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The year I would most want to relive would be 2011. That was the year that we both took 6 months of long service leave and spent 4 months travelling by train from Hong Kong, right through China, Mongolia and then on the trans Siberian railway across Russia through to St Petersbough via Moscow. Along the way we stopped at many towns and villages and explored beautiful wilderness areas. We even swam in the very cold Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake in the world. It holds 20% of the entire globes fresh surface water. From St Petersbough we travelled up through Finland to its northern tip, above the Arctic Circle, to meet up with the Hurdigruden mail boat . This delivers mail and goods right down the coast of Norway. By doing this we got to stop at most of the towns along the way and explored each one on foot. During the voyage there were stunning snow capped mountains and fiords and displays of Northern lights as a bonus. We disembarked at Bergan, with it’s famous waterfront wooden buildings. From there we took the train to Oslo and eventually flew to Nice in France, where we picked up a leased, brandnew, Peugeot 3008. This enabled us to drive to lots of interesting towns, from Medieval villages to very histical sites such as the famous 1st Century Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard near Nimes and the Popes Palace at Avignon on the Rhone River. After France we drove along the Mediterranean coast to Italy, where the northern towns are almost one long holiday resort. Pedestrians step out in front of you and expect you to give way, drivers do the same. Our aim was to get to get to Florence to see the statue of David. Unfortunately we never got there because a massive landslide blocked the freeway and the train tracks. We had to make a huge detour through mountains on narrow mountain roads and lost too much time trying to find our way. After staying the night at a very isolated, but friendly hotel, we headed back to France to get to the ferry from Calais to Dover in England. It was a challenge to now change from driving on the right to the left, but to still have the steering wheel on the left of the vehicle. We then spent four weeks exploring England, Scotland,  Wales and Ireland. But I think that might need another whole blog. I think it would require a whole book to describe in detail what we experienced even in the countries I have so far mentioned, but there will be more blogs to follow.

If you could relive one year of your life, which one would it be?