Making plans for 2019

Planning and organisation aren’t my strongest traits, particularly when it comes to my home life. So when Jenny from Monkey and Mouse blog asked me to write about my plans for this year, I thought it was a great opportunity. After all, writing goals down is always the first step to achieving them.

Travel plans

Camper van travel: As we didn’t get the camper van until April last year, this will be our first full year of owning it. We’ve already started putting it to good use with a weekend away before the girls went back to school in January. We’ve only got one more short trip booked, but our plan is to use it every school holiday even if it’s only for a few days. There will definitely be some weekends in between as well.

Blog more about travel: I’ve been gradually upping the travel content I write over the past 12 months, but I’m keen to work with more travel brands in 2019. I’m going along to a travel blogging event in March and hoping to make some great connections to help with this aim.

Make sure we all have passports: For the last few years, travel has been all about the UK for us. We couldn’t go abroad for a little while and now it’s been so long, two out of four of us no longer have passports. So, 2019 may not be the year we travel abroad as a family. But I want to be ready just in case.

Work plans for 2019

Do my own thing: In the past, I’ve set myself quite challenging goals for work. But this year, what I want is slightly different. The main aim is to work virtually exclusively on blogging and my own social media. For the past few years, I’ve taken on bits and pieces of freelance writing and editing. Whilst I will still do external projects I really love the sound of, I want to predominantly work on my own blog.

Master Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): I work hard on my blog, but I do have a tendency to focus on the things I love. But realistically, this needs to be the year I get my head around SEO properly. I want my blog to be found more on search, bringing me more page views and hopefully more work.

Lifestyle plans

London Marathon: I was rather shocked to get a place in the London Marathon via the ballot this year. But when that acceptance magazine turned up on my doorstep, I knew I couldn’t turn down an opportunity like that. So, I’ve started training and I’m determined to get round and enjoy it. I’m not worried about a time, but can’t help feeling that the longer it takes the less fun it will be, so hopefully my training will pay off. 

Health: Last year, I lost a stone in weight. Since then, I’ve put a lot of it back on. Then in January I started Veganuary and London Marathon training and thought the weight would immediately start to come off again. Sadly, it hasn’t worked that way. So, I do need to put a bit more thought into losing weight because I don’t feel this is my natural size. I don’t want to set a target weight or amount to lose, but my aim is to be happy with my weight by the end of the year. Whether that is through weight loss or acceptance.

Open water swimming: I intend to swim outdoors at least once a week through the Winter without a wetsuit. As the water warms up later in the year, I’d like to pick up the distances we swim. I also intend to swim in more places, particularly as we’re travelling around in the camper van. Lastly, I’d like to do a triathlon with an open water swim. Preferably it will be the same one I did last year, but if that’s not available by the time I’m able to enter it then it might have to be a different race.

Some other lovely bloggers are going to write about their plans for this year too, so I look forward to reading what Otis and Us, Bavarian Sojourn and Tinbox Traveller will be up to. What are your plans for the year?