2021 was a tough year for travel. Here's what we have done.
TL;DR
Looking back on one year of bucketlist2life. A review, some resolutions and a lot of thankfulness.
Disclaimer: This post started out as a newsletter (subscribe if you don't have already 😉) but it turned out much too long.
We started this blog in December 2020 to compensate for our cancelled world travel that was supposed to start in summer 2020. Also, we wanted to be prepared for travelling when the world opens back up in 2021 – little did we know... Still, we managed to visit quite a lot of places.
All the places we visited in 2021
Our 2021 travels
We planned to have 4 kinds of adventures in 2021:
- Microadventures in and around our home town
- Travels in our home country
- Longer journeys within Europe
- Travel the world
And we managed to do 1. to 3.
Microadventures in and around our home town
We explored our hometown Berlin like never before. This helped us massively to not go crazy during seemingly endless months of lockdowns. It gave us the feeling of travelling even when we couldn't because we saw rivers and lakes, forests, cityscapes and even a few (very small) mountains.
Travels in our home country
When Germany started to reopen, we started exploring our home country. First, we explored our home state Lower Saxony in depth. We enjoyed the half-timbered houses and the castles in the area.
Afterwards, we ventured further south to explore Mainz and Wiesbaden on a weekend getaway.
Longer journeys within Europe
Finally, our dream of going on a long journey came true. We started in Greece in July and made our way through the Balkan countries Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, and Slovenia. We finished our trip in Cyprus in November.
And what can we say? We want more of that (semi) nomadic lifestyle!
We even ticked off some items from our Europe bucketlist
We rescheduled our cancelled trip to Slovenia and visited several bucketlist places in the Balkans like the beaches of Albania and Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia.
Bucket2life project
It was great to put our bucketlist2life app to a first test. At first, we only used it as a graphic tool to enhance our blogposts (like we did in this one).
What you haven’t seen yet is that we included a GPS function so we could navigate to all of our bucketlist spots on our travels.
After trying the app ourselves on our recent journeys, we’ve got lots of new ideas for improvements and the big picture continues to be shaped. So stay tuned for some news from us in 2022!
We met some incredible people on our journey.
Lannie Travels and CarpeDiemEire introduced us to their awesome #travelblogtuesday community where we met Twitter friends like Chalk & Cheese Travels, Berkeley Square Barbarian, Perthtravelers, FollowingtheRivera, Small Town Plus Size, Out of the Office 4 Good, RJonTourUK, Jen Nilsson and way too many others to mention.
We are immensely happy to have participated in some awesome hashtags like #ThankfulThursdayEveryday by Travel Bugs World, #travchat, or #top4theme by Charles McCool, Mia's Touch of Success & Excellence, and Giselleinmotion.
We participated in our first collab and initiated our first collab 16 things to do outdoors and socially distant in all regions of Germany with newplace.newstory, Erlebe Schleswig-Holstein, 1000km Reisen, Zeitreisen.Home, walkaboutdream, Goldrauschenblog, Jekuslife, Travellerin, Frank's Fotografieblog, Wild East Blog, HundeReisenMehr, Reiseblog Saarland, Travel Day, Julinas Travellife, and Guide your Travel.
Thank you!
What's in the future?
We always use the holidays as a period for reflection. We'll start into the new year with a lot of new energy and new ideas, so be curious and stay tuned!
We still hope that we will be able to do 4. – Travel the world – in 2022.
By the way: This is our 42nd blogpost. As massive Douglas Adams fans that must mean something, right? 😉
16 Comments
John Quinn
Delighted to have made all those introductions for you. It’s been a pleasure to follow along on your first year of blogging. I think you had an excellent travel year. Let’s aim for even more in 2022.
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you so very much for your support!
Peggy Zipperer
You really made the most of the year! Your long European journey is simply dreamy, I would love to be able to do that! Absolutely love your reflections of the year <3
Sisbehaving
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you. I honestly thought your reflections were much more creative 😉
Tom
Thank you so much for mentioning us! We didn't realize this is a new blog, as it seems like we've been friends much longer. Love how you travel and reading about your journeys. Keep it up!
Small Town Plus Size
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you 🙂 We often feel like it's been much longer ourselves.
Emma
Congrats on one year of the blog. What a year, but I'm so glad you seem to have been able to still make the best of 2021 and add some amazing travels to your year. The support from the online community can definitely help make or break the experience of blogging and I agree that TravelBlogTuesday is one of the highlights. Wishing you a great 2022
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
The second half of 2021 was much better than the first... Let's hope 2022 gets even better for all of us 🙂 it seems like I found myself a great little online community ❤️
Wendy White
What a lot of travel you managed to do in 2021. We were "stuck" in Western Australia so used that time to see every bit of our state.
