2017 has been my busiest ever year for travel. I spent 84 days outside the UK on 12 foreign trips, some for business but most for pleasure. 30 of these days were spent on a sabbatical in Australia and New Zealand. I visited five new countries and ten countries in total: the Czech Republic (Prague); France (Paris and Cannes); Germany (Cologne); Italy (Padua); Norway (Oslo); Spain (Barcelona); the United States (New York, Boston, Cape Ann and Maine); Singapore; Australia; and New Zealand.

The first few months of 2017 were always going to be a busy travel period for me, with two short European trips and a longer US work trip scheduled. Then two more brief European work trips materialised, to Cologne at the end of January and Barcelona earlier this week for a hectic one-night stay.