Anna October 2024 Update
Hi! Welcome to my quarterly travel update. If you’re wondering what’s happened recently on the blog, this is the right place to be.
By the way, the last update was back in July if you want a blast from the near-distant past.
Uneventful July
Starting straight after the last update: I had a very chill July, where I didn’t do anything of note. I have literally nothing to share here.
Fun August
August was much more eventful than July (not that this is saying anything). During this month I had several weekends away from home, which makes this blog much more interesting as I have things to talk about.
Earlier on in the month, I went to a friend’s wedding in Essex. It’s a part of Britain I have never explored – it’s quite far from my native Cheshire – but I really liked it. The area felt serene, which isn’t what I was expecting for somewhere so close to Stansted Airport, but it worked. The wedding was gorgeous and it was lovely to celebrate there.
The day after, I explored Cambridge. Ironically the weather that day was fantastic and I burned a little; it’s never that good when you have time to go to the beach!
The next weekend, I headed to Lincoln for a family anniversary. As well as catching up with family, it was a good opportunity to walk around and see the castle and cathedral again.
Relaxed September
By contrast, September was punctuated by a couple of days out.
Lou and I headed to Brown Moss, a little nature reserve near Whitchurch, for a walk. There were tame cows chilling by the lake, which I found impossibly exciting.
I did the next section of the Sandstone Trail – as this is a 34 mile path running through Cheshire, it’s not one you can do in a day. My dad and I had intended to get the third quarter done, but as we were walking we got stuck in a thunderstorm: not ideal. We had to abort mission.
Anyway, it means now that we still have two sections to go. Hopefully we’ll get to these by the end of the year.
Madeira
At the end of September, I headed to Madeira on a family holiday. This was my parents’ first trip abroad since 2018, so it was nice to get out of the UK as a family and visit a part of Portugal for the first time.
We stayed at an all-inclusive hotel in Canico de Baixo, so relaxation was mainly on the cards, and the weather stayed hot and sunny all week, hence perfect for swimming and sunbathing. Still, we emerged from the hotel several times to explore Funchal (Madeira’s capital), go diving and hike the PR 8 trail (Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço).
I loved Madeira. The people were so friendly and the climate was perfect for our purposes. There was so much that we didn’t do, but who knows? Maybe I will visit again one day!
Updates to the blog
The past three months have seen a few updates to In Search of Everywhere, as I’ve continued to publish articles I’ve written from my 2023 travels, as well as more recent trips.
In total, I’ve added 16 articles to the blog (5 on Vietnam, 5 on the UK, 4 on Indonesia, 1 on the Philippines and 1 on Cambodia), totalling just over 30,000 words.
You might also notice a few tweaks to the structure of the blog, such as the home page and footer. I’m still figuring out what works for In Search of Everywhere and what’s most intuitive for readers to use. This tweaking will likely continue over the next couple of months.
And of course, In Search of Everywhere turned 1 in July.
What’s next?
In terms of my personal travels, the rest of 2024 looks to be fairly quiet, with no trips booked (for now).
In terms of In Search of Everywhere, I’ll continue uploading articles, which looks to include a mix of city guides, travel stories and inspirational pieces.
Have a great autumn / winter and I’ll see you soon!
