The year 2024 in review – Westwards travel highlights

Time is flying, another year ends, and it is time to look back on our travels over the last year, and the highlights 2024. For reasons you will read in the January chapter we did travel less than in other years. We were also quite busy with a lot of guidebook writing and other writing assignments. And we both went to Japan for some tour guiding work.

***This 2023 travel review blog post contains affiliate links of our guidebooks. If you buy through this links, we will earn a small comission at no extra costs to you. ***

Some Travel Statistics for 2024

Time on the road

This year, we spent less time travelling compared to previous years. Natascha was away for 133 nights, while Isa spent 150 nights on the road.

Countries Visited

We explored seven countries beyond our home base in Germany, including two new destinations: Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

Nights spent in our tent

Our camping adventures were fewer this year, with only 10 nights spent under the stars. One experience stood out – a spectacular night camping at a crater rim in Saudi Arabia.

UNESCO Sites visited

We visited several UNESCO World Heritage sites this year, with a focus on architecture and history:

• In Germany, we toured the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart and the Modernism Housing Estate Siemensstadt in Berlin.
• From Berlin, we embarked on a cycling day-trip to the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz.
• In Rotterdam, we ended the year with a visit to the Van Nelle Factory.
• Our trip to Britain included a return to Edinburgh.
• One of the year’s unexpected highlights was an interesting and educational visit to the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Charleroi, Belgium.
• In Japan, we spent a week exploring the Hidden Christian Sites around Nagasaki and on the Goto Islands.
• In Saudi Arabia, we visited the Nabataean sites at Al-Ula, some rock-art in Jubbah and the At-Turaif District in ad-Dir’iyah, the former capital of the Saudi state.

Flights

Unfortunately, our flight count increased this year. Natascha took 11 flight legs, while Isa had 12 – a reminder to work on reducing our air travel in the future.

Publications

We published five guidebooks this year:

• Stefan Loose Guidebook Japan
• Baedeker Japan
• Guidebook Tyrol (MairDumont)
• Wohin geht die Reise 2025 (Where to in 2025)? (Marco Polo, two destinations)
• Lonely Planet Cycling Tours in Austria (three articles)

January – Ireland and Berlin

January began with recovery in mind, as Natascha was still dealing with the aftermath of a knee injury from a climbing accident in late 2023. The injury, sustained at a bouldering gym, required surgery scheduled for the end of January. Knowing that mobility would be limited for a while after the procedure, we seized the opportunity for a short trip to Dublin. The highlight of our time in Dublin was a day spent exploring the Dublin docklands.

On January 31st, Natascha underwent knee surgery, which thankfully went well. Just a week later, she was walking without crutches – though at a careful, snail-like pace.

February – Berlin

March/April – Berlin and Japan

March kicked off with the ITB travel fair in Berlin, an exciting and colourful event where we reconnected with friends from the global travel industry.

Mid-March saw Isa heading off to Japan for some tour-guiding work, while Natascha had to cancel her spring tours due to her knee surgery. However, by April, Natascha was feeling much better and was able to go on some smaller excursions around Berlin with friends, like the Stadtbad Unlimited exhibition in Berlin, which featured engaging digital art.

Our Stefan Loose Guidebook Japan was published in March and the RTB Tyrol Guidebook released in April.

May – Germany and UK (mostly Scotland)

In early May, we returned to Braunschweig for a school reunion. Fun fact: we actually met each other at boarding school!

Later in the month, we set off on a three-week trip to Scotland and Britain with good friends. In line with our goal to fly less, we opted for the overnight ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle, which also gave us the chance to visit the world’s largest flower auction in Aalsmeer.

The main focus of our Scotland trip was whisky tasting at several distilleries in the Speyside region. Other highlights included visiting a James Turrell Skyspace at Kielder Forest, the holy island of Lindisfarne, and Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.

June – Berlin & Southern Germany

June was a work-focused month spent mostly in Berlin, with just one trip: a work-related visit to Southern Germany, including Stuttgart and Tübingen.

