We wrote this one year ago, thinking that 2020 would be the only year we had to forfeit any travel plans for the summer. We planned to travel to maybe Miami in autumn 2020, that would be possible, would it not? One year later we realized a long time ago, that staycation 2021 was going to be the deal, one more year at home. Yes there are green countries, and yes we could have travelled out of Norway but when we see the hassle and queues just to go to Denmark, we chose not to go. So here is a warm thought to 2022, may you bring us joy and an outlet for our long pent up wanderlust.

The following was written one year ago, summer 2020.

It has been a strange year so far. Needless to say, everybody is affected in one way or another. This will be the first year since we met that we will not have any trips abroad during a full year. Happily Norway’s government has said that its OK to holiday in our own country for summer, but still saying that travel abroad is not recommended until at least 20^th of August. We see that countries in the south of Europe are opening up their borders, but we will still heed the advice of our government and stay at home this summer.

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Luckily for us we live in a country that offers everything from stunning fjords, mountains, archipelagos and beaches. Our plan is to utilize as much as we can. On our doorstep we have the best stretch of coast in the country (I am being a patriot here, the whole coastline of Norway is breath taking). We have beaches in walking distance from our house, we have a boat so we can explore the archipelagos that the south of Norway is famous for. Just down the road we have the worlds biggest underwater restaurant the Under at Lindesnes with a Michelin star to its name. Please check out our local region Lindesnes and our part of the country Sørlandet.

Just a couple of hours drive and a hike we have the Pulpit rock, a place we still have not visited, and this will be the year for that visit. Strange thing that we have seen Easter Island, but not yet this location, famous all over the world. On the way to Prekestolen we have Nordsjøvegen that offers coast hugging roads with quaint small white wooden house hamlets.

Or we could do the Norwegian Hyperloop again, a trip we did a couple of years ago.

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And I have totally forgotten that we live in the pearl of southern Norway, Mandal, the southernmost town of Norway. A great town, with beaches, quaintness in spades, narrow streets lined with white wooden houses, shops and restaurants. And we have a new hotel, the Mandal Hotel. We are patriots, but please come for a taste of the real Sørlandet.

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So, we are not sad for staying at home this year, we all have to do our part in this global pandemic. I wish we could have gone to Spain and supported their businesses and basked in their sun, but we choose to, and we have to, support our own tourist business, who like so many other tourist dependent destinations, need our money to get by, so that we can all welcome 2021 with renewed optimism and wanderlust. Be safe, hugs from Ørjan and Tanja.