Pack The Suitcases’ 2021 travel roundup

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Happy new year! I can’t quite believe we’ve got through another year of all this. Overall, 2021 was less hideous than 2020 but still pretty rubbish. And so this roundup of everywhere I went is obviously going to be quite short…

I’m typing this sat on the sofa in my pyjamas, nursing a cup of tea while my other half self-isolates upstairs after a delightful Christmas present of a positive PCR. I think that about sums the state of 2021 up. But since 2016, I’ve been doing these yearly roundups, in which I try to sum up the ‘best of’ and ‘worst of’ for all my previous year’s travel, and it’s become a tradition I can’t drop. They serve as a kind of personal reminder and are more for me than anything else, seeing as they’re of no interest to most people.

So, if you’re reading this, you’re probably one of my regular readers and I love you for sticking with me! Pour the dregs of your New Year’s Eve bubbly and enjoy a read about my rather limited travel highs and lows in 2021. They range from sitting next to the worst passenger in the world on a flight home to discovering a new bit of Scotland to explore. I also touch on my massive plans for 2022 (everything crossed)…

Places visited in 2021

Well, this isn’t going to take long, is it?

• January: Nowhere.
• February: Nowhere. 
• March: Nowhere.
• April: Nowhere.
• May: Nowhere.
• June: A few places near Kirkcudbright, Scotland. 
• July: Hexham, Northumberland. This was a relaxing break where I did very little, so I haven’t blogged about it. However, I’ve mentioned the gorgeous (and mildly bankrupting) hotel I found further down this post in the ‘best accommodation of the year’ section.
• August: Pitlochry, Scotland.
• September: Nowhere.
• October: Tavira, Portugal. ABROAD AT LAST! I haven’t blogged about it yet but will be doing so in early 2022.
• November: Nowhere.
• December: Nowhere. 

So that’s four trips: three in the UK and one abroad. Given the state of the world, I wasn’t expecting to be able to get abroad so that was wonderful. But overall, it was another very restricted year of travel.

Best travel experience of 2021

Finally getting abroad to Tavira, Portugal, and sitting on the balcony watching the world go by

In October, I finally escaped abroad after 22 months of imprisonment in the UK. That’s the longest I’ve spent in the UK in my adult life. It felt like 22 years.

Never have I been so happy to walk down the stairs off the aeroplane and breathe in warm foreign air.

You may be wondering why I picked Tavira (one of the classier bits of the Algarve in Portugal) instead of somewhere more adventurous. Here’s why:

• Portugal was, and still is, doing pretty well COVID-wise
• Tavira is hot in October so you can easily spend most of your time outdoors
• I know Portugal well and decided that somewhere familiar would be easier when I was in a state of exhaustion and hadn’t travelled properly for ages.

It turned out to be an excellent pick, and just what Dr Chris Whitty would have ordered.

I’ll explain more when I finally blog about it (currently that post is festering in my drafts folder) but I love Tavira. It’s reminiscent of my all-time fave, Madeira. Great food (plenty of pescetarian and vegan options), super clean and pretty, good bars and atmosphere at night, independent shops to mooch around, and the sea close at hand.

Oh and the apartment we stayed in was absolutely spot on. It even had a balcony, which always makes anywhere 10 x better. I think my favourite specific moment in Tavira was sitting on that balcony on the first evening as the sun went down, drinking a beer and deciding where to go to eat, with the sounds of people on the street below. Absolute bliss.

I loved it so much that next year, I plan on going back as part of a Big Plan (more on that later).

Worst travel experience of 2021

The plane journey home from Portugal

Other than the whole pandemic thing ruining travel/life for another year, I did actually have a specific hideous travel experience over the summer.

The flight home from Portugal is something that’ll be etched in my memory for years to come. And not in a good way.

I won’t go into too much graphic detail but just in case anyone is reading while eating, you may want to skip this section.

I was sat next to the worst possible fellow passenger you could imagine. And I’ve sat next to some rude/annoying/unwashed delights over the years. This chap really took the biscuit.

