Mind.Wanders

JANUARY 

ROVANIEMI, FINLAND

I always say this, but I really love winter trips. I love going to countries where I can enjoy the bitter cold winter weather but with magical snowy landscape scenery. And Alhamdulillah, it was no exception this year, we had the rezeki to enjoy Finland's snowy scenes.

Of course, our initial plan was to observe the aurora (third attempt already!) but again - no luck. Read about our experience here. But we did enjoy some husky-sledding experience though, which has been on my bucket list for the longest time, and it was a fantastic experience! Just exactly how amazing I imagined it would be, actually, better! 

APRIL

ORVIETO, ITALY

I have to say, and I've been to quite a few countries, I think Italy tops it on being one of my favourite countries that I have visited. I was in Orvieto for a conference and we were there for 3 days and 2 nights. I honestly fell in love with Italy because of Orvieto right here. It was a beautiful hilltop town, very peaceful with stunning landscape around it. We enjoyed walking through the town and taking photos at random beautiful corners and had delicious Italian pizza and gelatos every now and then (read my post about it here).

ROME, ITALY

We were supposed to go on a trip to Morocco. We had already booked out flights and accommodation for the end of April, but had to cancel due to some PhD work and time limitation issues. We were really frustrated as I had planned all the where-to-gos and what-to-dos in Morocco and camel-riding in the Sahara has been in my bucket list for a longggg time. Hopefully, there will be rezeki for us to visit Morocco in the future. :)

MAY

SOUTH ENGLAND (SEVEN SISTERS COUNTRY PARK, BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX, DORSET)

My older sister and her family came to visit us from Malaysia so we took the opportunity for a road trip down south. I had always wanted to go to a few places in the South of England especially the Seven Sisters Country Park and visit Brighton town. With this opportunity, we managed to witnessed the beautiful coastal English landscape that I can only imagine and had only seen on the internet and in books, and yet, here we are, with that exact landscape in the background. Alhamdulillah... :)



AUGUST

HITCHIN LAVENDER AND SUNFLOWER FARM

Lavender farm had been the talk of the town recently, (well at least among my friends). So we had to jump into the bandwagon and join in the hype. It was a really nice experience - we get to enjoy the scent of lavender and had lavender flavoured ice cream and had some fun getting lost in the tall sunflowers. Read more about it here. 

SEPTEMBER

LUND, SWEDEN

I never planned to visit Sweden nor Denmark, but there was a landscape conference that I wanted to attend because one of the speakers was my lecturer at the University of Sheffield (who also encouraged us to go) and many other great speakers in our field. So I thought we'd take this opportunity to attend the conference while also sight-seeing Lund. Lund is a very small town (I'd never even heard of it before this conference), so there really wasn't much to see. However, I was amazed and very impressed at how 'green' and sustainable it was; a lot of the streets and corners were filled with green walls. We also enjoyed a peaceful walk around a pretty Scandinavian neighbourhood. Read more about what we did in Lund here.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

To get to Lund, it was easier and closer to land in Copenhagen Airport. So of course, we had to visit the famous Nyhavn Harbour, which was stunningly beautiful and colourful, and straight away lifts up your mood while walking along the waterfront - totally photos-worthy! Check them out here. But it was very unfortunate that we didn't get to go many places in Copenhagen as I'm sure it has a lot to offer, and I would love to observe more of the Danish culture, as they are known to be the happiest people in the world. 

I'm not proud of consuming the content of this post, but I'm not even sorry! haha

There's a reason why the book is called 'Eat Pray Love' and why Liz discovers her pleasure of nourishment through eating in Italy (specifically in Rome). Since day 1 when Fizal and I arrived in Italy, we have started this unhealthy, but addictive eating habit.

ORVIETO

Now obviously we would never have been able to try all the restaurants in the area, but those that we did, created happy memories and wished we were able to go again...

Pizzeria:

I Dolci di Moscatelli

This pizzeria is the one I think we went as often as we could, especially during lunch time, and we opted for this anchovies and zucchini topping (can't remember what it was called) but it was sooooo delicious! I think we went everyday while we were in Orvieto! Especially since there wasn't much option for halal food.






Coffee: 

 Blue Bar

Drinking coffee while standing at at bar - just like this. 

They had an array of flavors, but I found the pistachio particularly irresistible.

ROME

Now, I know that Rome is hugeeee and there's no possible way I would have tried all of their coffees and gelato, but here are some that we did manage to try within our very short (and not enough) time-frame in Rome...

Pizzeria:

We tried a few pizza place (as you would when in Rome) but unfortunately I don't remember the names of the shop / restaurants that we went to - but obviously none of them disappoint. Here are some of the photos of pizzas to make you drool. haha





Coffee:

Roma Lazio

After we had had a long day strolling the city, Fizal decided that we go down (from our Airbnb) and have a stroll nearby the area, and we found this place. It was OK, but again, because we were only standing at the bar drinking coffee (at night), there wasn't anything significantly different or special about this particular cafe that stuck in my memory.