Congratulations on all that you have achieved with your blog in such a short amount of time. That's amazing.
A big thank you for the mention, have enjoyed reading your posts and getting to know you.
Perthtravelers
Perthravelers Travel Guides
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you so much! Reading all your Australia content was like a little exotic getaway for me every week 🙂
Stefan (BerkeleySqB)
Thanks a bunch for the shout-out, Carina, much obliged.
Well done on what you've achieved. I had forgotten how relatively young your blog is. Feels like you've been around for much longer. Well done on your achievements, especially on having chosen 'the number' for the number of blog posts. I like Douglas Adams too.
I think I probably read most of your posts, but seeing it all here in summary, you guys really kept busy..
My first-year blog posts, very different from yours, were so badly written that I deleted or completely re-wrote every last one of them.
Berkeley Square Barbarian
Stand Up Paddleboarding the Cuckmere River Source to Sea (4h) • Berkeley Square Barbarian
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you and you are very welcome 😊 sometimes I feel like we've been around much longer, too.
I think it's time that we start to rewrite some of our earlier posts as well...
Vanessa Shields
I didn’t realize you started your blog in 2020! It’s a great time to start and travel options will keep getting better. Even with restrictions, you got to see so many beautiful places! Visiting Berlin, Albania and Cyprus are top on my list.
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
I hope the blog will pick up as traveling picks up!
Jen Nilsson
What an honor to be counted among your friends! And 42 blog posts in a year? ON FIRE! I can't wait to follow your adventures in 2022 and beyond!
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Of course! Thank you so much! Hopefully the first adventure starts next week!
Travel for a while
It looks like you managed to travel to some beautiful places in 2021. I hope you get to do your number 4 on the list and check many other bucket list places this new year!
Travel for a while
Killruddery House and Gardens - Exploring a Beautiful Irish Estate
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you! Let's keep our fingers crossed for Mexico next week 🤞
Hannah S
Wow, you guys have been so busy despite everything! And I'm so glad you got to meet the wonderful travel community :)
Sage Adventures
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
We're glad to! Thank you for your support ☺️
kmf
Love following you on micro adventures and other travels! Wishing you many more experiences in the coming year!
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you! The micro adventures were fun while they lasted nut we hope to venture much further this year!
Lisa at Following the Rivera
What a great year you both had! I know you had more plans, but you, and me, were still lucky to travel around Europe. We live in a diverse continent and there's plenty to see here. Wishing you a happy 2022!
Following the Rivera
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Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Happy 2022 to you too! I hope to see a lot more of Europe this year...
Mitch - VeryTastyWorld
You really made the most of a difficult year. We have long wanted to visit Berlin - maybe this will be the year that we make it there - so we will definitely check out your posts about your home city. We've enjoyed your posts on the Balkans. Here's hoping for lots of travels in 2022!
Very Tasty World
Foodie Adventures Around the Globe - Very Tasty World
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
If you need any more tips for Berlin just let me know! It's an amazing city – especially in summer...
Paul (Paul Passing Through)
Despite the difficulty of 2021, it looks like you got to see lots of great things! I'm interested in this app. I'll have to check it out. I couldn't agree more about the Twitter community. I'm so glad to have found everyone on some of these groups :)
Paul Passing Through
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you so much. Let's hope we have something to show soon ;)
Chalk and cheese travels
Have enjoyed reading your posts, and for the year that its has been you have still managed so much. Really enjoyed the journey through the Balkans, that was a particular highlight for me. Look forward to seeing you guys tick off the bucket list..
Keep it up guys
Chalk & Cheese Travels
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Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Thank you so much for your continuous support. I loved reading your blogposts (especially Ireland) as well and hope to read much more from you in 2022!
Carolin
I agree, 2021 was a tough year for travel but you managed to do well and get some adventures in regardless. Exploring your local area was something I did too. The Devils Hill in Berlin was on my list, too but was unsure if they would offer tours because of Covid. Sorry to hear your long-term travel plans were ruined :( I was in a similar position, but I was already out exploring and had to cancel the trip mid-way. It will get better!
Carolin | Solo Travel Story
Carina | Bucketlist2Life
Cancelling your trip mid way sounds tough as well... At least during the summer months the Devils Hill was open but things are tricky to predict and plan these days...