Plans for 2023

I’m still reeling from 2022. Two trips to the Arctic Circle. The Northern Lights setting the sky ablaze. A much longed-for trip to Greenland being much more than I had dared to hope for. Interviews with the most incredible people, dinners in the strangest places, and so much swimming. It was a dream come true. So what does 2023 have in store?

I’m starting to think and plan my year’s adventures around Scandinavia and the Nordics. I will be shortly off to Helsinki to find out what’s new there in 2023, and what ice bathing is all about. Wish me luck – although I’ve been swimming all year long, I still haven’t cut a hole in the ice and jumped in yet. I hope I’ll be brave enough.

To put it out there, I’d like to go back to Greenland for Inunnguaq Helgelund’s new restaurant this summer, I’d like to visit the Sami people in Northern Finland, and I’d like to spend some time in Stockholm and find a reason to fall in love with it. I just haven’t spent enough time there. I will to continue to focus my attention on telling stories about nature, authentic, enriching experiences and passionate and maverick people, just as I have this year. 

I’d also like to collaborate on some projects with the wonderful people I met this year, and get my book about swimming in Scandinavia published. I’m starting to think about my next book and what that will be too. It’s exciting. 

Some of the stories I’m most proud of from last year are coming out in a matter of months: a skateboard hero and his favourite places in Copenhagen; a restaurant that goes beyond the plate to reimagine how we eat; and a story about the closeness of nature in Greenland and its affect on mental health. And if you’re flying through Copenhagen airport in the next year, take a moment to look at the words on the walls. I wrote them! As the airport is a place I spend a lot of time in, it makes me doubly proud.

I’m going to update this blog with recommendations and tips and musings from my Scandinavian travels as I go, plus some behind the scenes ‘what really goes on when you're a travel journalist’ stories. It’ll be erratic, opportunistic and hopefully a little inspirational too.