Singapore for a longer time. In October, we eventually moved to Singapore and in December, we went back to Berlin for the first time since we’ve moved (not a long time huh) When we came back to Singapore, we were surprisingly happy to be back in our “new” home.

• Corfu (August), Greece

• Saranda, Albania

• Helsinki (September), Finland – Finland was among the European countries we wanted to visit before heading to Singapore. Actually, our first trip to Singapore was via Helsinki which is probably where the idea grew… Helsinki was great: lots of food, a great old town (it’s called Design District in Helsinki) to explore and lots of cinnamon buns, coffee and drinks. I can highly recommend the nordic city, which is – next to Copenhagen – one of my favorites now.

• Bali (October), Indonesia

• Berlin (December), Germany

• Da Nang (December), Vietnam