Take 12 Trips – a social media challenge

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Last Updated on 24th July 2020

Back in January I stumbled across a blog post on TheTravelHack challenging people to take 12 trips throughout the year – #Take12Trips. At this point I already had some weekend breaks booked to get me off the mark. These were a stag do, a marathon and a wedding. The other 9 would have to materialise in 2016 as we went along.

My ‘Take 12 trips’ long list eventually looked like this being fortunate enough to get my 12 trips in early … and I missed January anyway. Always grateful that I have the ability to visit so many places, and aware of the environment impact of flying I’m pleased to say the 12 trips conveniently broke down as:

• 4 by train
• 4 by car
• and to finish off nicely – 4 by plane

Maybe you can take a photo with all the place names you visits as part of the challenge?

Trip 1 of my ‘Take 12 trips’ – Paris – February

First up a work conference in Eurodisney Paris. It was low season but there were still a surprisingly large number of families around. The alarm has to be set at 4am to get there on the Eurostar. Ouch!

Trip 2 – València – February

A stag do in València for our pal Osman. Not the most obvious stag do choice but much better for it as we weren’t surrounded by lots of other stag dos! It was lovely to experience t-shirt weather so early on in the year, explore the food markets and follow Valencia’s snaking green park all the way to the beach.

Trip 3 – New York – March

An invite to present to a sales team in New York – another fortunate “work” bonus leaving plenty of time to explore out of work hours during the 7 days I was there! I also became the very first person to stay in my hotel room at the newly opened ‘INNside New York NoMad‘ up on 27th Street. My favourite location is always Central Park and I ran 8 miles around it with Christy Turlington as we both trained for our repective marathons – London and Brighton.

Trip 4 – Isle of Wight – March

Sad news followed with my Uncle John’s funeral in the Isle of Wight. They say you only meet your family at weddings and funerals and this was one of those such occasions. It was lovely to catch up with my 3 cousins and Auntie though and we were all blessed with nice weather.

Trip 5 – Cardiff – April

I kept my 100% record and attended the 4th and latest instalment of the Traverse travel blogging conference in Cardiff. Another great effort by Michael, Paul and the team. A highlight was being taken around Cardiff Bay in a rib at speeds up to 50 mph!

Trip 6 – Brighton – April

Another of the initial “booked in” trip where I ran the Brighton Marathon together with 5-6 friends from the Hitchin Running Club. I feel I’ve now  “done” Brighton having cycled to it 3x in the “London to Brighton” bike ride, run around it in the marathon as well as visited the town many “normal” weekend breaks too.

Trip 7 – Cyprus – May

A  random trip to Cyprus with my mate Chopper for some proper, early Summer sun. With only 4 months of the year gone so far I was already over halfway on trip number seven. We stayed in Aiya Napa but drove west to Limasssol and north up to Girne, crossing the border into the Turkish occupied region. It was strange seeing the capital city Nicosia with blockades, barriers and border guides running through its middle!

Trip 8 – Belfast – May

Belfast in early May featured a trip for me and Rob of Hornblower Travels to see our Irish friend Emma, back in her homeland … but sadly with one friend down due to pregnancy (preferring not to fly after 28 weeks). The Games of Thrones tour was a highlight, culminating in the Giant’s Causeway and Rob wrote a little post about it.

Trip 9 – Cotswolds – August

The Cotswolds is very twee and makes the perfect location for a Summer wedding. On this occasion the marriage of my girlfriend’s brother Matty to his now wife Megan. We stayed in Lower Slaughter! That sounds omninous but it was absolutely delightful, like something straight out of ‘Midsomer Murders’.

Trip 10 – France – September

Lyon > Grenoble > Alps to cycle up the formidable and world famous Alpe D’Huez! The climb is 8.5 miles long, has an average gradient of 8.1%, consists of 21 hairpin bends and involves 1.2km of climbing! I recommend it to anyone! Just stick it in the lowest gear and off you go … for an hour and a half.

Trip 11 – Bournemouth – October

Another running event but this time “just” a half marathon along the beautiful south coast. Half marathons make so much more sense than “full” marathons. Although not everybody can do a “half” as you still have to  put in the training … but at least it’s not a crazy marathon, allowing you to still walk around the next day! The four of us ran for charity Every Mother Counts

Trip 12 – Norfolk – October

The last of my ‘Take 12 trips’ challenge! I’d made it! Our friend Hornblower Travels celebrated his 40th birthday so 12 of us descended on a small village near Cromer in Norfolk. An AirBnB in an old barn no less. A fun way to spend the weekend, and not too raucous. Well a few of us are in our 40s now 🙂 The more of the UK I see, the more I realise there is still to see in my home country!

So that’s my ‘Take 12 Trips’! Anybody else been able to do the same? I wonder what lies in store in 2017 🙂

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