2010 roundup

Pete, Nicola, Lola and Nell love to travel - and try to do so in low carbon ways. This post is a summary of 2010 entries.

It may be better to travel than arrive but now we're in the fourth year of this blog (it was started in 2007) it is also a lot harder to find "new" countries for us to visit simply by using our imaginations in the UK.

Worth visiting
My top trips this year were to Ethiopia - via a coffee ceremony and music in my local London park, see here. I also loved the stop-off in Chile via Darwin-themed tour in another nearby park, see here.

We also visited the super dog-friendly Cheddar Gorge, a Somerset location that rivals just about any Alpian chasm, or Romantic- (as in 19th century German art) themed picture.

Just by making simple leaps of imagination - sometimes by choices of food, or doing the research, reading noticeboards or listening to the hubbub around us - our family stayed home but felt like we were tasting someone else's culture. I reckon we managed virtual visits to more than 35 countries including Nigeria, Bangladesh, Somalia, Croatia and Albania. I love the way this can happen. It just shows that 10 years of not using a plane has enabled our family to get to know the UK far better, and the UK's links with the whole world. Definitely one travel habit worth hanging on to.

Apologies for slackness
Just for the record, one reason my entries are down on this blog during 2010 is that I started up a new one, named after my book, Homemade Kids: thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children which saw me post more than 60 times. Travel and kids, what could be better?