Misc. Travel in 2021

2021 was rather muted as a travel year given it technically only began in August due to COVID-related travel restrictions and the unavailability of vaccines.

Ontario, Canada (August)

The A380 flight to Toronto only had 6 people on the whole plane - that was downright bizarre. It was nice to be able to travel after 536 days of being grounded in Singapore.

Denver and Boulder, Colorado, USA (October)

It was nice to retrace my steps in Denver from my last trip in 2013 (especially the Buckhorn Exchange) and discover Boulder, a famous college town which I would have loved to have spent my 20s in.

Houston and Austin, Texas, USA (October)

I really ate well here, and unfortunately didn't take enough photos, especially of Austin, an emerging tech mecca. 

Helsinki, Finland (December)

My annual pilgrimage to one of the most exciting centers of innovation in the worst possible weather. 

Zürich, Switzerland (December)

An opportunity to visit parts of the Swiss capital that I hadn't previously explore.

Spain Road Trip VI - Zaragoza (12/14/2021 - 12/15/2021)

Zaragoza is an ancient Roman city right in the middle of Barcelona and Bilbao that was initially intended as a stopover to break a long drive, but turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant city in which I wish I spent more time in. 

I can't say too much about the history or famous landmarks as the opening hours were outside of my visit, however I was pleasantly delighted by the Plaza del Pilar (main square in the old town), wonderful tapas bars, and that the Christmas market actually had food in addition to nativity fixtures.  It was also the first time I saw a wooden manually powered Ferris wheel.  Unfortunately there was also a bit of flooding from Ebro river that completely inundated the riverside park that I had wanted to walk on.

This concludes my Spanish road trip, as well as a continuous 9 week period of travel - the longest I've been away in one stretch since starting this blog for my round-the-world trip in 2007.

Spain Road Trip V - Basque Country (12/07/2021 - 12/14/2021)

This was an opportunity to retrace some footsteps from my childhood that I have absolutely no recollection of as I was far too young - my father had worked here in the early 80s but we had to leave after an ETA attack hit too close to home.

The region right now is a far cry from those tumultuous times - thank goodness.  These days it is much more known for having one of the best food scenes in the world - San Sebastian in particular, after Kyoto, has the most Michelin Stars per square kilometre. Sadly I didn't get to try any as they were fully booked weeks in advance - but that being said, most restaurants in the region by virtue of survival of the fittest, are nearly as good (and more fairly priced).

My first stop however was not on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, but rather in Elciego, a city within famous Rioja wine region. I don't usually feature hotels here, but this was apparently the pearl of Marriott hotels, Hotel Marqués de Riscal. It was quite a bizarre hotel, designed by Frank Gehry. As was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, where I also visited. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see very interesting architecture in Bilbao, and I hadn't had this much fun taking photos of buildings in Europe since Rotterdam.

The climactic contrast between the start of my trip and this northern region was quite stark - it was cold,  windy, grey and wet - felt just like the UK :). Luckily, I actually like this weather as it's the complete opposite of home. The sun did come out from time to time, which allowed for some better photos.

Elciego

San Sebastián

Bilbao

Getxo