Here's to a More Adventurous 2022

There's no way of denying it; 2021 has been a very disappointing year for me. When I said goodbye to my boyfriend Claudio at Heathrow Airport on the 3rd January, we both thought it would only be a few months before I would be able to get my visa for my job in Santiago, and move out there to be with him. But unfortunately, the Chilean border and consulate didn't open until October, so I couldn't even start my visa application until then, and completing it has been a very long and slow process. Therefore, I'm still living in England with my parents, and I haven't seen Claudio in nearly a whole year.

It's also been a rubbish year in terms of travel, as I haven't been abroad at all (a first for me since 2009). Obviously I love exploring new places (hence why I write this travel blog!), and I try to visit at least one new country every year (something I did from 2014-2020). But of course, now that streak has been broken, and I'm really really missing foreign travel. 

So, all in all, this year has been tough, a lot tougher than 2020. But I want to end it on a positive note, by reflecting on some of the good things that have happened to me over the past twelve months...

1) I built up a more steady base of students in my job as an online English teacher, completing over 1000 teaching hours, and also qualifying as an IELTS teacher. I continue to really enjoy my work, and it's helped keep me sane over the last couple of years!

2) I successfully underwent laser vision correction surgery, which is something I'd wanted to do for a long time. It's great to be free from glasses and contact lenses, and it will definitely make my future travels a lot easier.

3) My parents and I completed the local travel "bucket list" that I'd created in 2020. We visited lots of interesting nearby places between April and August this year, my favourites being Westbury Court Garden (a Dutch water garden), Batsford Arboretum (a Japanese-style arboretum), and Sezincote (an Indian-style palace). These places really gave me the sense of being in a different part of the world for a little while, and they inspired me to write a post about my favourite UK alternatives to foreign destinations. We also managed to squeeze in a short sunny beach break this summer, which I very much appreciated!

4) This year I achieved a flight-free year for the first time since 2009! Obviously this was unintentional, as I'd planned to travel to Chile this year, and my mum and I were also going to take a trip to the south of France, which had to be cancelled. But I still think it's something to celebrate. Between 2017 and 2020, I was taking 6-9 individual flights every year, and I did feel a bit guilty about that, because I care a lot about the environment. So this year was a little way of making up for it. And although I won't be doing a flight-free year in 2022, I'll always try to find alternatives to flying whenever possible.

5) Blogging here has been a form of escapism during this rather monotonous year. Even though I haven't been able to travel abroad, I've tried to keep this blog as international as possible, through my Travel Tips and Country Guides series. It's been a nice way to reminisce about past travels and also to dream about the amazing places I want to visit in the future.

6) This month I've had a couple of little successes with my travel content. A piece of writing I did about my travel wishes for 2022 was included in an issue of Jack's Flight Club: The Detour, and two of my photos have been featured on the photography website Pexels. 

So it definitely hasn't been all bad! But of course I'm hoping that next year will be much better, and I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be. I was finally able to apply for my visa at the start of December, and I should be offered an appointment to collect it any day now. Which means that I will hopefully be able to go to Santiago in January! 

Once I'm there, Claudio and I plan to travel a lot. I've made a list of places for us to visit all over Chile, and we also want to go to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. So I'll hopefully have lots of exciting things to write about here on this blog!

Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone who's read Charlotte's Travel Adventures over the last year. I wish you a Happy New Year and many happy travels ahead!

Image by Djordje Vezilic from pexels.com