SEC-S14W5 | My Biggest Travel in 2023 | We Spent Most of the Year 2023 Traveling

I agree SEC-S14W5 | My Biggest Travel in 2023 is a nice opportunity to walk back in memories of the various trips I did alone or with my wife in 2023 as I always believed that all my trips were great. I will give you a short description of a couple of my trips during 2023.

“I’m not a tourist, I’m a traveler.” – Jack Bauer

  

I would love to invite @weisser-rabe, @artist1111, @josepha, and @patjewell to share their experiences.

Where you went during the year of 2023? What activities were carried out?

  
I was not in a regular job most of the year, so I had nothing much to do but travel. I was disappointed but took advantage to satisfy the traveler sitting inside me, so we went to different places, but most of our trips were short, leaving a couple of trips where we stayed for two or more days.

The first trip we took was to a nearby town famous for its ancient church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces, a Roman Catholic church in India not far from New Delhi.

We did multiple day trips to Haridwar and Rishikesh, located in Uttrakhand, a Himalayan state of India, but we also did a three-day trip in May was a fun trip, although the place was too crowded during our visit for different reasons.

We did a day trip to Hastinapur, another ancient town about 80 km away from Delhi. This town is famous for Jain temples and the ancient culture connecting it to the Pandavas and Kauravas.

But as I said, Hastinapur is now better known as a sacred place for followers of Jainism.

This town was the capital of the Pandavas kingdom at the time of the Mahabharata. We visited different places related to the Mahabharata era.

Delhi is like my home town, but I never miss going to various famous places for a day's trip because there is so much to see in our capital city, yet there is a lot to see.

We visited Mathura, another ancient town famous for temples of the Lord Krishna era where we stayed overnight

In July, we faced a natural calamity so trips were limited in surrounding areas

In October, we moved to Canberra, Australia, and since then, we have had several outings.

ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵐʸ ᵈᵃᵘᵍʰᵗᵉʳ

Apart from going to local famous places, we visited a cherry picking farm in a nearby area, Kembla Cherry Orchard in NSW.

We visited Telstra Towers

We visited Batemans Bay

  

Any anecdote that makes this trip so unique to be considered the best one of '23? Did you experience this alone or with somebody else?

  
I have done a lot of my trips alone because I was in a marketing job, so I would extend my trip for a day or two if it was a weekend at the end or beginning of my trip. But as I was not in a job most of this current year, I traveled with my wife.

However, this trip was different. I was traveling with my wife's sister, her husband, and their daughter, so we were five people in a cab. My brother-in-law was sitting in the front seat, my wife was on the left side of the rear, and my wife's sister was at the right window. I was sitting next to my wife and their daughter, in between me and my wife's sister.

As we passed through a couple of hilly stretches, my wife's sister felt like vomiting, as did her daughter, and when they both started vomiting, my wife followed suit. So, I ended up fully soaked in three different unpleasant smells of liquids, and mind you, that was a day trip, so I had no spare clothes.

So what I did first thing was buy a T-shirt and shorts as soon as we reached the nearest shop. That was an incident that I will never forget in my life. I searched for a public bathroom, took a shower, changed into a tee and shorts, and completed that day trip.

Have you planned a budget for it? How much you spent during the trip?

  
So if ever we decide on a vacation, are still finalizing plans, or are even looking forward to our upcoming holidays, we think about a travel budget!

But trust me, we are never good with our money and always overspend while vacationing. Of course, we may not want to waste our holidays stressing over our spending, so we spend whatever we should without thinking much! In most cases, it doesn't matter to us what stage of travel planning we may be in or what our basic idea of a travel budget is.

Let me be honest, a few times I returned home after a holiday and regretted the way I spent it, and there were times when I wished I had a little more time and money to visit a nearby place on our way.

All I can say is that I only want to get the maximum value for the money I spend while traveling. We both, my wife and me want to have a nice time without thinking about money most of the time.

I know thinking too much about a budget will destroy our trip by taking out the stress of constantly thinking about it, as long as we have enough money in our purse. But one thing is for sure, we always make a different budget for different categories of trips, and that's all.

I believe if I need to travel, I will be traveling, and creating a travel budget is the least bothersome for me because my budgeting is limited to having enough money according to the duration of my trip, where I have to stay, and what my mode of travel is. For me, my travel budget is not a restrictive set of rules but just an estimate based on the duration and number of days.

Conclusion: I calculate expenses based on the cost of actually getting to our destination, our choice of transportation, where we are going to stay, and how we are going to move around. We both are not foodies, so we eat at local eateries, and if it happens to be a day trip, we carry our food from home.

Are you thinking about making an amazing travel in 2024? Which would be the selected place?

  
Yes, I have a couple of plans for 2024 but right now I will give you just one which I am going In the last week of January 2024. I had been to New Zealand once before, and our trip started from Queenstown to Christchurch, which is just a six-hour drive, but we completed it in three days.

We stayed at Wanaka and visited the lake, as New Zealand’s South Island is made for road trips, boasting some of the most beautiful drives anywhere in the world.

We hired a car in advance for the Queenstown to Christchurch road trip that we got at the Queenstown airport. We straight away proceeded to Wanaka, where we stayed, and then from Wanaka to Mount Cook Village, then to Lake Tekapo, and finally to Christchurch. Here we handed over the car and took a flight back to Sydney.

This time we are planning to go to New Zealand’s North Island. It would be a longer trip of seven days, and we are expecting a lot of adventure. We have plans to tour and have a different New Zealand experience. We will be doing this tour in a leisurely manner.

We shall start from Auckland and, from there, go to Raglan which, according to our friends, is a cool coastal town famous for its black sand beach and surf break. We have planned to kayak to a remote part of the harbor for a boat cruise and lunch before heading to our accommodation, close to the action in the evening.

Next, we shall go to Waitomo Caves, and from there we shall move to Rotorua, which is famous for its activity in the thermal valley, for a cultural experience.

Next is Rotorua to explore hot springs and a white-water rafting excursion, and then the next stop will be Taupo before finally moving to Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. And then, from Wellington, back to Canberra via Sydney. Yes, I have a couple of plans for 2024 but right now I will give you just one which I am going In the last week of January 2024.

ᵃˡˡ ᶦᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ ᵐᶦⁿᵉ

I hope you enjoyed my trips and future travel plan