2024 Year In Review – The Good, The Bad and The Silly

It’s that time of year again when everyone looks back at what they’ve done and sets some targets for the year ahead which will be forgotten by the second week of January.

I’ve had a fantastic 2024 with ups, downs, side to sides and twirls all around.

As I always say when I start my year in review, this is the full story of what I’ve been up to this year from a personal, travel and blogging point of view and shows the full story to everyone.

If you want to know what I got up to last year, or in 2022, you can click on the links here to find out.

I made a prediction at the end of last years post that I will slow down my travels this year. Did that happen?

Only one way to find out.

Welcome to Dan Round The World 2024 Edition:

Travel Stats

I like to start off with the pure silly numbers of what I’ve been up to this year. It’s only when I put it down like this that I realise how much I’ve done and all the things I’ve seen.

I keep an updated tally on my About Me page but to summarise what I’ve been doing this year…

Whilst most normal people may go to 1-2 countries on 4-6 flights I have been to…

15 different countries (excluding the UK) and of which 8 (maybe 9, is Hong Kong a country?) are “new countries” for me that I haven’t visited before.

I’ve been on only 21 flights on 10 different airlines which isn’t many compared to my 38 in 2023 but still probably more than most people. That’s also made me realise that since I started my remote job in 2021, I’ve now been on 101 flights in that time. That is an awful lot of flying!

I’ve stayed in 17 different hotels and 11 different AirBnB’s with a few guesthouses and normal house rentals thrown in for good measure.

And with all that exploring I’ve still been holding down a job that requires me to work 40 hours per week and fitting that into all the travelling, travel planning, writing blog posts, adding to social media and all the other stuff you think doesn’t take much time.

Starting in the cold

I rang in the new year in Tallinn, braving the cold of Estonia. As 2023 ticked over to 2024, I took my bottle of champagne, ran out into the streets and watched the fireworks as the snow fell around me.

As someone who prefers being in warm countries, I surprisingly loved spending a month in Tallinn in winter, even though when it got down to -17 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel like -25, I was tempted to search for flights on Skyscanner.

But the snow and the crisp blue skies made everything seem like a magical winter wonderland. Not an English grey winter, but somewhere that made you want to go out and explore. My extra heavy boots and my many layers of clothes were needed to leave the house, but when I did, it felt like it was worth the effort.

Dreamy sunset over snow capped roofs.

Exploring endless museums with the Tallinn card.

Sitting in underground bars having a hot chocolate or coffee to warm me up.

It was actually an experience, that although I dreaded before going, tempted me to stay longer in hindsight.

And it was an experience that led to me to extending my stay in Estonia and going somewhere I had never heard of.

A cabin in the woods

My knowledge of geography and places is pretty good. I don’t want to brag but I know all the countries and a lot of places in those countries.

But when your travel companion suggests staying in Saaremaa, my first question was “where?!?”.

Saaremaa is Estonia’s largest island, off the west coast of the country in the Baltic Sea. It’s an island that’s popular with Estonian and Finnish tourists that like to spend their summers on the island in the natural spa like conditions but a place I had never heard of at all.

We drove across the country, onto a boat that would take us across the frozen sea, propelling us through ice, onto a sparsely populated island. Remote roads and single track lanes until we reached the cabin in the woods.

I thought I would be bored spending a month in a place like that, but going out to get firewood, driving 20 minutes to local shops and shovelling the snow whilst spending the down time in a warm cozy house made it a month to remember.

Heading to the local beach for an incredible sunset, sitting in the sauna at the end of the garden or just relaxing on the sofa in front of the large windows that looked across the fields, it was all the little things that made me love my cabin in the woods experience more than I thought.

After a mini road trip around Estonia taking in Parnu, Voru and Tartu, I spent a few days in Riga before my next destination.

Alexander the Great

I arrived in Lake Ohrid, one of the largest towns in North Macedonia, to spend a month working in a place that I had heard good things about, but knew very little. It quickly became one of my favourites.

Despite being there in the spring, before the tourist season kicked off, the town had a buzz about it, the lake front is the place to be with coffee shops and boat tours leaving at all hours of the day. My apartment had a balcony that overlooked some mountains. The lake was close by. I felt close to nature. Lake Ohrid is relatively unknown by western Europeans but anyone from the Balkans knows about it.

How long it will remain one of Europe’s best kept secrets is a guess to me.

Over Easter, I went from Ohrid to Skopje to explore the countries capital. I spent a few days there seeing the city, the culture, the history and eating all the food. I also discovered the incredible nature near by.

How Skopje isn’t a more visited capital I have no idea (actually I do and it’s to do with the lack of flights from Western Europe, but let’s not let all the secrets out and keep some places to ourselves).

