Iguana on my Journal

I'm playing blog catch-up at the moment so the next few months will be brief. The latter half of 2022 had me finally catching covid, after a couple of years of avoiding it. It totally floored me, which certainly contributed to why I didn't have a chance to keep up with the blog.

( August 2022 )
( September 2022 )
( October 2022 )
( November 2022 )
( December 2022 )

Surprise Tromsø! There were reindeer to be raced, Emily's birthday to be celebrated, and annual leave carry-over to be used up, and that meant an unexpected third trip to the arctic before Emily was due to finish her year's contract out there. In addition to those flights, I also had Flight, a multi-sensory experience in a shipping container in Nottingham. On the 29 Feb I spend an evening with Samathy, Lex, and one of Samathy's friends at the board game café, which I think was the last time I met up with any friends or family.

( Tromsø 3: Weekend 1 (Reindeer racing) )
( Tromsø 3: the week (Trehørningen, reindeer, Åsfjellet, birthday cake) )
( Tromsø 3: Emily's arctic sea swim birthday )
( Tromsø 3: Weekend 2 (Aurorae at Nattmåls, and an escape room) )
( Darkfield's 'Flight' )

I spent eight nights in Canada in November, and for the final two I was in Vancouver where I chilled out in the park and on the beach, saw the city from above, and walked across a wobbly bridge several times.

Part 1, Part 2.

( Sightseeing in Vancouver )
( Not the Grouse Grind )
( Capilano Suspension Bridge )
( Leaving Vancouver )

I spent eight nights in Canada in November, four of which were on a train: I rode The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver! However, first I had a day to spend in Toronto, or at least nearby…

( Niagara Falls )
( Toronto )

Part 2, Part 3.

In July I climbed Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, despite several factors trying to stop me again! On the last weekend visited Al in London for his birthday, and took cookies which went down well. In between, I started a course of being shot in the face by lasers.

( The Curse of Pen Y Fan II: Tonsillitis at 886m )

I spent a week and a half in June within the arctic circle, staying with Emily on the island of Tromsø, Norway. I saw the sun at midnight, and climbed many beautiful hills.

( Tromsøya )
( Thursday - Sørtinden (Kvaløya) )
( Friday - a beach on Kvaløya )
( Saturday - Nattmålsfjellet (Kvaløya) )
( Sunday - Sommarøy and Hillesøya )
( Monday - Brosmetinden (Kvaløya) )
( Tuesday - Fløya (Fastlandet) )
( Thursday - Åsfjellet (Fastlandet) )

(Part 2 →)

I spent November and the start of December in Mesoamerica; a nearly-round trip from Tabasco, Mexico, to Yucatan, Mexico, via Guatemala and Belize. I compressed the write-up of this into a Twitter thread in the interest of getting it written quickly (look at the posting date of this Dreamwidth entry!) and I've reproduced that thread here. You might prefer to look at it in its original context here.

( Mexico Part I )
( Guatemala )
( Belize )
( Mexico Part II )

By pure chance we ended up in Tallinn for Estonia's 100th anniversary! Tallinn itself was very picturesque and we did a couple of tours to some very interesting and beautiful places too; I'd thoroughly recommend Estonia to anyone looking for a holiday destination.

( Western Coast Tour )
( Tallinn )
( Surprise Military Parade )
( Escape Rooms )
( Lahemaa National Park tour )

I visited four countries in February, three of them new! In Switzerland I met up with Sean, Samathy, Rae, and David, then I travelled in spirals through the scenic Alps by train to Milan with Sean.

( Swiss Python Summit )
( Bernina Express )
( Milan )

I visited Ukraine for five days in December with Emily and Tim, with a two-day tour of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone booked in the middle. Here's what we got up to on the first day in the Zone!

( Cherevach village )
( Chernobyl town )
( Kopachi village )
( Duga-1, the “Russian Woodpecker” )