2014 was the year that Hand Luggage Only was truly born! Lloyd and I started toying with the idea of Hand Luggage Only back in 2012 after travelling around at every opportunity possible and accumulating quite a lot of travel photos so after a bit of “to’ing” and “fro’ing” we finally decided to go for it!
Well kinda…
We actually sorted out the admin side of the blog back in 2012 (you know, the boring stuff – buy a domain, get hosting sorted, lock down the twitter name, Facebook page…etc) but didn’t do anything really with it until April this year when I was studying in Cambridge University and on a rare break between coursework, I decided to put up the first few posts and actually get the blog properly started.
Thankfully, there were a few hidden posts to “get our feet wet” with travel blogging which Lloyd has written originally to share privately with friends and family back in 2012!
We made these posts public and I published the first official blog posts on April 12, 2014 (I remember the exact date – which isn’t that hard as it actually says so in the blog post) and we haven’t looked back since!
Hand Luggage Only has grown from strength to strength (thanks to you!) and it has been everything we’ve hoped for and more! I was really looking for like-minded travel obsessed individuals to swap photos, experiences and travel inspiration with.
Lloyd was similarly looking for a creative outlet to write about travelling and share his photos with and it’s safe to say we have found that space! I am constantly impressed (and educated) by the comments left on the blog and the stories shared about your unique travel experiences as well as advice on places to go and things to do and I can’t thank you enough! I have honestly lost count of the number of times this year when I have been on holiday and seen or done stuff recommended by you and had an amazing time doing so!
Please keep the ideas, comments and suggestions coming!
In addition to the list of places we want to visit next year, we figured, it also makes sense to look back at the amazing places we visited this year (most of them for the 1st time and three of them to actually call home!).
N.B.: Some of these photos are rather blurry iPhone selfies which I would normally not include in blog posts but I feel like our travelling in 2014 is only made more complete by these selfies! 🙂
1.) Morocco
2.) Paris
3.) Lisbon
4.) Dubai
5.) Singapore (This was home for a good part of 2014!)
6.) Thailand
7.) Bali
8.) Vietnam
9.) Hong Kong
10.) Australia
11.) Santorini
12.) Gipuzkoa
13.) Cambridge (also home for quite a lot of 2014)
14.) London (Although this is home again, this wasn’t the case at the beginning of the year when I was still studying at Cambridge)
HONOURABLE MENTION: Back home in Wales…
Here’s to an amazing 2015 everyone! Hope you have amazing plans to bring in the New Year and wish you all the very best in 2015!
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