2017, a year in review

2017 is gone! Just like that, another year goes by and this was yet another great one for us in terms of travel and more. Plenty of journeys to some incredible places and, most importantly, the news that we’re expecting a baby girl who will soon join us on our travels around the world!

It’s always a close call, but here are 5 experiences we really enjoyed this year:

• Hiking in the mountains of Switzerland and Andorra
• Seeing the Big 5 and all the other amazing animals in East Africa
• Gorilla trekking in Uganda at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
• Exploring the old high Caucasus villages and their defensive towers in Georgia
• Getting to know more of the remote and authentic Cuba

Check out the archives for previous editions of “a year in review”.

What happened in 2017

2017 was another busy year for us. In total, we spent 105 days on the road, took 31 flights, explored 8 new countries, and passed the 100 visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites mark. There was also time to visit a few countries and places that we have been to in the past and travel to frequently, including to visit family and for work.

Our three main trips of the year were to East Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania), the Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia), and Cuba. We also visited Hamburg, in Germany, more beautiful parts of Switzerland, tiny mountainous Andorra for the first time, and did a stopover in Qatar.

Golden Monkey in Rwanda

Needless to say that our three main trips are our travel highlights of the year.

We had an unforgettable safari trip in East Africa where we witnessed first-hand amazing wildlife and the beauty of the African continent. We can’t wait to go back but for now, our goal is to raise awareness about conservation of these important natural habitats.

Georgia and Armenia were a great surprise! We had high expectations about the Caucasus and didn’t return disappointed. These countries have an immense history and are dotted with interesting places to visit and incredible natural beauty. The remote places and old villages, some up in the mountains, are totally worth the many hours we spent on the road with our 4×4.

Cuba is an amazing island and, like we’ve mentioned multiple times, there’s a lot more to Cuba than old cars and resorts. On this trip, we revisited some places but also explored plenty of new ones, including secluded beaches perfect for snorkeling and the remote region of Baracoa.

We closed the year spending the Christmas break with our family in Aveiro, Portugal.

Where 2018 will lead us

2018 will be a very different year for us! With our baby girl coming in April, our travels are going to slow down and only Hugo will be able to travel to a few selected destinations. Here’s a tentative list:

• Middle-East: Oman
• Up North: The Faroe Islands
• More Africa: Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe

We’ve also started saving to visit Antarctica in two years or so.

What about you? Where are you planning on going in 2018?

Blog

Breathe With Us is now just over 3 years old. The bad news is that we’ve been slightly inactive as of lately, really late writing about all our travels of the past year and a half. On the bright side, there’s so much to share, that once things settle we should be able to get everything back on track!

Three years of Breathe With Us

The 5 most popular articles of 2017 were:

• Iceland road trip: The ultimate guide
• Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon
• All about driving in Cuba
• The highlights of Havana
• 15 Portugal highlights

Photography

Photography is one of the reasons why we travel and it’s part of our day-to-day while on the road. We keep on learning, investing, and improving our photography skills as we travel. You can follow us on Instagram at @breathewus and our growing photo gallery. Don’t forget to check them out!

We’ve also started printing and selling some of our work in our online photo store.

Here are our 9 most popular photos of the year on Instagram:

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A post shared by Breathe With Us (@breathewus)

Video

We missed our goal to publish more often this year, badly. Only a couple of videos out and lots of content accumulating on our hard drives waiting to be edited.

It’s one of our priorities, time permitting, to get more videos out. In the meantime, check out our YouTube channel for all our videos.

Thank you for stopping by. We would like to wish all our readers a very happy 2018!