What a month. Thanks to the current global crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, everything seems to be on hold as most of us are stuck at home. Somehow March is only 31 days but I swear we packed about 2 years into this month! I really struggled with what to write for this monthly recap post. If I hadn’t been writing them for over 3 years, I probably would have skipped this one. How was it that 3 weeks ago I was gone on a weekend trip exploring like normal? And now I’m on lockdown and can only leave my house for essentials and one daily exercise? I’ll probably be writing more on this at a later stage. But anyway, for now here’s what all I got up to this month.
Where I Went
York, Wooler, Langleeford, Cheviot Hills, Lindisfarne/Holy Island, Bamburgh, Craster, Dunstanburgh Castle, Warkworth, Farndale (United Kingdom)
Best Moments
A weekend trip to Northumberland. I’ve been wanting to get up to Northumberland and explore the area for years. I was so excited to finally go explore the first weekend of March! We stayed at a gorgeous B&B in Wooler, had one rainy day hiking in the Cheviot Hills, and one day road tripping along the Northumberland coast. There is SO much to see in Northumberland, I feel like I really only scratched the surface in one weekend!
Finally visiting Lindisfarne!!!! Lindisfarne, or the Holy Island, is an island connected to the mainland by a tidal causeway. There are only specific times that are safe to cross and it is such a unique place to visit. Again, this is somewhere that I’ve been dreaming of visiting for YEARS! And I finally got to go!!! It was so fun to drive out to the island, visit the priory, walk around, and run around sand dunes. I definitely want to come back here for longer (maybe for a whole weekend?) to see more as we were a bit restricted by the tide times.
Enjoying York Restaurant Week. The first week of March was York Restaurant Week, which I think was a big success! A lot of restaurants and cafes had offers or deals on, some of which were a truly incredible value! We focused on trying new places and had some delicious food at places we hadn’t been to. The highlight was definitely the charcuterie boards at Pairings Wine Bar! It’s a really great excuse to get out during a quieter business time and support local businesses—either the ones you already know and love, or try new ones! I’m already looking forward next year!
A beautiful walk in Farndale. Before I the UK went on lockdown, we went out for a short walk in Farndale in the North York Moors. I can’t believe I’d never been here before! It’s a gorgeous area, so remote and so beautiful. We went to see the daffodils blooming, and were not disappointed! This is a fantastic walk and definitely one of my favorite short walks in Yorkshire.
I still have a job. As more and more people are getting laid off (or “furloughed” as they call it now), I’m grateful to be classed as critical staff. I am still going to get paid and I will still have a job through all of this. 65 of my co-workers are not so lucky and I really feel for them. As things are rough, I need to remember to be grateful for what I do have.
Worst Moments
The ‘rona. Man oh man, how coronavirus has turned all our lives upside down. No more adventures, no exploring, no trips, no international travel, no flights, no seeing our friends, leaving our houses for anything besides essentials. COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill and I feel trapped in a cage. Of course, I’m lucky since I’m not in an “at risk” group and now worrying about dying. I know that that’s a great privilege. But the speed with which coronavirus has taken over everything is alarming, and the changes in everyday life have been extremely difficult for me to cope with.
My Norway trip was cancelled. I was set to go to Norway from 19-22 March for a short break. I was so excited, I’d never been to Norway, and I love going on a solo trip! Once Norway announced they were refusing entry to foreigners who didn’t have a residence to quarantine for 14 days, my decision was made for me and I had to cancel. I was able to get everything refunded besides £10 of train tickets (even Ryanair is refunding my flights?!), so thankfully there is no big financial hit.
But this trip was all I had to look forward to after a completely brutal end of December, January, and fairly busy February. The last time I had more than 2 days in a row off work was when I was in Rome over Christmas. I then worked 30 out of 34 days through the end of December and the month of January, and only had my 2 weekends off in February. I really needed a break. I really needed a trip. I worked my ass off for weeks and Norway was my reward. And with no trip, it’s really hard to stay positive, motivated, and not succumb to the depression and anxiety of it all.
The stress over the uncertainty of upcoming plans. We’ve already booked our trip to Orkney in Scotland at the end of May. Will we be able to go? We’ve spent hundreds of £££ already and I can only hope that we’d be able to get that refunded if we can’t go. I took the month of August off unpaid to be able to go home and spend time in Minneapolis over the summer. Will I be able to go?? Either way, I’m not getting paid in August, so I sincerely hope we can travel by then.
I spent SO MUCH TIME planning out all my travel plans this year. I counted every single day I’d have off work. I knew where we’d go and what trips I wanted to take this year. And just like last year when Adam’s car crash derailed a lot of our plans, I’m again feeling frustrated.
Working from home has been difficult. At the moment, my job is doing shifts of 10-hour days (8:30-6:30) 4 days on, 4 days off. Last week when I worked from home was really rough. Sitting for 9 hours at my kitchen table, in my uncomfortable kitchen chair, not being able to ask my co-workers or managers questions, trying my best to respond to horrific rude emails, has been so draining. Not only is it an extremely long day, but due to how we’re operating remotely as a company my workload has been so high. It’s intense and I feel like I’m probably working harder from home than I have in the office, at least the last few weeks I was in the office.
It’s also really hard for me as some people do not have the obligations and intense work load I do. For some people, “working from home” is basically a free pass to half-ass a few things and in reality sleep in, watch Netflix, laze around, and not really get much work done. I don’t have that. I don’t have time to do a shit ton of exercise videos or learn a new language or master a new skill because when I’m working, I’m working. The juxtaposition of the expectations of my job and other peoples’ expectations is tough for me to handle.
My blog traffic has essentially tanked. I’ve lost 75% of my blog traffic this month. I’m incredibly thankful that I have a full-time job, and that I’m not relying solely on my blog for income. Because a lot of travel bloggers are dangerously struggling right now. But no one is traveling, no one is researching travel, so no one is reading my blog. I started 2020 on such a high note and really felt the momentum of my blog taking off. It’s hard and it’s been especially difficult to justify spending so much time on it when it’s not growing, and I know it won’t grow right now.
Having to turn back from the Cheviot. We went hiking in the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland National Park during our weekend away at the beginning of March. Unfortunately, the weather went from bad to worse and after 3 hours we were walking in rain and mist and visibility was alarmingly decreasing. So when we realized we couldn’t find the path we needed, we decided to turn back. It was still a great walk, and the area is so pretty and remote! But we both really wanted to summit the Cheviot and get to the trig point. It was a bummer.
Posts Published
I only managed to get one blog post published this month. After the seriousness of the coronavirus epidemic really started, I lost all my motivation to publish new posts. There’s no point in spending so much time writing blog posts when literally no one will read them. Here is the one blog post I published this month!
A City Guide For Exploring Manchester: What To See, Eat, And Drink!
Instagram Top 3
Somehow, I’ve had some of the best engagement I’ve ever had on Instagram lately! Here are my top 3 most popular posts in March.
Coming Up In April
I was supposed to have a weekend away in the Lake District in April… but that almost certainly won’t be happening. So like the rest of us, I have no plans in April until things die down and we’re able to leave our house like normal. On the days that I’m not working from home, I hope to be recreating some of our favorite recipes from our travels (khachapuri, pierogi, and maybe even bureks?). I’ll also be working hard on updating old blog posts, and maybe even getting some house projects done!
What has your March been like? Are you in lockdown? What are your stay-at-home plans for April?
[…] a century the month of March 2020 has been. At the start of the month, life was pretty normal here in the UK. Adam and I went on a […]
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