2018, a year filled with travels

One thing I really like with blogging is the easy of walking back the memory line. From a travel perspective the year has been great, but on the personal level I have not been that happy from time to time. Right now I am so ready to leave 2018 behind me and start a new year.

January

I started 2018 in the Philippines. Exploring the island of Palawan and Bohol. Two developing places that I really enjoyed going to and my favorites were a kayaking tour at Palawan and Chocolate hills at Bohol. Then I was home for a few days before a XC skiing trip to Östersund with colleagues. The weekend after that I headed to Oslo, Norway and had the best winter weekend eating sweet potato fries and skiing the whole days with my adventure friend in crime. Of course I ended january with another trip. This time to Frankfurt, Germany where we had a friend hangout and chill weekend at my friends place.

February

In February I was looking for snow each and every day. My 3rd Vasaloppet was approaching and I was tired of traveling so I was in Stockholm skiing and also managed to go to Högbo and participate in Bessemerloppet. The last weekend in February I went to my favorite place, the Seychelles to get some sun and run the 10K at Seychelles marathon where I won the women’s race. First race win ever!

March

I started the month with going to Sälen and did my 90K XC skiing at Vasaloppet. I love that race and hope to be able to many many more. Then the winter was officially over and I went to Florida for a roadtrip with a friend. We challenged our fear of driving and drove from Fort Meyers to Tampa and ended it all with running a marathon in the hometown of Coca Cola – Atlanta. I was running. My friend was supporting. When I got home my uncle passed away – from not being sick at all. I was tired of everything and had a mental breakdown. Didn’t wanted to go anywhere or do anything during Eastern but exactly no one was at home and I didn’t wanted to be left all alone in Stockholm and my parents were traveling at the other side of the world so I could not even escape to them in my hometown. Four hours before the flight to Hong Kong departed Stockholm I went home from work and out for a run in the spring sun and decided leaving this is the best option. I had made plans to go to Melbourne to see my friend that moved there for work some months earlier. So I went. First stop was Hong Kong for two nights. I was like a wrack. Got it together and did stuff although I didn’t felt for it at all by I also spent a lot of time at the hotel pool.

April

After a good nights sleep at a Cathay pacifics A350 flight I woke up in Melbourne, Australia. Far down under. Had a really nice week at my friends place, drinking wine and apparol spritz in overload, running, chilling and went to a nice SPA. That was exactly what I needed. The trip home was a disaster and I had a goal of being back in time to the finals of our soccer indoor cup and I made it. Without marginal. Living on the edge. Then I was home one night before going to Hamburg for the annual aircraft interior fair and the day after I came home from Hamburg I flew to Halmstad to attend the funeral of my uncle. After that I didn’t even wanted to see a plane or airport.

May

Did I spent May at home? of course not. I went to Singapore with my travel friend in crime and we had a more than fab long weekend at former colleagues place. Doing rooftop bars, beach, Universal studios and just enjoying. I love Singapore. We actually also ran a race. With a terrible hangover. Then I was home. Playing soccer, doing BBQs, hanging out at Hornsbergsstrand. May was fab.

June

Summer was here and I continues with the theme of playing soccer, doing BBQs, went to Summerburst and beach. And ran some races with successful results. 4th place at Sthlm High Five (5K) and 4th place in the team race STHLM10 where I partnered with my brother. During Midsummer I went to my number one favorite place in Sweden, Smögen. I was once again looking forward to some travels.

July

So time again to see the world. I had no real summer vacation but had instead taken three times long weekends for travels. I couldn’t decide where to go on the first one but ended up going to Saigon in Vietnam. It became a great vacay and I had wanted to go there for a long time. Then one weekend was a super spontaneous getaway to Split, Croatia. New country for me and catchup with a friend that was there and also did some excursions at my own. I loved Split and hope to go there for a sailing week next summer. Then I went to Mauritius for a long weekend. Actually I had a reason to go because I was running the half marathon there. One of my bucketlist races and it turned out good. I finished the 21K at 1:43:16 and ended up at the second place at the most amazing race course I ever been running at! If I was finished traveling? no. I went to the West coast again on a road trip and had a fab weekend with friends doing beach and going to the AMAZE festival with Steve Angello.