There is so much to see and do in Skopje, along with the Ottoman history, the Yugoslavian history and whatever is going on with it’s current government and their idea to put statues along every street.

I made my way back to Ohrid via Tetovo and Prilep, two small towns I doubt anyone has heard of, but places that I loved to explore as being far off the tourist trail, but still with their own little slice of history to discover.

Back to Albania

I’d previsouly been to Saranda in the south of Albania because I had found a cheap AirBnB and went there knowing little about the country. I fell in love with the place and couldn’t wait to go back and explore more.

In April and May I stayed in Vlora, in the northern part of southern Albania, the third largest city but one situated on the coast and a local hub.

I loved my time there, but it was ok. There wasn’t much to see, but I was busy. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. It was a contrasting place.

I don’t know how to sum up Vlora to people. I sound negative but I’d happily go back.

I remember calling my parents and saying “I’m enjoying it here, but I don’t recommend you to come”.

It’s strange because it’s a nice place to visit for… well I don’t know what reasons. There’s just nothing to dislike about it. But no reason to love it either. But it was lovely to stay and base myself for a while.

I did get out and about a bit, I went to Berat and Tirana for a bit of work and I do still love Albania and Vlora or did I?

My silly thing

Each year, I try to do a silly thing.

I’ve mentioned in previous years that I have been to North Korea, I’ve been to Chernobyl, I’ve ridden on top of a train through the Sahara desert and last year I went to Iraq.

This year, my silly thing was slightly more tame, but still a silly thing if you say it out loud.

I spend a month travelling around the Caribbean watching the T20 Cricket World Cup.

After landing in Barbados from London, I saw England get beaten by Australia. So I took a flight to Antigua and saw us win two games before another two flights to get me to St Lucia and another two matches that saw us through to the knock out stages.

I had taken a gamble and booked flights to Tobago but unfortunately England played in the other match not taking place in Trinidad & Tobago, so I, like the England cricket team, went home disappointed.

But I had just spent one month in the Caribbean, travelling around and working full time with only a few days off for the matches which was both an incredible experience, but also, extremely tiring.

Travelling that intensely, whilst working a lot is exhausting. As I’ve said many times before in my previous yearly reviews, “I need to slow down”. So I took a flight to a region of the world I had never been to before which is the obvious solution.

Hola centroamérica

I landed in Panama City at 6am after an overnight flight and was suddenly shocked by all the high rise buildings as my taxi went from the airport to the city centre.

I was also shocked by my taxi driver making a neck slicing motion to a beggar that approached the car as we stopped at a red traffic light.

It’s fair to say my first impressions of this part of the world was mixed…

Is this part of the world safe or not?

I stayed in Obarrio, which is a good place to stay for a first timer in Panama City and then explored Casco Viejo, the old town, and many other different parts. I had originally booked for 4 weeks but ended up staying for over 6 as I needed more time to relax after my crazy time in the Caribbean.

I had some Spanish lessons which were quite intensive and I really enjoyed learning a language in a very unique way. Having 20 hours of lessons in just a few weeks meant I learnt a lot of the language in a short space of time which would hold me in good stead for the rest of my journey through the continent.

I visited the Panama Canal (image at the top of the page), an incredible place in the history of the world, but not too exciting to look at, and saw a few other sites in Panama City like Cerro Ancon. But I found the city a bit strange.

It was nice, but I didn’t want to stay there. It wasn’t unsafe, but I didn’t want to go anywhere in the evening. I could happily live there, but I didn’t want to stay longer.

I’m not really sure about how I felt about Panama City. It wasn’t the worst place I’ve been but I decided to move on and stay in David.

David, the capital of Chiriqui province in western Panama, is a little visited city that isn’t on any tourist trail.

So why did I visit?

There must be good in everywhere? Right? I found a good coworking space and though it would be a good base to then explore Bocas del Toro and Boquete. Which it was.

But there isn’t much to see and do in David which is a bit of a shame. It has a bit of potential but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I actually took some pure holiday from work and stayed at a nice resort in Bocas del Toro which isn’t like me at all, but it was so nice to fully escape from work and all plans and just relax next to a pool for a few days.

You know, like what normal people do….

Despite not having a lot of love for David as a city, it is, however, a good place to jump to the next country up…

The Rich Coast

I looked at various places to stay in Costa Rica but nowhere stood out at me as somewhere that I would want to go.

I found a lot of AirBnB’s in beach towns that were charging a lot per month for very basic accommodation that didn’t include air con. That is ok if I were travelling around, but I don’t particularly want to stay in a place like that for a longer period of time and work.

After much scrolling and searching, I decided to only spend one week in San Jose.

