A Lady in London

Where did 2012 go? I hope I’m not alone in feeling like the year flew by. But it has been a busy one, with no shortage of exciting experiences in the realms of travel, food, and new discoveries in London.

My biggest highlight of 2012 was completing my 90 under 30 Travel Project, in which I accomplished my goal of visiting 90 countries before my 30th birthday. It was a race to the finish at the end as I went to Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu within a month of each other, and Lebanon, Israel, Iceland, Italy, and San Marino in the final few weeks. But I did it, and it felt good.

Closer to home, I got to visit a lot of new places in the UK, including the lovely Derbyshire of Jane Austen fame and the pretty cathedral city of Lincoln. That’s to say nothing of my recent trip to southwest England, where I explored places like Dartmoor National Park and Durdle Door.

And speaking of home, I got to make two—painfully brief—trips to California to visit family and attend weddings in the Sonoma wine country and the San Diego area. In November, home came to me when I met my family in Spain for a week.

Back in London, I had some great culinary adventures. From MASH, the new steak house that I tried on one of my trips to Copenhagen, to Moreno, with its inventive “scushi”, there have been a lot of great new openings this year.

And that’s to say nothing of afternoon tea, which I experienced at hotels like The Corinthia and the Jumeirah Carlton Tower for the first in 2012.

London itself celebrated a lot this year, with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics taking place this summer. Equally important (not really), the A Lady in London blog celebrated its 5th birthday in August.

As the year draws to a close, I find myself in Edinburgh for Hogmanay, the city’s famous New Year’s festival. It’s a fitting way to end a big year of travel and ring in another one. I already have trips to France, California, Minnesota, and Montana on the books for the new year, and have several more exciting destinations to announce soon.

Most importantly, as I ring in 2013 tonight, I will be thanking all of my readers for your continued support for A Lady in London, and wishing you a very happy new year!