Contrary to what you may think, this is not a joke post – there was some actual travel in 2021. Every year I will do up a summary of the places I had travelled to, as an introspective look into the past year of travel and also as a way to give thanks. It is part of an annual review of my own life that I have been doing, to see what went well and what didn’t. Also a way of doing some personal target setting for travel in the coming year.
To say 2021 was a letdown is an understatement. While the beginning of 2020 rightfully had a lot of uncertainty when the pandemic hit, by the end of 2021 everyone was fatigued from all the restrictions and travel advisories to curtail the spread of variant after variant of the virus. As for me I was expecting some possible travel at the start of 2021, but as the year wore on and the outlook remained bleak, I ended up not planning even a single trip. There was a bit of light at the end of 2021 though, when the Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) opened allowing for travel without quarantines upon returning, and these VTLs were limited to certain countries deemed ‘safe’. I quickly booked a flight in December 2021 and the end result is this post.
TFP Statistics for 2021:
- Total number of new countries and political territories visited: 3 (Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands)
- Total number of countries and political territories where I made repeat visits: 0
- Total number of calendar days spent travelling: 8
- No of days of work + travel: 0
- No of days of solo travel:0
- No of days of travel with the missus: 8
- No of days of family travel: 0
December 2021: Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands
It was a brief week of travel, based out of two cities, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. But after 668 consecutive days in Singapore, any travel is welcomed. I tried to make the most of the travel though, making day trips out of Copenhagen to the nearby cities of Helsingor and Roskilde, and also Malmo in Sweden. In Amsterdam, we day-tripped to the Hague and Delft. My choice of destinations for the trip was entirely based on whichever country was declared VTL at that time, and that I had not visited. Up till the travel date, I was crossing fingers the travel plans would not get cancelled, as the Omicron variant was causing havoc, with each day more countries were abruptly calling for restrictions, lockdowns, adding requirements for additional testing or even closing borders entirely. Fortunately, the trip went ahead.
Denmark: Copenhagen at the beginning of winter is a treat, especially with the Christmas light-up at Tivoli Gardens. The atmosphere at the Tivoli fairground, located in central Copenhagen, is almost fairytale-like. In the city, the main sights we visited were the royal palace of Christianborg, and the Rosenborg palace which housed a museum where the royal jewels are kept. A highlight, for me at least, was visiting the independent community of Freetown Christiania in one of Copenhagen’s districts. In 1971 some locals decided to declare ‘self-rule’ over the area, and formed a self-governing community, which continued in what is already in its 50th year. Quirky, you might even call in a micronation, and as unusual as my travel locations get in 2021.
Christmas light-up and celebrations at the Tivoli Gardens
Visiting Freetown Christiania on its 50th year!
Painted houses by the Nyhavn in Copenhagen
Outside of Copenhagen, I visited two UNESCO-listed heritage sites. The first is the Kronborg Palace in the city of Helsingor. The palace is more well-known as the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I was not so much in awe of the palace itself, but I did like its location at the northeastern-most tip of land overlooking the channel crossing and Sweden on the other shore. The second UNESCO-listed site was the Roskilde Cathedral in the city of the same name. The cathedral houses the tombs of Denmark’s past monarchs. Some of the frescoes and latticework in the chapels within the cathedrals were impressive.
The tombs of Danish monarchs housed in the Roskilde Cathedral
Kronborg Palace in Helsingor, or better known as the Hamlet castle.
Sweden: This was a whistle-stop day trip to the city of Malmo, a short train ride from Copenhagen via the Oresund bridge, which connects Denmark and Sweden. Fortunately there were no additional PCR / ART testing requirements to enter, so we could whizz in and out easily. There was no itinerary, so I decided to walk around Malmo’s main squares before heading into the mall, where it was warmer. This was winter, and us folks from the tropics can only take so much cold temperature in one go. Fun fact: Despite Sweden not making mask-wearing mandatory unlike Denmark, we wore ours throughout, because the mask covering actually kept the lower half of our faces warm.
A walk in downtown Malmo.
Netherlands: Technically I had visited Netherlands before, when I visited the overseas Dutch territory of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean back in 2019. However, this is my first time in Netherlands proper, so I will put it up as a new place visited. My highlights were not so much the cities’ sights and attractions (though the Rijksmuseum is a must visit!), but rather the more mundane things – such as hunting for food from Surinam (never tried before) and Indonesia (must try to see how authentic it is) in the Albert Cuyp Market area, and taking the ferry to get to my hotel on the NDSM wharf district, located on the other bank across from the main Amsterdam central area. Also interesting was rushing everywhere to meet the 5pm partial lockdown measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID. Shops and restaurants had to close by 5pm, with only essential services like supermarkets and public transport allowed to continue operation. So the typical day’s itinerary was to squeeze in as many activities, have an early dinner, before taking the train or tram ride back to the hotel, and stopping by the local Albert Heijn supermarket to stock up on drinks and snacks.
My first time visiting the Rijksmuseum
The view out of my hotel window, at the NSDM, an industrial wharf area converted to a creative zone.
Rijsttafel (rice table) for one,
Besides Amsterdam, which I rather liked in winter, we went on a day trip to The Hague, and the pretty city of Delft, both nearby and only about an hour away from Amsterdam by train. Delft’s picturesque canals and two churches were a delight, despite the dingy weather. The Hague is the seat of the The International Court of Justice (ICJ), and we popped by the Peace Palace where the ICJ was located.
The Peace Palace in The Hague.
Delft’s pretty little canals and the leaning Old Church
My first taste of Surinamese roti via Roopram Roti, a chain with branches in Amsterdam
That wraps up 2021. What went well was that I got to travel at all, so definitely have to be thankful for that. As for what could have been done better, not much I would say, as things were beyond my control and as much as I would have liked to have kept to my travel plans, the current situation did not allow for it. In 2022, I have cautiously made some travel plans, and I have hoping some can come to fruition. Seriously, everyone deserves a break in 2022, it has been two years.
In the meantime, stay healthy and don’t be a stranger. Say hi!
Cheers,
Red
p/s – This is the 10th year I am doing these annual reviews. Here are all the past posts (minus 2015’s review which I lost during the great malware attack on this blog and never bothered to rewrite).