Costa Rica is the sort of place I’m likely to return to on a holiday, to see the beaches and jungle on another trip. But right now, I didn’t have that urge to stick around and explore more. I just wanted to be done with it and then see the next place.

It was kind of a sign of things to come.

Granada, but not the Spanish one

After a week in San Jose, I made the 14 hour bus journey to Granada in Nicaragua.

I had been warned about Central American border crossings, but spending 3 hours standing in the heat outside Nicaragua and then another hour inside the building whilst they dealt with a lot of bureaucratic processes wasn’t my idea of a good time…

When I got back on the bus on the Nicaraguan side of the border, the girl sitting next to me offered me some aloe as my face was now significantly redder than my passport photo after standing in the sun for so long.

My AirBnB in Granada was cool, it was just outside the city centre and had an outdoor kitchen and a hammock to rest in that hung across the garden.

I worked in a Selina Coworking, the first time I had visited this brand, but I found it strangely empty as it was low season.

I did a walking tour but there were only two other Irish travellers on the tour.

It wasn’t that I disliked Granada, its that I didn’t have any reason to love it.

It was… nice…

The square was nice. The people I met were nice. The food is ok. But…. it was just nice.

I try to keep my work and private life separate but it was around this time that my company axed 40% of it’s workforce. Luckily I was ok and kept my job, but it still put me on a downer.

And what do you do when you feel down? Get away for a few days!

I spent a weekend travelling to Leon from Granada on the chicken buses which is an adventure by itself.

When I got to Leon, I decided to book a Volcano Boarding tour which was an incredible way to let off some steam. Sliding down Cerro Negro, a volcano that was last active just 10 years ago, was an amazing way to spend a weekend.

But it all went downhill from there.

Losing it for the first time

As part of the Volcano Boarding tour was a bar crawl.

I will be the first to admit that the work stress led me to drinking more than I should so when I woke up in my small guesthouse bedroom the next day, I didn’t have my wallet on me.

Was it stolen or did I lose it?

I don’t know and I’m not going to blame anyone but myself.

In nearly 10 years of travel, it is the first time I had ever lost my wallet.

Losing it at home is a nightmare, but losing it in a foreign country, and not in the city you are based, is even worse.

As I was only away for the weekend, I had taken a couple of extra credit cards with me that I don’t normally carry. So I lost more than I normally would.

And then I had zero cash on me and I still had to get back to my “base” in Granada.

Luckily I had the phone number of someone that was on the tour with me and I borrowed a few dollars from him that allowed me to get back to Granada. I’m always grateful to the kindness of strangers when travelling but the USD$15 I borrowed from Greg that day really saved me. Thank you.

I managed to return to Granada and then make a plan.

Mexico and home?

I was now using my emergency cash, only had half the number of credit cards I normally carry with me, I didn’t have a currency card like Wise and I had another two weeks booked in Nicaragua and then who knows how long after.

Honduras had recently (August 2024, and this was now September 2024) brought in visa requirements for British citizens. So I couldn’t take a bus north. El Salvador and Belize were complicated and expensive to get to. I considered going to Guatemala, but the best route was via Mexico City.

But then why would I go to Guatemala when 1) I wasn’t enjoying being in Central America anyway and 2) I didn’t have any cash and few cards that could see me through which would make my trip a lot more expensive.

As with most land border crossings, you have to have a flight leaving the country when you enter. I had a flight from Nicaragua to Mexico City booked when I first crossed the border which I had originally planned on cancelling.

In the end, I decided to fly from Managua to Mexico City and then book another flight from there.

I loved Mexico City a lot more than anywhere else in Central America. It was an amazing city, a lot bigger than I was expecting, and with so much going on. I could imagine going back there for a lot longer another time.

Unfortunately I was a little bit ill when I was there, despite meeting some friends, I wasn’t feeling 100%. But I went to the LICHU LIBRE wrestling and then saw some of the day of the dead festivities that were happening that weekend.

You can read more about why I left Central America here.

Back to London first

After deciding to leave Central America, I needed to decide where to go next.

I chose South East Asia as it’s a place that I love, a place I’ve been before and a place I know well. Of all the places in South East Asia I could chose, I decided to head back to Langkawi.

But to get to a small Malaysian island from Mexico City meant going via elsewhere.

Luckily I had built up enough of a balance of my frequent flyer points, I had a voucher from one of my credit cards, and that meant that I could do something that I had never done before in my life.

I flew First Class on British Airways from Mexico City to London. It was a truly bucketlist item for me. I didn’t get it through a lucky upgrade, it wasn’t through favours through friends, I bought a first class ticket fully by myself.

And all for only £350…

Find out how I did it and what it was like here.

