I launched my travel blog in February 2020. I was so excited to be able to document my travels on this new platform, that I jetted off to beautiful Greece for my first adventure of the year at the end of February. Little did I know at the time that this would be my first and only trip abroad this year.

In 2020, I was looking forward to exploring new cities in North and South America and Asia, and blogging about my next adventures. I would never have imagined that within weeks of my first trip, travelling the world would come to such an abrupt stop. With borders closed internationally, the COVID-19 pandemic quickly turned 2020 into the lost year for travel.

I adapted to this challenge and developed my travel content based on past trips including the best photo spots in Los Angeles, an itinerary to help you plan a day trip from Tokyo to Mount Fuji, the 10 reasons why I love Dubai and the top Instagrammable places in Athens.

Although blogging about places I have visited is a source of travel inspiration for you all, the fact that we are all stuck at home meant I also focused on generating ‘travel from home‘ content, something that I would never have imagined doing pre-pandemic.

This included being transported to different cities across the world through live webcams, creating a travel bucket list, buying a travel scratch map and looking back at your travel memories. For me, the latter involved looking at photos and videos taken on trips including seeing Mount Fuji emerge from the clouds in Japan, having pizza at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, and strolling along Baker Beach in San Francisco, to see the Golden Gate Bridge emerge around the corner.

I also shared my top tips on different aspects of travel, such as on how to create the perfect holiday itinerary and on how to take an epic puddlegram, something that you can experiment with and do in your local area.

When the rules allowed, I managed to go on a few day trips around my home city, London, enjoying the city from a quieter, calmer perspective. You would never expect quiet streets with hardly a soul around in central London. Even the air felt so clean, without traffic fumes. I was able to use this tranquility to capture some unique shots of the city, including of the Christmas lights.

In December, I grew my travel from home content further by introducing a cooking edition to this theme. Since COVID-19 restrictions have left us homebound, I have begun sharing recipes from around the world on my Instagram page, which you can experiment with, bringing a flavour from dfferent cities right to your dinner table! The first in this series is how to make farsi puri, a delicious savoury snack from India.

My blog has provided me with comfort, hope and inspiration during the dark days of lockdown, and I hope it has done the same for you!

Thank you all for your continued support over what has been an unprecedented year for everyone. Here’s to roaming and jetting off on new adventures super soon in 2021!

Take care and stay safe,

Rakhee x