I’m not big on New Years resolutions, but I do love a bit of reflection and introspection at the end of the year. I thought it would be fun to look back on everywhere 2022 took me and share some travel highlights! I ending up calling 2021 “The Year of the Sailboat” for obvious reasons, so I wanted to see what common thread appeared for my travels in 2022. While going back through the archives, I realized I traveled with family and friends for almost every day of every trip. I had 4 solo days in San Diego, 2 in London, 1 in Mexico City, and I think that’s it. I also realized I traveled with 10 new people I had never traveled with before. TEN! Like I wasn’t even aware that I knew 10 people… I’m grateful for all these new connections and memories we shared <3
February: The Bahamas
Since moving back to the midwest, I’ve planned a winter escape the past two Februarys. This year my bestie came with! I’m hoping to make a tradition of visiting a new Caribbean island every year because the winter blues are very real. I use my credit card points to book the flight as a little treat to myself to make it more affordable. We had such an amazing time– you can read all about that trip here:
March: Mexico City
My city girl heart was so happy here. Mexico City had been on my bucket list for a long time, and I finally visited in March with a group of girls for my cousin’s bachelorette party. I loved it so much! It’s a place I can see myself returning to again and again… with some improved Spanish skills. Here’s everything we did:
5 Days in Mexico City: A First-Timer’s Guide
April: Desert Days
April took me and another group of gals off on an adventure in the Californian desert. A Coachella experience meant for 2020 finally took place in 2022, and we had the best time despite coming back with broken backs and no voice. You can read my thoughts here:
May: 3 Weeks in California
I usually spend my long vacations exploring a new country, but I knew this year would look a little different. I had to plan one of my trips around my cousin’s wedding in the redwoods (it’s a tough life I know), so I decided to make a big California trip out of it. I started off by spending time in one of my favorite places in the world and my former home, San Diego. Well, Solana Beach and Encinitas to be exact. Then I flew to Santa Cruz for the wedding and explored a new-to-me NorCal town afterwards (Mendocino). It was a meaningful trip in many ways, the closing of a chapter for me and the start of a new one for my cousin. You can read about how much I love Solana Beach here:
June: Yosemite
My time in CA ended in Yosemite National Park, a place I never made it to while living in San Diego. It was a long time coming and was everything I dreamt it would be and more. I feel like I’ve now been to all the places on my Cali list… crazy! I never ended up writing about Yosemite (but I will soon!). I do feel like it’s a place you can show up to and explore on your own terms. The accommodation definitely needs to be booked in advance (sometimes as far as a year ahead), but other than that, you can easily grab a map and make your plan once there. Do not miss The Mist Trail but also leave time for wandering 🙂 If you have 3-4 days you can see a lot, but the park is massive so you can’t do it all in that time frame.
August: England
My other vacation time for the year aligned with my cousin’s, and everything worked out perfectly to have our moms join us too! This was a special trip to London I’ll never forget. For the rest of our time in England, we explored Kent, a new-to-me region of the country. Between coastal walks and coastal pubs I was one happy girl.
Highlights of this London trip: Brigit’s Afternoon Tea on a double decker bus, seeing Big Ben now that the restoration work is done, dinner at In Parma, wine and cheese at Gordon’s, Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club, Churchill War Rooms, pub dinner at The Duke of Sussex, joining in on Sunday Roast culture.
Highlights of Kent: swimming in the North Sea at Botany Bay beach, walking part of the North Down Way in Wye, all of the coastal pubs.
October: LA
Los Angeles is one of my least favorite places, but there’s always a reason to visit. Our reason to visit this time was Harry Styles haha. We had the most indulgent weekend spiking our dopamine levels. Universal Studios! Comedy show! Best meal of the year! Trendy bars! Harry’s House! I definitely crashed afterwards but it was so worth it. If you find yourself in LA and can get a rez, definitely try Rosaline for a modern Peruvian dinner. And if you see a show at The Laugh Factory, you might get a celeb drop-in. We saw Chris Tucker!
November: NYC
My last trip of the year was to New York City, another place I’ll visit again and again. I want to write a full post about this one soon cause it was just incredible. Highlights included seeing Lea Michele in Funny Girl, getting our portraits taken by @jaaphotos, a lower east side bar crawl, shopping at Modern Mystic, comedy at The Stand, and watching my friends fall in love with NYC too. I have a feeling I’ll be back soon 🙂
What’s Next
As a proud introvert, I think I can call 2022 “The Year of the Extrovert.” I put myself out of my comfort zone with new people and shared most of my travel days with others. It was quite a change from what I was used to the past few years, either traveling on my own or with a partner, but it made my trips so special. In 2023 I do see myself returning to a bit of solo travel, but I’ll hopefully strike a good balance between alone time and connection. I’m actually hoping to learn a new skill to help me connect with even more people next year. That’s kind of cryptic, but that’s what I’m planning for my travels in 2023– more physical and mental challenges than I’ve ever done before.
Words
I’d like to end the year with some words about connection and friendship, since making new friends and connections ended up being such a big part of my year. This is from an astrologer on Instagram (@heidiroserobbins) haha, but I loved the sentiment. Happy New Year everyone!!
“May we always stay open and curious about new friends. It’s so easy, as we get older, to say, ‘Well, these are my friends and there’s no need for more.’ But truly– what a delight to forge new friendships, to hear new stories, to hear ourselves tell our stories in new ways. May we always keep our hearts open to the knock at our door, the stranger who will become a beautiful new part of the tapestry of our lives. What a joy to make a new friend.”
What a beautiful post and such a beautiful year! So glad I got to be apart of it so much this year!!
We did so much together it was amazing!!