Wander-Lush 2023 Year in Review: Life, Travel & Business
8 min readLooking back at the year that was, plus a sneak preview of what I have planned in travel, blogging and business for 2024.
Read my previous yearly reviews for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Today is Bedoba or the ‘day of luck’ – a special day in Georgia when you are supposed to do nice things for yourself and for others in order to set the tone for the year ahead.
I can remember Bedoba 2023 vividly: I did my taxes, updated a few blog posts, cleaned the upstairs floors of my house, and had a few drinks with one of my soon-to-be neighbours.
I was trying to be positive, but I literally had no idea what my 2023 would look like – and I was not terribly optimistic about it, either. There were too many unknowns and things out of my control.
Thankfully, after the hardships of 2022, Ross and I were able to get things back on track this year. I am mostly referring to our house renovation in Kutaisi, which finally came to close (well, almost) in summer.
This year, work felt like an escape for me – and even though I neglected the blog at times, it was a real saviour. 2023 was my biggest year of international travel since 2019, an exciting year of exploration in Georgia, and the most successful year for my business by a long shot.
Here is my 2023 year in review.
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My biggest achievement of 2023: Renovating a house in Georgia (and surviving)
Last year, my biggest milestone was buying a house in Georgia. This year, with a lot of help from Ross’s parents and our incredible team of workers, we completed the main part of our renovation. At the end of July, we were finally able to move in.
That day was extra sweet for us given all the drama that came before. We still have a long list of jobs to finish, a couple of issues to solve and a monumental amount of post-renovation cleaning to do. But we are mostly settled in and loving it.
Renovating in Georgia was a huge test of patience. I know you want to hear all the gory details, but I have good reasons for being intentionally vague on the topic. I hope to be able to talk more openly about it later this year.
2023 in travel
In 2023, I visited six countries outside of Georgia, including two that were new to me: Armenia, Azerbaijan (twice), Albania, Greece, Poland (my first time), and Lithuania (my first time).
It was by far the most international travel I have done since 2019.
A year and a half since moving to Kutaisi, we were finally able to make use of the international airport and Wizz Air flights to Europe. We did two short trips: In summer, we spent a few days in Katowice and Krakow, and in December, we visited Vilnius.
Short-format travel isn’t really my thing – I prefer to spend at least a week in a new city. But I do enjoy these quick breaks, particularly because I am forced to pack light and leave my camera at home. I really enjoy leaving ‘blogger mode’ and going into ‘tourist mode’ every now and then. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for that in 2024.
My 2023 travel highlight: Showing my dad around the Caucasus
When you live abroad, it’s always nice to have a visitor from home, and always refreshing to see a familiar place through new eyes. My dad has been waiting to visit Georgia for years and this past spring, he finally got the chance.
We travelled together for almost a month, starting with a few days in Tbilisi. We flew to Baku then worked our way overland through Azerbaijan. The highlight was revisiting my favourite place in the country, Sheki – my second visit this spring, having been there a few weeks earlier on a writing assignment. I also got to see a couple of new places including Lahic.
When we crossed back into Georgia we met up with my friend, Mindia, who acted as our driver-guide for the rest of the trip. The three of us had an amazing time, starting with Dedoplistskaro, a day in the Vashlovani Protected Areas and my personal highlight, Big Shiraki airfield. We then continued through Kakheti to Kazbegi, then down to Armenia (staying at the Sevan Writers’ House), back up to Vardzia and finally Kutaisi.
A close second: Road tripping in Albania
Ross and I spent the entire month of October in Albania, bookended by a few days in Greece (Thessaloniki and Kastoria). I was extremely pumped for this trip and happily it turned out even better than I expected. We had perfect weather, the driving was pleasurably, and our itinerary was perfect (if I do say so myself!).
Highlights included revisiting Berat, Gjirokaster and Korca, spending more time in Tirana, and visiting lots of ‘off-the-beaten-track’ places, from the riviera to the Vjosa River and Lake Ohrid.
Find our route, accommodations and travel tips in my alternative Albania road trip itinerary.
My travels around Georgia
Aside from the big trip with my dad, most of my travel within Georgia was limited to going back and forth between Kutaisi and Tbilisi. As well as attending meetings and checking out new openings, I had to run errands and collect things for the renovation.
