In 2022, life got much better. Covid restrictions were lifted in Ireland and most other places, Google offices reopened back in full swing, and work and life generally got much more stable and enjoyable.

As a result, 2022 was a great year for me. Lots of travel: I visited 15 countries and took 38 flights, with Tanzania, Qatar, Canary Islands, and Iceland among the top destinations. Lots of adventure and sports: I almost ran a marathon, started to do more climbing, yoga, and hiking, and climbed Kilimanjaro and other cool mountains in Ireland and Kazakhstan. And I even got promoted at work in Google and was generally enjoying the work much more this year. And last, but not least, I had some great company of people with me this whole year.

January

Technically in 2021, but in December 25th to 31st of 2021 I completed the big 235 km hike from Dublin to Galway in Ireland (I will need to write a separate blog post about it). So January started with a sense of accomplishment and trying to get some needed rest.

Almost. My IRP (Irish Residence Permit) was expiring in the middle of January, so while I still could, Patricia and I went for a couple of days to Lisbon, Portugal. I remember it for the sunny weather, great architecture, and charming seaside town of Cascais.

In January, I also signed up for a Paris marathon in April and started training five days a week. A heavy exercise schedule was very demanding but fun, and it was my big focus for the next three months.

February

In February, Patricia and I decided to go see the Northern Lights in Iceland, since it was the high season for Aurora and Iceland is not that far away. I remember the three-day trip by Iceland being a beautiful and modern country and Northern Lights being absolutely out-of-this-world. Highly recommend that you take the opportunity to see them if you can.

Another remarkable thing in Iceland in February was soaking in an outdoor hot pool (free!) and going for a dip in the Arctic sea right after. This is what life is all about.

In February I also enjoyed some hiking in Dublin’s Howth, ran a 29 km long run (still my longest), and set my gym’s February plank record with 8 minutes and 12 second plank. Boy, was I in shape in February.

March

In March life was a bit more slow. On March 17, we enjoyed St Patrick’s celebrations in Dublin, the first in two years following Covid. The parade and celebrations were so fun with the whole city dressing up in green for a few days! Nice to see life getting back to normal.

Later in the month I also went to Prague, Czech Republic to visit my old friend Nursultan. I remember Prague for its beautiful medieval architecture, beer cheaper than water, and interesting mix of Eastern and Western Europe.

In March, I also continued running and exercising regularly, with the best days being running with deer in Phoenix Park, Dublin. I also took a guided tour at the Frankfurt airport during the layover when returning from Prague. The tour takes you to the private staff-only spaces in the airport, but I had to mostly guess what was going on because the tour was… in German.

April

April started terribly for me. I completed 11 weeks out of my 12-week marathon preparation plan, and then, one week before the Paris Marathon 2022, I got sick with Covid. This was quite depressing, I had to stay home for a week and then was quickly out of shape and out of motivation. Well, I guess the moral of the story is to take extra care not to get sick a couple of weeks before the big events. And I will definitely try a marathon again in 2023!

Later in April, we went to Dublin Zoo (fun!), Cork city (fun trip, but Cork is nothing special…), and finally went for several days to Amsterdam to enjoy the spring tulip season.

Oh, and at the end of April we went to the Ed Sheeran concert in Dublin. I guess it’s really weird to say then that April (at least the beginning of it) was the most disappointing month in 2022 🙂

May

May started with a short trip to Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. Surprisingly, I haven’t heard of this island before, but it turned out to be a land of wild volcanoes (which we climbed) and nice beaches. Honestly, one of my favorite 2022 trips. Note to self: I seem to like quiet, wild, uncrowded places.

Also this month: I tried bouldering for the first time and we went camping in one of the Dublin parks with the sea view. Full prep mode for the adventurous summer! 

At the end of May, we also went for a quick last-minute trip to Barcelona to meet with friends there. Good to live in Europe!

June

In June I moved to a new apartment, and soon after we were away for a road trip in Iceland! In ten days, four of us drove around the whole country and saw countless waterfalls, mountains, beaches, lagoons, geysers, and cute little villages. It was absolutely amazing — very much could be the best trip of my life?!

Later in June, I went for two days to Munich to see my friends there, enjoy summer German Biergartens and celebrate my birthday. And the month finished with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert in Dublin. What an amazing month!

July

Me and Patricia signed up for an expedition to Kilimanjaro in August, so we spent July trying to get into final hiking shape and to acquire all the missing gear. Every weekend of July we went for a long full-day hike, most of them in the mountains near Dublin.

