Looking ahead to 2019

New Year’s Day is that time of the year when I like to look ahead to the forthcoming year, and make a lot of travel and blogging predictions that probably won’t come true.

Last year, I made a number of predictions and a surprising number materialised. I passed my driving test and bought a car, I made it to Brittany (below) and spent four days in the glorious city of Porto.

I also blogged about my trip to Costa Rica and the area around Poitiers in France, and wrote a couple more travel guides (Jordan and Edinburgh).

Predictions that failed to come true included buying a house (still on the cards for this year but Brexit has a lot to answer for), lots of blogging plans and trips to far flung destinations.

What’s coming up in 2019?

On the travel front in 2019, I’m off to Malaysia in March, as well as the Loire and possibly Paris in June. I’d then like to round out the year with a city break somewhere in Europe, and now that I have a car, spend some time exploring parts of the UK I rarely visit.

Any tips on where to go, what to eat, etc, in Malaysia, the Loire, Paris or the UK will be greatly appreciated.

In March, I’ll be spending a fortnight in Malaysia, starting in Borneo, where I’m hoping to see lots of incredible wildlife (orangutans! tarsiers! sun bears!) and spectacular geology, before moving onto the Malay peninsula, where I’ll be taking in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Georgetown, before finishing in Langkawi.

In June, I’ll be touring the Loire region of France for a week, where I expect I shall gorge myself silly on splendid chateaux, patisserie, cheese and wine.

I’m also toying with the idea of flying home from Paris and using that as an excuse to spend a few days in the French capital. I’m not the biggest fan of Paris, so we shall see whether that happens.

Regular readers may have clocked that I’m ridiculously slow at blogging my trips (thankfully I keep super detailed diaries while I travel), so if you’d like to keep up-to-date with my comings and goings, check out my Instagram (@thislittleoldworld).

Because of the above, I’m also really behind on blogging a number of my big trips, so first up this year will be a series based around my week long trip to Jordan.

I’ll also hopefully get around to blogging about my city break in Porto (above) and my 10-day long stay in Brittany. I’ll probably also put together a couple more travel guides (Cuba is likely, as is Vietnam). If anyone has any preferences, let me know in the comments.

Thank you!

Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read, liked, shared or commented on my posts over the past year. I write my blog for my own amusement, so I’m still gobsmacked that other people take the time to read and comment on what I write. It’s very much appreciated and I really enjoy reading your comments.

I’d also like to thank a number of other bloggers whose blogs I read on a regular basis and who provide a lot of travel and food inspiration. I’m forever reading other people’s posts and thinking I have to go there or try that restaurant/dish. So thanks for the inspiration!

Happy New Year! Have a wonderful 2019!

Bx