The first week of my 30th birthday holiday party blowout thing in Spain. Seven of us travelled down from the UK to Spain by a variety of trains initially meeting up at Waterloo and all of us ending up safely in Moraira on the Costa Blanca. This week consisted of eating out, staying in, climbing, sea kayaking, snorkeling, reading in the sun, poi practice and, of course, drinking.

The second week of my 30th birthday holiday party blowout thing in Spain. Two more people arrived by plane (boo!) but were happily added to the throng. More climbing, more going out of an evening, some excellent walking, quality foodage, my birthday (including far too many cocktails and a feisty barmaid), time out in Barcelona and Paris and eventually, sadly, a journey home to the UK again.

James got himself recertified (to fly) so a few of us jumped in a plane and he flew us to Skegness (well, why not?) and back.

I cycled the Rievers Route from Tynemouth to Whitehaven with Jenny. Yes, I wore lycra. Yes, it was padded. Yes, an excellent time was had. Yes, I'd do it again. No, there are no pictures of my arse.

Jenny and I went to Greece. It was brilliant. We had lots of fun and did lots of walking and swimming and eating of food. Probably too much food, if I'm honest. Still, we didn't get burnt, which is nice.

"Ah, Boston in the Fall..." Well with Jenny out there for the next year or so I thought now would be the time to take advantage of a friendly face to show me around. It also being Thanksgiving we took a very short trip to Cape Cod to see what the place was like out of season. The answer: brilliant, cold, windy, deserted, wonderful. Also, this collection contains penguins, autumnal colours, climbing, a squirrel and vague attempts at being vaguely arty, vaguely.

I headed on over to the Big Apple to see Kris. Cue a week and a bit of Central Park wandering, meals out, exploration of the city, walking a duck down 5th Ave, seeing Avenue Q performed on Broadway and a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

A whole load of us (and Kris, who was over at the time) headed off to Porlock in Somerset to stay at (take over) a hotel on the coast. Walking, running, supporting the local economy buy buying lots of produce from the village shop, murder mystery parties on trains, hiring a whole cinema, kiting, horse riding, falconry, cycling, drinking, cooking, croquette, football (of a sort), pass the parcel, games console playing and all kinds of other things I don't recall were the order of the week.

I believe we also celebrated two birthdays at some point, too.

Kris was spending some time in China, researching her Ph.D, teaching to get free accommodation and generally using her time usefully. Given she speaks/reads/writes Mandarin and knows an awful lot about China we figured it'd be the very best time for me to come and visit her and China. Especially as we both needed a holiday.

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Yangshuo and back to Beijing again. Some fabulous hotels, amazing archeological and historical sites, lots of people (LOTS of people) and some truly astounding scenery. Not to mention some lovely company.

Kris and went to Paris! Ostensibly this was to reset her tourist visa, but it turned out she still had three months left on it. No matter as we needed the holiday. We saw pretty much everything the city has to offer (the Louvre, the islands, the Seine, Notre Dame, the catacombs, went shopping, ice-cream, churches, all the Quarters, the Eiffel Tower and all on foot too!) Interesting, a chance to see lots of things and talk about more. Definitely a really rather good time on all counts.

Kris and I took off on the train and bikes to Scotland, just a few dozen miles south of Edinburgh, for the week. We stayed in a fantastic place called Barns Tower just outside of the town of Peebles. Cue a large amount of excellent cycling, wonderful walking and even some time to just relax and read without interruptions from phones and computers. Bliss! It only rained a few times too, and we never got soaked. Much kudos to Kris for carrying two heavy panniers on a much heavier bike than mine!

Kris got her doctorate. From Harvard! How cool is that?! She managed to swing a ticket for me to actually see Commencement in one of the closed-circuit viewing spots so it was much better than not seeing it at all. We had an amazing time in Boston which I saw in a completely different light to the last time I'd been there. We also ate a lot of wonderful food and did a hefty amount of walking.