At the end of July, we went to Lake Como in Italy to do some more hikes there. It was a perfect summer Italian destination: hot weather, great food, unbelievable views, charming towns, and of course the beautiful mountains we came for!

August

August was another big month of adventure. We packed our gear, and traveled to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa! (5895m)

The seven-day Kilimanjaro expedition was absolutely amazing: daily long hikes with outstanding views, life in the tents in Africa, brilliant people, both local and other climbers, and a rewarding physical challenge. We got our first taste of a really high altitude above 5000 meters, where it is hard even to catch a breath, and in the end, successfully made it to the “roof of Africa”! 

The best part of the expedition to me turned out to be just visiting Tanzania, exploring a remote corner of Africa you probably wouldn’t visit otherwise, and chatting with local people and guides. Note to yourself: adventure expeditions are a great opportunity to visit some remote corners of the world!

On the way back from Tanzania, we stayed several days in Qatar to relax. Here I experienced the hottest weather in my life, it was close to 40 C even at night — absolutely crazy. But it was also amazingly warm and nice in the sea and the pool, so this part turned out pretty great.

September

In September, I did something I have been wanting to do for a while: I took both my parents somewhere abroad. We spent a nice week in Istanbul exploring the city, eating, and catching up.

On the way back to Dublin, I spent several relaxing days in Athens eating Greek food and exploring the sights. Visiting Greece was always “on my list” since reading Greek myths as a child 🙂 Great country!

October

October was a chill, mostly stay-in-Dublin month, something I needed after all the travel. Well, almost — to not sit at home too much, I signed up for a month-long beginner skiing course on the artificial slope at the Ski Club of Ireland. I was almost a complete beginner in skiing, but after the course I got much better. Great fun!

At the very end of October, we took a train to the Killarney national park in Ireland and spent several days hiking around. The highlight of the trip was hiking up Carrauntoohil — the highest mountain in Ireland. Even though it is just 1038 meters, the elevation gain on the hike is a respectable 1000 meters or so. Very rainy and very windy weather, typical for the place, combined with the gorgeous green views, made it a very Irish experience.

November

November started with some good news: I got promoted to a senior software engineer (L5) role at Google! In Google, it is a big deal and the final expected level for all software engineers (growing even further is very hard and not required). I am grateful and especially happy that I could combine a good year of travel and productive work.

In November, I also completed another month-long skiing course at the Ski Club of Ireland, now at the intermediate level. Amazing how much you can progress in just two months. 

In the middle of November, we went for a couple of days in Belgium, visiting Brussels and Gent. Belgium made an impression of an interesting mix of Netherlands and France (which it objectively is), with fun streets, nice food, and unusual beer. 

Also in November, during a hike in Dublin, we went for a dip in the freezing Irish sea. One way to get very adventurous right in your neighborhood 🙂

December

In early December, I briefly visited Paris for a couple of days, enjoying the bakeries, checking out Google France office, and riding scooters along the Seine. Paris is a great, lovely city as usual.

For the rest of December, I traveled back home to Kazakhstan. The first week in Kazakhstan I spent in Almaty, hiking or skiing almost every day (my recent skiing lessons helped a lot). The highlight of the week was climbing a mighty Komsomol peak (4376m) over two days. With my friend-guide Kirill, we had a lot of fun camping at 3600m in the winter (!) and doing the climb the next day. It was a bit above my level, so it was a great learning experience and a proper adventure!

The rest of the year I spent with my family in Pavlodar (my hometown in Kazakhstan), relaxing, working for Google remotely, and getting ready for the new 2023 year.

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Misfortunes

2022 was a great year, and I am super grateful for all the opportunities I got. But before I wrap up this post, I want to take a moment to talk about some of the misfortunes that happened this year. Most of my year was great, but I also had some difficult, slow, or boring times, and I think it is important to show that nobody’s life (including mine) is as perfect as it may seem.

Some of the big and small misfortunes of 2022:

• I prepared for a marathon for three months and got Covid a week before so had to skip.
• I considered moving somewhere else and applied for relocation 3 times, but was rejected all of them 🙂
• For some last-minute reasons, my family had to be somewhere else during New Year’s Eve, and I couldn’t spend it with them as planned. Things happen.
• I missed two flights in 2022 or not long before it: in December 2021 and August 2022. Ouch, very costly mistakes.

But it is all OK, we go again and we go strong. For example, I am already planning to run a new marathon in early 2023!

2023?

Here is to an even better year ahead for all of us. Hope we all get a rewarding, meaningful, happy, and productive 2023! Take a moment to reflect — what are your main goals for this year?