Island paradise

I landed in Langkawi in November via London, Doha and Kuala Lumpur and just felt relief.

I was back in my happy place. A place that I know so well. Somewhere I know the language, know the culture, know what to eat, know how it all works.

It just makes things a lot easier.

And after not enjoying Central America, having a bit of stress with a lost wallet having an easy beach life in somewhere I know I love is exactly what I needed.

In 2023, I visited Langkawi three times, staying for a month the first time, and just a few days the other two times with my parents and as part of a conference.

And I know I’ve been saying it for years (see previous yearly reviews for evidence), but I actually planned on staying put in one place for 6 months or so. Choosing a place I had been to before and loved makes sense as a place to settle. I was tempted to do so somewhere in Latin America but I felt it too much of a risk to base myself somewhere I hadn’t been before.

I spent the first few weeks looking for a place to stay long term, and although I found a couple, I actually decided to stay in the basic guesthouse I started off staying in. It’s a very short walk to the coworking space, it has a restaurant next door, it’s very affordable and it’s a 10 minute walk to the beach.

It didn’t make sense to move.

One more trip

Despite saying I would stay put, I did decide to take one more short trip over the weekend of my birthday.

Hong Kong is a city that I had wanted to go to for a while, but I just never got the chance to pass through it, or the timing didn’t fit, or there was a better option to go via.

But I put that to bed and took a tier point run flying via Taipei, and landed in Hong Kong on my birthday and stayed at the Cordis Hotel in Mong Kok.

Coincidentally, I had two friends who were also in Hong Kong that weekend who I managed to catch up with and show me sides of Hong Kong I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Did you know that Hong Kong has great beaches and amazing hiking?!

I had a great time but one thing that stood out for me more than anywhere else I’ve been to is how EVERYONE is on their phones all the time.

Not just when sitting down, everyone was looking at their phone whilst walking along like everyone was on autopilot. I’m used to London and other Asian cities and people being on their phones but in Hong Kong, it was noticeably on another level.

Despite that, I loved the city and can’t wait to go back more in future, whether passing through or staying for longer.

OK, just one final trip…

I spent Christmas back in Langkawi, spending my days on the beach or in the gym and the evenings working.

But I had some days off in the strange period between Christmas and New Year so took a trip onto the mainland to Alor Setar. It was nice to get away for a couple of days with zero plan (I only decided to go at 8am the morning I left, booking a ferry ticket for 10am) and just taking it as it comes.

Alor Setar won’t be on anyones bucketlist any time soon, but it was nice to see a different part of Malaysia I hadn’t yet been to and then I took the long way home involving two taxi’s, two buses, a boat and a bit of walking.

Much more fun than the direct route!

I’m now back in Langkawi where will be seeing in 2025!

The blog in 2024

It has been well known in the blogging and SEO community that Google is hitting small websites like mine pretty hard and going for big brands instead.

Next time you search for “things to do in *CITY*”, you’ll notice you’ll get a lot of adverts, then some Tripadvisor pages, then some Reddit, then a forum from Tripadvisor with advice from 2016 and then at the bottom of the page you may have a post from a website like mine actually listing 10 great things to see on your travels.

Despite this, I haven’t been hit like other bloggers have and my traffic has still trended upwards. I have one post that got more traffic this year than my entire site did last year and my 2024 traffic is about 5x my 2023 traffic.

I’ve added some affiliates to my site, so if you see a link to a hotel or eSIM package (like in the blue box below) and order or book through that link, I may earn a tiny bit of commission from that sale which helps keep me happy with no difference to you.

I’ve also changed what I write about because of the aforementioned Google updates. I’ve stopped writing about the “Top 20 things to see in a city” because it takes too much time to make accurate and doesn’t get much traffic from Google anyway because it will always be on at least the second page. I now write a lot more about my experiences and simple trips such as this one or this one, because it gives me a steady amount of traffic and I wrote the post whilst on the bus so it is a massive time saver.

I’ve also started writing a lot of posts about airlines and lounges which seem to do very well for me so now have an entire section dedicated to it as well as a section dedicated to being a digital nomad with guides for destinations I work from.

And after appearing in some publications, I’ve also created a page to show my media and speaking appearances.

What next in 2025

I actually won’t be travelling….

… as much in 2025. I will spend a lot of time in Langkawi with just a trip to a near by country in February to renew my visa. Then I will be back in Europe in May (which I have already booked! Who is this new Dan?!) but after that I don’t have any plans. The odds of me being in a different country each month this year is quite low.

A few ideas are bouncing around the back of the brain but nothing set in stone yet.

You’ll have to wait for next years edition for that ;)

I’ll keep updating this blog and all my social media in the meantime if you want to follow along for the ride.

Safe travels,

Dan

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.