Skip to main content

2019 in review

After a few quieter years, 2019 saw us strike out for some new destinations and experiences.

January


Our first trip to Scandinavia and the Nordic countries as we flew to Denmark, Sweden and Finland via Osaka on Jetstar and Finnair. We were very impressed with Finnair and their A350-900, our first time on the aircraft. In Denmark we explored Copenhagen by leg and visited the amazing Lego House. Unfortunately, the Cabinn accommodation wasn't so pleasant, so we left early for Sweden, where we enjoyed Malmo, before taking the train up to Stockholm. Along the way we stopped by the Ikea Museum.

In Stockholm we walked the Gamla Stan and visited the Vasa, ABBA and Tekniska Museums, each with their own charms. Then we caught the overnight ship to Helsinki in Finland, my first experience of a cruise. From Helsinki we travelled up by train to Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle and were chilled and thrilled on a dog sled and other activities at the Santa Village. Then back down on the overnight train to Helsinki where Alex enjoyed sledding.

We flew back to spend a few days in Osaka on the return, cycling and speedboating in Amano-Hashidate, Himeji Castle and getting snowed on at the Kyoto Railway Museum.

April


No more travel until the school holidays and feeling the financial pinch of the Scandinavian trip we decided on a cheap drive up to the Gold Coast. I never want to head north on Good Friday again with the terrible traffic jams. However, Coffs Harbour was fun, Byron Bay partying and the Gold Coast relaxing. Port Macquarie, on the drive back, was also quite pretty and the fish tacos were so nice. It was the most driving I've ever done myself.

July


B's desire to eat durian lead to us booking flights to Singapore. We road along the East Coast on bikes, then crossed over into Malaysia for a stay on the Desaru Coast. There wasn't much to do there, but we found plenty to eat back in Johor Bahru, before heading back into Singapore to admire the amazing Changi Jewel.

October


The October school holidays only featured a short stay in nearby Canberra, visiting the Mint, the Dreamworks Exhibition at the National Museum of Australia and walk around Floriade. I also took a ride along the entire length of the new light rail system!

November


More driving! Instead of flying down to Melbourne to watch Return of the Jedi in Concert, I drove by myself. Down one day, back the next. All by myself.

December


Just a couple of day trips to end the travelling year, a ferry ride up the Parramatta River and a first and last trip along the Carlingford Line before it closes for conversion into light rail. It was a quiet end to a year that began with a bang.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My first overseas trip: Singapore and Malaysia

I've always loved to travel. My first memory is of sitting in a an aircraft, aged 18 months or so. Yet I never believed that I could travel overseas. To me, it seemed like something you did when you retired, or if you were rich. That all changed when I met B. She had not only travelled overseas, she was from overseas . B was born in Malaysia and arrived in Australia, with her family, in 1988. She still had relatives and friends in Malaysia and Singapore and she, along with the remainder of her family, planned to return for a visit during the Australian summer of 1995. At the time I was staying in B's mother's house while we were studying at university. After B's father passed away the year before I was the nominal "man" of the house and its high maintenance garden; her brother Michael was studying up in Queensland. B and I were quite inseparable and her mother kindly offered to pay for me to join them on their vacation. So it was that I obtained my very firs...
Post a Comment
Read more

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site .  I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch.  The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It...
Post a Comment
Read more