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In contrast, we we had coffee in the Lavazza coffee bar, now this, left an impression! We have been buying Lavazza ground coffee ever since! 


Gelato:

We were in Rome during late spring (but it had already felt like summer) and you definitely can't do Rome in summer weather without gelato stops! We were not in Rome for a very long time (only 2 days) and we were only able to tried limited gelato shops (for health reasons too, haha). 

 Fassi Gelateria


I think we had coffee flavour which felt so rich and creamy with a nice touch of caffeine and bitterness.

La Gelateria Frigidarium 

This was hands down the best gelato we have ever tried! We did came here again after our first try of their gelato, but mind you, there were a lot of people queuing for this. 

 

If you had the chance to visit Italy, please do! Italy straight away became a country that I really wanted to visit again! Hopefully, some time in the future..

Alhamdulillah, this year, we are blessed again with the opportunity to see Allah's creations in other parts of the world. Although we didn't travel as much this year, we did manage to squeeze in a very meaningful trip this year, which was going back home (Malaysia) for Eid to spend with our beloved families and friends that became one of the main highlight of this year.

JANUARY

ICELAND

This year feels like its gone so fast, and yet I feel like its been ages since our trip to Iceland. Like the previous year, we started our new year with a winter trip to this country near the Arctic Circle, in hope to see the northern lights. Alas, luck just wasn't on our side as we didn't manage to see any during our 5 nights stay in Iceland. Nonetheless, we enjoyed some amazing adventures and witnessed  some of the most majestic landscapes I have ever seen. Iceland is indeed one of the most beautiful country I've been to!

Read my Iceland post here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

In front of Seljalandsfoss.

JULY

BACK HOME FOR EID 

Precious moment spent with families during the final week of the Holy month of Ramadan, and the celebration of hari raya Aidilfitri with the relatives is always the best kind of break. Throughout the whole year, this is the moment that I long for family and Malaysian food the most, and this year, I get to fulfil all those food cravings and meet the people that I miss most!

Sparkling the Raya with our bunga api. :)

With some of my relative at my 'kampung' in Pahang.

PERHENTIAN ISLAND, TERENGGANU

And while we're at it, my girl friends and I went on a very relaxing island retreat at Perhentian Island. Spent some precious and quality times with them (gadgets-free!), on a very beautiful island - couldn't ask for a better way to catch up on each others lives.

Story on my Perhentian trip here.

The perfect getaway with my favourite people.

KUCHING, SARAWAK

Of course, we also went to Kuching to Fizal's hometown, and visited my in-laws. Since by brother-in-law was getting married, my family also flew from KL for the wedding, and for sightseeing in Kuching. We had such a great time, and not forgetting, eating and hunting for the food that we've missed so much whilst in the UK. I kid you not, Kuching have some of the most delicious, exotic delicacies! And a big thanks to my in-laws for accommodating my family with such great hospitality.

Homeland to my husband - see how he's smiling there. :P

My family in front of Mount Santubong, Kuching.

DUBAI, UAE

From KL en route to Manchester, we purposely booked a 2-day transit in Abu Dhabi, and from there, we went to Dubai for some spontaneous adventure. Man, it was hot in Dubai (warning - do not visit Dubai/Abu Dhabi in summer!), but we managed to squeeze in some activities on our short stay.

Travel Tales on Dubai Part 1 and Part 2.
Breaking the silence of the desert during our dune-bashing activity.


ABU DHABI, UAE

From Dubai, we also went to Abu Dhabi to witness this exquisite piece of architecture, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Words can't really describe us being there, but here are some photos of the mosque, and its compound - Photo diary of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Mesmerising architecture, enough said.

AUGUST

CAMPING IN DERBYSHIRE

We arrived in Sheffield in late summer, but we still wanted to make the most of this so-called British summer. So we planned a short camping trip nearby, and made our way to Derbyshire, Peak District. We spent a very relaxing weekend with some close friends, out of the city to refresh our minds before we start facing only computers and collecting datas again. :P

Read about my camping trip here.
Postcard-like background of the valleys in Castleton.

DECEMBER

LINCOLN CHRISTMAS MARKET

I've heard about Lincoln Christmas Market being the biggest one in Europe, but I've never actually been there. Since I enjoyed walking around Sheffield's small but very festive Christmas Market, I had suggested we make a trip to see what the rave was all about. It was indeed huge, but to be honest, because it was too big to walk around in, some parts of the market were kind of dull and dreary. But we did manage to see some festive vibes here and there.


Loving the festivity on this one!
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And that concludes this year's adventure summary. Looking forward to more fun next year!

Psssst - will be going on a new winter adventure soon, InsyaAllah. Wait for it! :P

Until then. Happy new year everyone!