2020 was the year I would travel to 100 countries, it was all planned out.  Since 2015, travelling the world had become a hobby.  It felt like a game. I would pick a collection of countries to visit based on the time of year and what thing I was into at that time. Then the next thing I knew – I was there.

2020 started in Sri Lanka, also known as country number 89.  I spent three weeks on this exotic island. I will treasure this trip for a long time.  It seemed like any other trip.  I felt free, wild, and untamed.  100% going with the flow and fully embracing the relative ease you can travel around a vast country.  These days, trips were different from my party girl days. Back then I would babysit my hangover around the world. That was before I choose to say goodbye to hangovers and hello to the chilled life.

Trips now centered on maxing out each day by having early nights and early rises.  I would embrace the local community, grateful to be a little wiser and more appreciative of the simple things in life. Each day started with a morning run, some more enthusiastic than others.  It’s that time of the day, before the sun and heat rose, where you are slowly adjusting your eyes, mind, and body to the day ahead.  Your ears are filled with nature, music, or a chatty podcast, with a route planned out, but also open to following what route feels right in the moment.  Technically, you can’t get lost in a new location you are not yet familiar with.  Bliss!

Sri Lanka was truly the dream and it should have been.  I remember the day the dream was a little speck of an idea.  It was back in September 2019. I had one weekend free in September, in amongst all my races, so I sneaked in a trip to the Faroe Islands. I sat in a lovely quaint café in the capital, with a coffee and cake, letting my mind wander about future travels to Sri Lanka.  I felt that feeling, that feeling of excitement when you start to get a good vibe for a country. A possible route is sketched out, with all the ‘must-see’ attractions pin-pointed and your imagination starts to light up.

It was during Sri Lanka I started to think ahead, into the year called 2020 – not yet known as anything else.

How would one reach the milestone I had been chasing?  Crazy to think this is the same girl who back in 2015 had stepped onto a plane to Japan, for my first solo trip. My ten-year relationship had ended in February, and Japan was April.  I was raw, lost, and in need of the world to pick me up and piece my life back together again.  I would sometimes tell people I wanted to reach 100 countries by 40.

At the start of 2020, I was 37.  Why wait until 40, when you can reach 100 countries at 38! Then Covid happened.  How would this story end?  That is for another time.