August

August started with yet another trip to my favorite country US&A. I flew to Seattle to a Canadian friend living there and had a great time going to SEA festival and hiking Mt Rainier. The last weekend in August I headed to Stavanger with my adventure friend and I was running Stavanger marathon (new PB!) and the day after we hiked to Preikerstolen. A fantastic hike but way to crowded. It was as many people as in the supermarket que a Friday after work. That concluded one of the best summers in many many ears.

September

Then I was home until the end of September when I went to Zanzibar, Tanzania for a long weekend. A place from my bucketlist that I been dreaming about for long time. I really liked the place and met some very nice people during my first solo adventure to Africa. And of course I was running a bit this month. Lidingöloppet 30K and Stockholm half marathon. We also qualified for a new division with the soccer team next year, div 3.

October

I started this month with the most messed up trip. Ever?!? With a short notice a friend of mine was going to Nepal for a business trip and we had a great plan. I would join when she was done with her meetings to do sightseeing. Well, already before I passed the security check this trip was a mess and I never even got to Nepal. Guess everything is meant to be in someway so I came to Doha, Qatar and then I flew to Bangkok, Thailand. I really wanted to go to Bangkok but it was very out of any kind of plan going there now but I love Bangkok and I also got to catchup with a Thai uni friend I haven’t seen for long. October ended with an intense trip to Holland where I saw my friend that I was going to Nepal (she is Deutch), going to a b-day party and running a marathon where I finished at a new personal best. After that I was dead.

November

I had one whole week of vacation and couldn’t decide where to go. Asia? US? South America? Antarctica? Good knows. But it all ended up with a tour to San Francisco where I ran Golden Gate half marathon, Mexico and Isla Holbox which was even better than I ever could imagine and it all ended in Miami where I finally got to see Wynwood walls. Couldn’t have been better!

December

The first five six days of December I was in my beloved Hong Kong with my adventure friend. All our trips are all-in style and this was on the same. BBQing, hiking, rooftop bars, beach, you name it. Sleeping was the thing we missed out. I was home 1,5 days before the next trip and that was to the world famous destination of Paris. I went there with my parents and we had a super chilled weekend with a lot of walking and quality time.

Final words

This year has definitely not been so much about exploring new countries (only two) for me. More about going to favorite places to catch up with favorites living all over the world and combining with new cities. Over 60(!) flights I did in 2018, what frequent flyer level is that?! Now you probably think that I should really care more about the planet and not keep on flying around all the time. You are welcome to do that and I am fully aware of the consequences flying has at our environment.

Although it seems like I am living like a rockstar each and every single day and have done so this year I can tell you that my social media channels are focusing on training and traveling. Personal but not private I would say. From middle of september up and until now I have far from been dancing on pink clouds and the same during parts of the spring. But no-ones life is complete, we all struggle with different things in life. The days when I forced myself to get out from my bed has been there. Thanks to thee fact that I am so extremely stubborn and never give up I have managed to get up from my bed without pushing the snooze button or ending up not even putting my toes out of my cover at all, do some training in the dark morning hours just to get it together for another day. In best case with a smile. It’s not easy when its hard or what do you say? The last couple of months has included a lot of disappointment and frustration because I know I can do so much more but I don’t get the chance to. Without the traveling and everything that have come with it I don’t even wanna think about how dark this fall would have been. My ending words of this annual summary is that you should never trust that social media tells the truth and never give up your dreams. You might just need to take a different path or do things in a different way in order to get where you want.

Happy new year 2019 and may your dreams come true!

/ Loads of love from Pernilla