In July, I was invited on an incredible press trip around Samtskhe-Javakheti. We covered almost the entire region, focusing on gastronomic tourism and ending with the epic Shaori Mountain hike.
In September, Ross and I returned to Glamping Tago in Upper Adjara for another blissful night in the clouds. We took the opportunity to explore Khulo in greater depth.
In late autumn, I did a quick solo trip to Senaki to see Romeo and Juliet at the local theatre, and Ross and I spent a fun day in Rustavi outside Tbilisi.
I am consistently blown away by how much smaller cities and towns like Rustavi, Senaki and Khulo have to offer – and just how neglected by tourists they are. Without saying too much, I have a long-term project to spotlight places like these in the works.
In 2024, I will definitely be doing more short trips in Western Georgia. We are planning to buy a car, which will hopefully give us a lot more freedom.
We ended the year with a trip to Tbilisi to see the markets and lights, and to make a new Christmas video. I will be posting it on my YouTube channel within the next couple of days.
2023 in business
2022 was the biggest year by far for my blog. Going into 2023, my only goal was to sustain the momentum and match my visitors and income from the previous year. Not very ambitious, I know.
Well, that didn’t happen.
Instead, things grew exponentially. To give you just one example, 2023 represented a 60% year-on-year increase in page views. That’s 7.7 million visits for the year – a number I can barely wrap my head around.
In a way I feel undeserving because there were several months this year where I simply had to put work out of my mind in order to focus on other things.
Through it all, I tried my best to bring you as much new content as possible, and most importantly to keep information updated across the site.
In 2023, I published 27 new Georgia guides. The most-read were:
It was also a relatively big year of freelance writing, which I now see as a complement to my blog in terms of sharing my passion for Georgia with a broader audience. I had pieces about Tbilisi published in Wanderlust Travel Magazine and Wizz Air’s in-flight mag, and I wrote 13 articles for National Geographic Traveller UK and Postcards, many of which focus on this region. I already have a couple of exciting commissions for 2024.
My plans for 2024
2024 is going to be a year of changes and experimentation. I am going into January with more ideas and plans than I have had in a long time. And unlike this time last year, I feel extremely positive.
I think it will be more important than ever to focus on building a community of like-minded travellers and people who are passionate about Georgia. To this end, I have several new initiatives planned that I know you will be excited to be part of.
Another thing I am pondering is new ways to present the massive amount of Georgia content and knowledge I have accumulated over the past few years. Whilst I am incredibly proud of my blog, I also understand that long-form written content is not the way everyone prefers to consume information these days.
On Instagram, I have been experimenting with bite-sized guides and travel tips. They have been doing extremely well – before 2023 came to a close, I hit 10K followers, which was a big milestone for me. Most importantly, curating these photo guides and videos is something I genuinely enjoy doing.
If you have any ideas or feedback you would like to share, I am all ears!
I have some fun travel planned for 2024, too.
To start the year, I will be visiting Gudauri and Bakuriani for a proper Georgian winter experience. In February, Ross and I will visit Rome and Malta for our first big international trip of the year.
Spring will be spent here in Kutaisi, and I think I will stick around Georgia for most of the summer, maybe with a few city breaks sprinkled in. I would love to revisit Budapest and see Riga, and I will definitely be back to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkiye at some point.
I have two big international trips planned for late autumn and the end of the year that I will share in my email newsletter at a later date.
What ever happened to the Tbilisi City Guide?
Remember last year’s ‘exciting announcement’?
At the beginning of 2023, I had a solid plan in place to finish the Tbilisi guidebook I have been working on intermittently for the past three years. On the eve of the ‘final push’, I was invited on a writing assignment that I couldn’t turn down. After that, I had other travel commitments and the renovation to contend with. Basically I got sidetracked and before I knew it, it was the end of summer high season – not the best time to release a guidebook.
If you’re one of the people who supported and encouraged me by joining the Tbilisi City Guide email waitlist: thank you again, and my sincere apologies for not keeping you updated.
I want you to know that the book is far from abandoned – it is still happening, and it will be released soon. I don’t have a precise date yet, but it will be some time in early spring – you have my word!
Best wishes for a happy and successful year ahead! Thank you for your continued support.
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