If there was an apt title for this post, it should have been called..”The Roads Not Taken. ” 2014 has not been a great year for me from a traveller’s point of view, simply because I had to priortise some personal committments and health issues over travel. Hence I saw myself saying NO to over 15-20 trips, almost 75 % of them being international destinations.  However I have no regrets and no intention of dwelling on what I could not do. I did very few trips this year but each one of them cut through the clutter of a million trips and they were all trips of a lifetime.  Each one of them was special and topping it was the chance to meet Roger Federer and getting his autograph at the top of Europe .

Roger Federer talking to bloggers at Jungfrau

I did four international trips this year – Australia, Switzerland, Canada and Europe , visiting France, Germany and Belgium.

A wallaby peeps from the bushes at us

I started 2014 with a trip to South Australia, a trip laced with nostalgia because my passion for travel started two decades ago with a trip to Australia and It was in Adelaide where I landed.

Read – Adelaide, Australia where it all began

Read –  A week in South Australia

I followed it driving by road from Adelaide to Melbourne, a first for me and then a stop over at Sydney before returning to India.

On the Great Ocean Road

There were many highlights of the trip but a visit to Kangaroo Island and drinking a century old wine, besides posing with my birth wine at Seppeltsfeld was what made it exciting.

Read – Five reasons to visit South Australia

But the best part of the trip was a 48 hour drive from Adelaide to Melbourne along the Limestone Coast and then driving along the Great Ocean Drive with the husband. An experience I would never forget.

Great Ocean Drive

The next trip was THE highlight of 2014 . A chance to meet Roger Federer at the top of Europe in Jungfrau . This is something I am never going to forget .

Read – Meeting Roger Federer in Jungfrau Switzerland 

Serving an ace in the Alps

The third trip was most special and unique again. I was invited by an international chain of apart hotels, Citadines to be part of an activity, Citadines #30. I was the only blogger from India, the rest being from UK and Europe and we got to travel all by ourselves to destinations of our choice and blog about them on the go.

Read – Citadines#30 – Moments and moments

Houses line the canal in Bruges

I visited a new country Belgium and fell in love with Brussels and Bruges.

Read – Bruges in a day 

Read – Five must dos in Brussels

Read – Comic strip art in Brussels

The skyline and the seascape of Cannes

And I got to see two new cities – one of them being Cannes, my first ever tryst with the French Riviera.

Read – My Impressions of Cannes

Read – My tryst with The Man in The Iron Mask

The other city that I have always wanted to see was Berlin. The 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall was on and I went on a historic trail of The Wall, listening to more stories.

Read – On the Trail of the Berlin Wall

Street art in Berlin

But my favourite part of Berlin is its colourful street art and graffitti

Read – Street art in Berlin

I also saw a glimpse of Medieval Berlin in the Charlottenburg Palace and I have many reasons to come back here again

Read – Why I would come to Berlin again

I am leaving on a sea plane in Canada

Finally I saw another new country – Canada. I had to say No twice when I was invited to this country but I was third time lucky. I took a flight from Europe from my previous trip and landed in Vancouver . What a beautiful city ! It is the first time I travelled twenty days at a stretch and it was quite a trip. I need to start documenting my visit soon.

Well, that is as far as overseas trips go. In India, I went on several pilgrimages, including several trips to Sringeri besides weekend destinations, but the best trip remains my visit to Odisha, right at the beginning of the year. Besides Bhubaneshwar and Puri, I spent some time at Chilika lake, spotting migratory birds at Mangalajodi, a trip where I saw several lifers. I also made a quick trip to Himachal with Club Mahindra to Kandaghat on a blogger’s meet.

Black winged stilts at Mangaljodi

Read – 48 hours in Puri

In the writing front, I have been plodding along, working with both old and new publications. I took up some new projects and also worked as an influencer with a few brands, but that is just work 🙂

I have no plans for 2015 as far as travel goes – no agenda as far as domestic or international trips go. But fingers are always crossed. Lets see where the roads take me. I will be grateful if I can get to go anywhere. Even if its just a handful of destinations..because less is more..

The dark and mysterious woods of Canada