Is it too soon to look back at 2014? With so many websites, magazines and newspapers publishing their best of 2014 lists, I figured now is a great time to do the same. After all, I’m afraid that after all the eating and drinking that will take place in the coming days I probably won’t be able to remember anything of what happened this year.
Is it too soon to look back at 2014? With so many websites, magazines and newspapers publishing their best of 2014 lists, I figured now is a great time to do the same. After all, I’m afraid that after all the eating and drinking that will take place in the coming days I probably won’t be able to remember anything of what happened this year.I actually love doing this post as it made me go through my old blog posts to see what I’ve been up to this year. And it’s been quite a lot! I may be complaining that it only feels like yesterday that I was celebrating New Year’s Eve in Rotterdam, but I can’t say nothing has happened in between.
I looked at the first post I did in January about my travel plans for 2014. I haven’t managed to do everything (Sweden, you’re still on my list), but there have been so many other great trips this year that I hadn’t even thought of.
So, here we go: the best of 2014!
Best City Trip
I’ve done so many city trips this year and it’s almost impossible to pick a favorite. I finally visited Prague after talking about it for years. And going to Paris just for the weekend is something I definitely want to do again (and again and again) in 2015. Or the trip to Madrid with my Dutch photography friends that still makes me smile just thinking about it. I especially loved all these trips because I made them with great friends. And still, in the end…there’s no city I love going to more than New York. Can’t help it, this has to be number one.
Best Business Trip
This is a tough one, since work brought me to San Francisco where I could cross cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge of my bucket list. And I got to go to Vienna for the first time. But the winner here has to be my trip to Palestine, which made such a huge impression on me.
Best UK destination outside of London
This is where I miserably failed my new year’s resolution to see more of the UK. Can I try again in 2015? I’ve only been to Newcastle, Brighton and Sheffield this year. I know, it’s embarrassing. And they were all great trips that just made me want to see more. But out of these three, my favorite was visiting Hadrian’s Wall when I was in Newcastle.
Best Brunch
Londoners know how to brunch and it’s one of my favorite things to do in the weekend. So I’ve tried out quite a few this year. Many of them you can find in my London Guide. The best one though was Duck & Waffle. Nothing beats that view!
Best Afternoon Tea
Even if I wanted to (not that I do) I wouldn’t be able to avoid having afternoon tea on a (very) regular basis. I love it though. Especially when I get to enjoy it with a group of crazy London bloggers at the #LDNBloggersTea. In terms of venue, I guess my favorites this year were the Landmark Hotel and the Ampersand Hotel. But overall, I loved the last bloggers tea at the Lancaster London the most.
Best Coffee
I know I’ve been sharing a lot (!) of coffee stories here this past year. Up to a point where people around me got seriously worried about my coffee addiction (or addiction to share it). But the coffee places in London are just the best! So I’m definitely not done trying them all. Again, it’s hard to pick a winner, but after giving it some thought I would have to go with TAP Coffee.
Best Holiday
There’s only one right answer here, and that has to be SinterThanksgiving. Being an expat is all about starting new traditions with new friends and combining the Dutch Sinterklaas with the American Thanksgiving is a keeper.
Wow, so that was 2014 in a nutshell. Can’t wait to see what 2015 will bring. I need to start working on my travel plans for 2015 post…
