As the year is coming to an end, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the 2024 year. This has been a year of experiences, challenges, and growth. Below are some of the highlights of that time.
Blogging
My last post in 2023 was about migrating my blog to new platform - Astro. I’ve been super happy with the decision. The blog is faster and so much easier to maintain.
Since that time I published 6 posts this year, which is less than I wanted (and about the same as last year).
- Highlights from a visit to Tenerife
- Dark skies of Tenerife
- How to build a simple photo gallery with Astro
- Summer update
- Downloading files in Remix with useFetcher hook
- Minor October update
It’s a mix of travel, coding, and personal updates. I’m happy with the variety. I’m quite proud and surprised that my technical posts about Astro and Remix rank quite well in Google and bring some traffic to the blog.
Overall, this year I’ve seen a steady increase in traffic and visitors to the blog. I hope the trend will continue in 2025.
My most popular piece of content still remains The Seven Sisters Hike alongside with 7 things to see on The Seven Sisters Walk. This definitely motivates me to do more hiking trips and write about it.
Work
This year was a bit challenging in terms of work. I went through some ups and downs with my full time job at Switch and ultimately decided to leave by the end of the year. I’ve been with the company for 3 years and I’m very grateful for the experience and the people I’ve met there. I’m also very proud of the work I’ve done there and what we’ve achieved as a team.
I’m excited to start a new chapter in 2025. I’ll be focusing on consulting and freelancing. I’ve got already projects lined up and I’m looking forward to the new challenges. I hope also to carve out more time to work on side project ideas that have been brewing in my head for a while now.
Travel
I’ve been fortunate to travel a bit this year and I hope I can also do some of that in 2025.
Philippines
Main highlight of this year was visit to Philippines in May.
I visited my girlfriend’s family home and we spent there full 4 weeks. It was a great time to relax, recharge and experience some of the local culture, much different from what I’m used to in Europe.
Definitely one of the best experiences of the year. I wrote a bit more about it in my Summer update.
I definitely want to go back to Philippines and explore more of the country. Next time I’m planning also to bring my main camera and take more photos.
Hikes
I’ve done only a few hikes this year. I wish I could do more, somehow between work, home errands, weather and other commitments it’s been hard to plan them better.
In April I returned to Seven Sister cliffs again and did a hike on the usual route.
In July we went for a hike in Surrey AONB walking between Reigate and Betchworth.
Trip to Poland
Just few days ago I returned from a week long trip to Poland, visiting my hometown and my family.
For my girlfriend it was the first time in Poland so we did also a bit of sightseeing, visiting the Salt Mine in Wieliczka, Old Town in Krakow and a bits of countryside.
Photography
Beside the trips mentioned above, I only did a little bit of photography this year. It seems like Iphone is my main camera these days, primarily because of the convenience and that its always with me.
Phone cameras got so much better over the years, but there is still a big difference in quality when you compare it to a full frame camera with a good lens.
But, on a couple occasions, whenever I capture something interesting with my Sony camera, I’m reminded how much I enjoy photography and how much better the photos are.
I also had a chance to take some more photos and videos with my DJI drone. This continues to be a fun and novel experience, especially when I’m in a new place, although I still feel like I need to become more creative and proficient with it.
I did a little bit of video editing, some of which I shared on my Instagram Reels page.
There is so much more to learn and improve in this area, so let’s hope I can dedicate more time to it in 2025.
Running and training
Last but not least - running. This year has been still on the low side in terms of running compared to some years in the past. I feel like running was still a secondary activity, as I primarily focused on recovering from my ankle injury from last year. Unbelievable how long it takes to fully recover from it.
Hopefully things are looking good now and from December, I started slowly to increase my training and just this week I’m beginning my training plan for a London Marathon in April 2025.
This will be my main focus and goal for next year. I don’t really push for any specific time, I just want to enjoy the training, stay injury free and finish the race with a smile on my face.
On to 2025
There is probably much more to recap and reflect on, but I’ll leave it here for now. I’m grateful for all the experiences I had in this year. I feel like I’ve grown a little, learned to appreciate small things and moments of the life. I’m deeply thankful for all the people in my life: my partner, my family, friends and colleagues.
I’m looking forward to 2025! I hope it will be a year of new opportunities, growth and happiness. I wish you all the best in the new year. Stay safe and healthy!
