Hello and Happy New Year from Rio de Janeiro! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas period with your friends and families and started the new year with a BANG!

I celebrated Christmas in Colombia with my partner and some friends. And then we have spent the last 8 days in a little beach side town called Barra Grande in Brazil, one of the most chilled and relaxed new year’s to date. More on those stories later! I’m now in Rio for a couple of days before jetting back to London this weekend so wanted to get a quick update here before I leave.

Since I left London in late December, I’ve had a bit of an accidental hiatus from the blog. It wasn’t on purpose, I just didn’t realise how bad the wifi would be along this travel journey. Even though I was bursting at the seams to share all my travel snaps and stories with you, it was a nice time to sit and reflect on the year that was and plan what I wanted for 2016.

One of my new year’s intentions was to leave the UK (or get out of London) at least once every month. And that was a success! Last year I visited Cornwall, Copenhagen, Marrakech, Kefalonia, Mykonos, sailing in Greece, sailing in Turkey, Jersey, Linz Austria, New Forest, Somerset, Marbella, hiking in Germany, Dubrovnik, Australia, Liverpool, Singapore, Colombia and lastly I ended the year in Brazil. Visiting Colombia I realised that I hit my 40th country milestone! It kind of sneaked up on me as I hadn’t been keeping a close count since I moved to London in 2014. Now the next milestone to hit this year is 50 countries and more! I’m hoping to visit all the places on my 2016 wish-list.

Another one of my new year’s intentions last year was to become a yoga teacher. It’s always been on my list of things to do but I’ve never been in one country long enough to commit to the course. I graduate from my yoga course next month and I can’t wait to start sharing my yoga story with you. I also have lots of Wood and Luxe retreats and adventures that you can be apart of so stay tuned for more info.

I pinch myself everyday to make sure this is real life and it is! It probably looks very glamorous and adventurous from the other side of your computer screen, but it’s a tough juggling act to keep so many things up in the air at once. Running a marketing business in London, a travel blog, studying yoga and keeping up a relationship and friendships isn’t an easy feat. But I love everything I do and do it with all my heart. I wake up everyday excited for the life I am creating. So this time away from the blog was very much needed and it has given me a new burst of energy for my 2016 goals.

What are some of your travel goals for this year?

X Phoebe