In Stuttgart, we had the chance to take an insightful guided tour of the Weissenhof Estate and explored the city a bit more (we’ll definitely need to return!). Then, we spent a few days in Tübingen with an old friend, hiking in the Schwäbische Alb and taking a daytrip to Hohenzollern Palace in Sigmaringen.

Oh, and we tried making coffee with a syphon coffee machine for the first time – great fun for coffee lovers!

July – Germany and Switzerland

While working on a new guidebook about the Swiss canton of Bern, we realized that there wouldn’t be enough time for a long summer trip. Plus, Natascha was still focusing on knee rehabilitation and regaining mobility.

On short notice, we decided to explore the canton of Bern on a relaxed cycling tour along the river Aare. We took it slow, spending a whole day enjoying Lake Thun and another one in the canton’s capital, Bern, where we visited the fantastic Bronze exhibition. A highlight was the picturesque town of Aarau with its painted gables, another place to return to with more time.

On our way back, we stopped in Mainz and Cologne to visit friends and family.

August – Germany and Belgium

August was another month of guidebook work, but what is a summer in Europe without at least a short trip? We took advantage of Isa’s brother’s birthday party in Cologne to plan a brief visit to Belgium.

We were enchanted by the small town of Namur and also explored Charleroi, often labelled by Belgians as the country’s ugliest town. However, we were deeply moved by our visit to the former Bois du Cazier coal mine in Charleroi, where the excellent audio guide provided powerful insights into this chapter of industrial history. We wrapped up our Belgium trip with a visit to Waterloo. While we’re not admirers of Napoleon (nor Blücher), we enjoyed learning about this significant moment in European history.

Back in Berlin, we took a daytrip by bicycle to the UNESCO-listed Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz. However, we could only explore a fraction of the beautiful gardens and palaces in one day. That’s why we are already planning to return this summer to see more!

Also in August, a new edition of our guidebook Baedeker Japan was published.

September/October – Germany and Japan

In October, Natascha travelled to Japan for tour guiding work. One of her tours took her to Shikoku and Naoshima, both off the usual tourist circuit. Isa also visited Japan to research the new edition of our Kyoto guidebook, set for release in 2025.

After completing the research and tour guiding, we met up and headed to the Nagasaki region to explore the Hidden Christian sites. Christianity was banned in Japan from the 16^th to the 19^th century, and many Christians survived by pretending to follow Buddhism or Shintoism. We spent a week exploring the Goto Islands, hopping from island to island and visiting UNESCO-listed churches of the Hidden Christians of Japan. The Goto Islands are truly off the beaten path, and we enjoyed discovering this remote area and making new friends.

We also spent a few days on Naoshima, an island dedicated to modern art, where we experienced another one of James Turell’s skyspaces.

The Lonely Planet book about Cycling trips in Austria, which includes three articles by us, was published in October. We also wrote two destinations (Osaka and Benin) for the book “Wohin geht die Reise 2025?” that was released in September.

November until early December – Saudi Arabia

After returning from Japan, we spent just two weeks in Berlin before heading off to Saudi Arabia, our second new country of the year. We had originally planned this trip for autumn 2022, but had had to cancel at the last minute when Isa suffered a herniated disc.

This time, we flew directly from Berlin to Jeddah, where we rented a car for three weeks and explored the northern part of the country.

The highlight of the trip was Al Ula with its impressive archaeological sites. We were also pleasantly surprised by the many vegetarian food options and the thriving specialty coffee shop scene in the cities. To our surprise, we really enjoyed Riyadh, the capital. The new metro opened while we were there. We’ll be sharing more about this trip soon!

December – Germany and Netherlands

For Christmas, we went to Cologne to celebrate with Isa’s family. After the holidays we went for a short visit to Rotterdam and Den Haag for more art visits. In the Museum Vorlinden we experienced the third skyspace by James Turrell this year, and we also did a guided tour at the Van Nelle factory.

Outlook for 2025

In January we will be off to Egypt for another research trip. And from there we will explore a new country in Africa, too. In spring we are both heading to Japan for tour guiding work and we are also working on a new guidebook.

We are thankful for the wonderful trips in 2024 and are looking forward to 2025, Year of the Snake!