First, he had no idea about personal space and kept putting his leg into the foot area for my seat, sprawling well over my armrest, and spraying bits of the crisps he was eating into the general atmosphere. That would have been just about bearable, but he also stunk to high heaven. It was a heady mixture of BO, alcohol and fish. I have a pretty strong stomach but when he decided, five minutes into the flight, to take his shoes and socks off to reveal his bare feet and the smell that accompanied them, I dry heaved. I’ve never done that without a hangover. And bear in mind that I was wearing a mask so presumably much of the stench was filtered out.

Oh and he also seemed to find it perfectly acceptable to repeatedly cough up phlegm into his hand and wipe it on a tissue, which he then threw on the floor (yes, we’re still in a global pandemic).

I lasted 15 minutes before I had to get up and ask to move to one of the (thankfully) empty seats further down the plane. 

Best local destination of 2021

Pitlochry, Scotland

I’ve written a full blog post on Pitlochry recently, so those of you who regularly read my blog will probably have already heard a lot about it. You won’t be surprised to hear that I fell in love with it. I’d been before but not since childhood, so returning as an adult I was worried it might not live up to expectations/memories. But it did. 

The town has a really unique setting, surrounded by big rivers and lush glens and with a big cone-shaped mountain towering over it. The views are great and as it’s the ‘gateway to the Highlands’, you’ve got some incredible countryside on the doorstep full of good walking routes. Despite the rural location, Pitlochry is a proper town with decent shops, good restaurants and plenty going on. The fact it’s got a railway station is also brilliant. So many places I love in Scotland aren’t really doable without a car.

If you’re looking at somewhere to go in 2022 within the UK, I’d definitely recommend it. Oh, and I’d picked the lovely, cosy Oakbank Cottage to stay in, which is really well located. It’s only a few minutes’ waddle into the centre of town. 

Best accommodation of 2021

Walwick Hall, Northumberland

I had such a glorious time at Walwick Hall Country Estate and Spa near Hexham, Northumberland, this summer. It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. This is something I had to remind myself of repeatedly when I saw my credit card bill afterwards. But honestly, it was worth the financial ruination. 

I’d avoided hotels and just done self-catering cottages over the last however long it’s been, for obvious reasons. So it was really nice to be back in a hotel after so long, and a posh one at that. There’s a lot to be said for having your room done and breakfast sorted every day. Self-catering is nice but it doesn’t allow me to fully unwind and switch off. Walwick Hall was the first time I’d not had to plan and think for nearly two years. As a result, I don’t think I’ve been that relaxed since ‘Precedented Times’. I slept for 11/12 hours every night and came home feeling almost alive.

The room was beautiful, with views across their stunning gardens and over the countryside. The food was incredible (evening meals as well as brekkie) and they catered so well to dietary requirements. My favourite thing though was the cocktail bar on site. They did the best rhubarb-based cocktails I’ve ever had, as well as a perfect Aperol Spritz, of which I had many. It was like entering a peaceful little luxury world for a few days.

I loved the local area of Northumberland too. It’s a gorgeous and underrated bit of the country. I really need to go back to do it properly as I spent the week not doing much at all. I was busy focusing on sleeping, eating and drinking; the only ‘activity’ I really did was walking Hadrian’s Wall. This made for a very unusual break for me as I normally don’t stop. But it was much needed. 

If you need to switch off and want to treat yourself, I would highly, highly recommend Walwick Hall.

Travel blogging in 2021

Travel blogging recovery

After 2020 and the lack of travel decimating travel blogging in the UK, things finally started picking up in 2021. I’d published a fair few posts at the end of 2020 and these started ranking in Google and picking up traffic (views) as the year went on. Combined with borders and travel opening up again gradually, and thus people searching travel-related queries on Google once more, my figures eventually got back to normal. I can’t tell you how nice it was when I got back to my first 2,000-readers day! 

I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who read and supported the blog in 2021. Your lovely comments, emails and social media messages keep me going with it some days. I love writing but sometimes when I’m knackered I really can’t face typing another word or editing another photo. As if on cue, a Tweet will pop up from someone letting me know they’re having a hoot at a bar in Venice I’ve recommended or something. I love it and it proper spurs me on.

