Anna July 2024 Update

Hiya!

It’s been a mostly chill three months. I’ve compiled this update to my life and travels for anyone who might be interested in what I get up to. The last one was back in April.

Travel-free April

Beginning three months ago: I had a very relaxed April. I didn’t get up to much at all!

Possibly the highlight was going on a couple of walks along the Sandstone Trail with my dad and sister. The Sandstone Trail is a 34 mile path running along the Sandstone Ridge through Cheshire. As I don’t live too far away from it, I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time, so it was great to finally walk two stretches of it. Hopefully this year I will make it to the other sections.

Other than that, the month was very quiet.

Chill May

Likewise, in May I didn’t do an awful lot. However, as the sun was finally up and heralded the transition to summer, it was exciting all the same.

Possibly the highlight of the month was visiting a friend in London. I ticked off another of my London bucket list – watching a performance at the Globe. As someone without a particular affection for Shakespeare, I was surprised how much I enjoyed watching Richard III. The actors had taken a contemporary and humorous approach to the play, so it was more fun and light-hearted than I expected.

Another highlight was meeting with a friend Lou and I made in Chile, who was on holiday in the UK. We went hiking with him in Edale (the only place in the Peak District I ever seem to visit). It was incredible to reminisce over our trip to the Atacama Desert whilst being so close to home!

I also made use of my National Trust membership by visiting Biddulph Grange Garden near Stoke. As I volunteered there in the summer between my first and second year at university, visiting again was quite a nostalgic experience. Not much had changed, but it was nice to see it in a spring light.

Busy June

In contrast to the previous few months, June was much busier.

On the first weekend, I went to a school friend’s hen do near London. As well as getting excited for the wedding in August, it was nice to see a part of Greater London I hadn’t been to before.

We went to an aqua park and then travelled onto Mersea Island in Essex for the night. I’d never heard of Mersea Island before the hen do, or even been to Essex. But I will be back – the island had such a calming atmosphere and I’d love to explore it a little more in the future.

Towards the end of June, I went on a slightly different trip, to Glastonbury Festival. This was my second Glastonbury volunteering with Oxfam. This time, we were lucky in that we were assigned early shifts, which occur before the festival begins. They were overnight shifts, which was difficult when paired with the sunny weather, making it difficult to sleep in the day – but at least we got them over quickly.

I enjoyed Glastonbury as always, but I have to say, nine days at a festival is slightly too long for me. It was chaotic and crowded, and by the end I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and having a long shower.

Updates to the blog

The past three months have seen minimal changes to this blog. I have continued to edit my notes on the places I visited in 2023 into new posts, and have also been writing about my more recent day and weekend trips.

In total, I’ve added 10 articles to the blog (4 on Vietnam, 2 on Cambodia, 1 on festivals, 1 on Bolivia, 1 on Europe, and 1 on the Philippines), totalling just over 21,000 words.

I find putting the articles together quite therapeutic and hopefully will clear some more of the guides off my list, so I can put out some other kinds of posts later in the year.

What’s next?

The next three months look to have a good mix of time at home and days away. I’m in Essex in August for a friend’s wedding, which should be lovely, and I’m excited to see a bit more of that neck of the woods at the same time.

In the slightly more distant future, I’m off to Madeira at the end of September. After seeing gorgeous photos of the island for so long, I am looking forward to seeing it for myself.

I’ll keep adding to the blog in the meantime, so keep watching this space. Have a lovely summer and see you soon!