Travel Blog vs. Reality: How Often We Actually Travel

If you look at my blog, it might seem like we’re always somewhere on the road. One trip, then another, Poland, Austria, Hungary… You might wonder if we’re ever actually home. 🙂

But a blog can be a little deceiving.

On every trip, I really do take a lot of photos. Sometimes maybe too many. From a single trip I bring home so many photos, experiences and tips that it gradually turns into several articles. So while on the blog we’re still “traveling,” in reality we might already be home for several weeks, living a completely ordinary life. And sometimes we’re home for whole months.

Why we barely travel anywhere in summer

It might be surprising, but it’s actually in summer that we usually don’t go on vacation or bigger trips at all. My husband and I don’t really like the big heat. And I probably handle it even worse than he does. Recently my husband’s uncle told me that since I’m from southern Moravia, he assumed I was used to the heat and liked it. I quickly set him straight on that. 🙂

I still remember from childhood how, on hot summer days, we’d draw the curtains at home so as little sunlight as possible got into the flat. My mum tried various ways to cool down our panel-block flat, and of course we didn’t even go outside during the worst heat. And today I feel like I handle the heat maybe even worse than back then. So in summer we tend to stay home and also try to work more. Partly so that afterwards we can afford to head out somewhere again.

One of our few regular summer trips is usually two days in southern Moravia, where I’m from. My husband loves it there too, as do his parents and his aunt and uncle, who come along with us.

And in August I have one more personal reason to go back there. I go to lay flowers on the grave and light a candle for my mum on what would have been her birthday. 🕊️

In autumn we head out on trips again

Once the big heat is over, a much more pleasant travel season begins for us. I love autumn not just for its colors, but also because it’s much nicer to be outside again. And when the weather turns out nice on top of that, I think it’s one of the loveliest seasons for trips. So we usually come up with a one-day or two-day trip. And we really don’t have to go far. Sometimes it’s enough to drive just a short way from our town, and you discover a place you’ve never been before. Like recently in Polná, which I also wrote about here on the blog.

Those are exactly the kind of trips I love. It doesn’t have to be a big holiday or a journey hundreds of kilometers away. Sometimes one free day is enough — get in the car and go somewhere we’ve never been. And it often turns into a really lovely day. 🙂

In winter we love Christmas trips

In winter we have fewer trips again. But there’s one thing we usually don’t miss — the Christmas markets. We like going to some town for the Christmas atmosphere, the lights, the stalls and everything that belongs to Advent. Even just a one-day Christmas trip like that is a nice change of pace for me in winter.

And then I usually start thinking about where we could head after winter.

In spring we look forward most to longer travels

Spring is usually the season when, after winter, we feel the biggest urge to go somewhere again. Sometimes it’s earlier, sometimes later. It depends a lot on work, the weather, and whatever we come up with. This year we set off for the Low and High Tatras. We were in Liptov and then also in Poland’s Białka Tatrzańska. I’ve already written about a lot of places from this trip here on the blog, and a few more articles might still be coming. It was really lovely there.

I really love the mountains, and they’re one of the places I’ll always be happy to return to.

The highway drive to the snow-covered High Tatras

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After a longer trip like that, mostly shorter and one-day trips follow. And that’s exactly why the blog can give the impression that we’re always somewhere. From one bigger trip I sometimes have enough material for several weeks or even months of writing.

We plan some trips months ahead, others just a few days

We don’t have any fixed system for planning trips either. Some trips we start planning several months in advance. Other times something occurs to us a few weeks ahead, and sometimes even just a week before we leave. But that doesn’t mean we can head off whenever we want. When my husband has a lot of work and more orders, there’s simply no travelling.

So even though we have quite a lot of freedom in this respect, our trips are still very much governed by work and by whatever needs doing at the time.

We travel most often by car, but we love the train too

Most often we set off in our old car. As long as it runs, we’ll keep driving it. 🙂

A car has one big advantage for trips — we can stop wherever we want, change our plans, and visit places that are harder to reach by public transport.

But we also really love travelling by train. Especially when we’re going to a city or somewhere we don’t actually need a car at all. And my husband likes RegioJet for one more important reason — he can treat himself to something nice on the train. 🙂

And one more thing that might surprise some people. Even though I write a travel blog, I’ve never actually flown on a plane. So far we’ve reached all our destinations by car, train or some other way by land. Whether that will ever change? Even I don’t know. 🙂

I love travelling, but I love coming home just as much

I really love discovering new places. But even though I enjoy travelling, I also love coming home. And maybe it’s actually thanks to travelling that I realize even more how good it feels to be home afterwards. To me, travelling doesn’t mean constantly being away somewhere. Sometimes it’s one longer trip every few months. Other times it’s a one-day trip just a few kilometers from home. But I look forward to every next trip. 🙂

And how about you? Do you travel often, or is one holiday a year enough for you? 🙂