If you don’t already follow the Pack The Suitcases page on Facebook, please do. It’s where I tend to put my more personal ramblings and where I promote any new blog posts as they go live, and I love hearing from readers on there. I’m also active on Instagram and Twitter.

Oh and you may not have noticed, but I revamped the blog’s layout and homepage this year. It loads much faster now and is easier to use. What do you think?

The Airbnb drama

Despite 2021 being a much better year for travel bloggers, one really crap thing did happen. Airbnb ended their affiliate scheme. Just as things were improving, too.

If you don’t know what an affiliate scheme is, it’s where you can link to something on your blog and earn a commission if someone purchases/books through your link. For travel bloggers, affiliate schemes make up a huge chunk of our income.

I normally use the Booking.com scheme, as that’s my favourite site for booking hotels and apartments. I’ve never been a huge Airbnb fan and haven’t been too impressed with their illegal goings-on and turning a blind eye to travel bans in recent years. So luckily, I wasn’t too affected by the Airbnb one closing as I didn’t have many links to them.

But it really affected most travel bloggers, and it was horrible timing from Airbnb. Thousands of links to Airbnb from blogs really upped their rankings in Google and made them more popular with travellers who might not normally use them. They took all those free links and publicity quite happily. And then closed once they dominated the market and no longer needed help. Some bloggers struggled to get their final commission from them. Ouch.

The rise of the ‘staycation’

It almost feels pointless writing about this as I’m sure everyone who reads this blog post will be well aware of the matter. But 2021 was a year of many people in the UK sticking to the UK for almost all their travel.

This meant that travel bloggers started covering far more local destinations in order to cater to that demand. Even travel bloggers (mentioning no names) who’d previously slagged off UK trips and had never blogged about anywhere local before suddenly had £-signs in their eyes and set off on trips to York and Bath. 

I’ve always blogged about local destinations (Kirkcudbright, Skipton, Kirkby Lonsdale and my list of the best UK city breaks are some of my most popular posts). I saw traffic soar for UK stuff, and I would have really liked to write about more destinations but time got away from me, as I was busy making plans. Find out why in the next section…

My plans for 2022

Early 2022 trips

Here I am celebrating with an Aperol Spritz as I’ve got two very different but equally exciting trips coming up (fingers crossed). And both are work for the blog rather than holidays! Get me being all professional.

One is to Rye in Sussex with Classic Cottages to try out one of their beautiful new rentals there. The other is to Tenerife with Jet2 to write about the island as a winter sun destination.

I’m feeling very lucky that work is coming in and people want to pay me to write and blog again. This was unthinkable last year. Hoorah! 

But that isn’t the most exciting thing I have planned for 2022…

Taking a year off work to travel

I have a big, ginormous, whopping travel adventure coming up slightly later in the year. And it’s suddenly starting to feel very real, which is both exciting and also ARRRRGH.

In 2022, I’m taking a break from my full-time job for 12 months in order to travel (and blog). 12 months!

Deep breath.

My other half and I were actually granted this career break (also known as a sabbatical) from our jobs before the pandemic hit. We’ve obviously been putting it off since then due to the ongoing situation and various lockdowns. In fact, I think we’ve changed the start date at least four times, which must have been such an administrative joy for our poor managers.

But with how things are looking, and the fact we’ve waited so long, we’ve decided it’s time to just go for it. Now or never and all that. And yes, I’m touching all of the wood and crossing every digit as I type this. But I’m cautiously optimistic. Imagine how much blogging I’ll be able to get done! And all the places I can get to know really well because we’re going to do slow travel, ‘living’ for a month in each place before moving on. I think this is going to mean a lot of 2022 blog posts indeed. I’ll still be back in the UK regularly to see family and friends (and because of Brexit meaning days in the Schengen zone are limited!). But it’ll be a real once-in-a-lifetime adventure. 

Anyway, please do keep everything crossed for me that the pandemic doesn’t delay these plans yet again. And let me know in the comments where you’re hoping to head off to in 2022! 

If you’d like an email alert when I publish a new post this year, subscribe using the box at the side (if you’re on a laptop) or at the bottom (if you’re on a mobile or tablet). And if you enjoy my blog in general and all the travel guides and tips I share on it, you can even buy me a drink. Cheers. 

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