What a year 2021 has been! My daughter Gaja was born in September (more on this below), which means that I was pregnant for the majority of the year and after giving birth I was adjusting to the new life of being a mum. This, in addition to coronavirus still being a big part of our lives with many restrictions in place, for me meant that I mostly did trips around my home country Slovenia. Including our first trip as a family of three. And I again broke my own record of the lowest number of countries visited in a year.
1. Travelling done in 2 countries
Italy
This summer we spent a week in Trento and around Lake Garda – you can read all about it here. We visited Lago di Toblino, Arco, Riva del Garda, San Felice del Benaco, Chiesa de San Fermo view point and Peschiera del Garda. It was an amazing city and beach escape. It was also our last vacation as a couple before welcoming our daughter Gaja to the family, so I like to think of it as our babymoon. 🙂
Slovenia
Despite spending the first months of the year in another lockdown, we still managed to do quite some trips around Slovenia later in the year. You can read about my favourite destinations here. But if you need some more inspiration, I am sharing all the spots we have visited below.
Jezersko
Bohinj
We visited this area twice. First in April, when we admired Savica waterfall, Lake Bohinj and the views from the Peč view point. We did the next visit in August, when we spend some time at the beach of Lake Bohinj and enjoy milder temperatures in the summer. On our way back to Ljubljana we also stopped for some delicious cake kremšnita with a view of lovely Lake Bled.
Ptuj & Kocbek Oil Mill
Koroška region and around
Walk with alpacas on Alpaca’s Hill, Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenj Gradec, Velenje city center and beach at Velenje’s Lake
Weekend on Slovenian coast
PortoroĹľ, Piran, Strunjan, Fiesa, Ankaran, Dekani
Birthday trip to Logar Valley & a drive on SolÄŤava panoramic road
Dolenjska region
Kostanjevica na Krki, Otočec, Novo mesto, Hudičev turn, Žužemberg
Arboretum VolÄŤji Potok
Winter getaway to Kranjska Gora and Radovljica
Ljubljana and around
As we live in capital of Slovenia, we did numerous walks around different areas of the city. For me Ljubljana’s Old Town is one of the most beautiful and I love just walking around, admiring the architecture, window-shopping small shops in the center and sitting down for a delicious coffee. We also visited botanical garden to admire snowdrops in bloom and did a walk around church Sv. Urh near Horjul.
0 new countries visited
It pains me to write this again, but I did not visit any new country for the second year in a row. I really hoped that 2021 will bring some new (or at least more already visited) countries to the list of my adventures. Here’s hopping on better travel conditions in 2022.
2. Most popular on blog and social media
Most popular blog post
Surprisingly, an old post about Gibraltar, one of the first ones I wrote, made it to the top this year.
9 best photos on Instagram
You can follow me on Instagram here.
Facebook post that reached most people
You can follow me on Facebook here.
3. Life lately
Becoming a mother
On the 24th of September my dear daughter Gaja was born. We have been impatiently waiting for her, as she made her arrival to this world 11 days after her due day. She was born at 11 pm and did turn out to be more of a night owl than early riser, at least for now. But I cannot complain, as she is amazing during the day and has been sleeping really great during the night. She also likes to eat, which means, she is definitely our daughter. But there is nothing more perfect than the moments when she smiles. In her sleep, at us or even better – with us. Family time really became extra precious with her.
For me, the first month of motherhood had a lot of similarities with travelling – feeling of jet lag and changing time zones, a bit of culture shock, communicating in foreign language, new means of transport … But entering Gaja’s second month we got used to being a family of three, started sleeping well and kind of established our daily routine. With little baby you never know what surprises a day will bring. Gaja likes her baby stroller and our daily walks, listens to me reading and singing to her, enjoys bathing and tummy time. She also likes to drive in a car and did really good on her first trip to Kranjska Gora. I can’t wait to explore more of world’s beauties with her.
5 years of blogging
In November I celebrated 5 years since I published my first blog post on Marshmallow Travels. It was about beautiful Dutch city Delft. Since then people from 172 countries visited my blog! And the most were interested in my travel itinerary for French and Spanish Basque country.
4. Plans for 2022
This November we finally bought plane tickets again. The last time I was on a plane was in September 2019, when we were flying back home from the trip to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. If all goes according to plan, we will be boarding a flight to Canary Islands this February. It will be my second time visiting the islands after amazing week we spend on Gran Canaria in 2018. I can’t wait to look through a plane window again and explore new destination. And to see how Gaja will like flying. This is our only travel plan for 2022 so far, but I hope that it will be a kind year for my wanderlust.
I wish you a lovely start of 2022, health and happiness throughout the year! 🙂
Check out also the recaps of 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
I like you compare first month of beeing a mum with traveling (jet lag). I think you are doing great. Like we did travel together and become richer for momemts we can share, you are also in position to give same to your daughter. I hope you will sucessed with your plans. In this situation with Corona you must learn to improvize as things change rapidly.
Thank you! Our travels together were really the best! 🙂