2019 Travel Recap and 2020 Plans

[audry80]

2019 travel:
Cabo San Lucas
Santa Barbara
Newport Beach
Palm Springs
New Orleans

We didn’t travel as much in 2019 since we have big travel planned for 2020

Favorite trip: Newport Beach. Love the OC

2020 Travel:
Singapore
Maldives
Australia- dependent on H’s work travel so I can tag along
Girls trip to St Barts

Biggest disappointment:
Palm Springs. It was boring

Favorite pic:

[scout8]

2019:
Charleston, SC to see family
Asheville, NC for house hunting
Scandinavia/Russia cruise with stops in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, and St Petersburg to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. 
South Africa for three weeks

Favorites:
Cruise--I don't love cruises, but it was very special to be able to celebrate with my parents. As they get older, I really appreciate the times that we have together.
SA--I loved South Africa. It was an amazing trip and I would love to go back. I wish it wasn't so far away. 

One of my goals was to visit 50 countries before I turned 50. I made it to my goal this year with a couple of years to spare!

2020:
Nothing   
We are moving and will be getting "real jobs" instead of being self employed. I don't know how many vacation days that we will get, but I don't think it will be very many. 

[sillygoosegirl]

2019 trips:
- Hawaii (childfree with friends on their sweepstakes prize)
- Sacramento (by train and bike)
- Cascades (multiple backpacking trips with kid)
- High Sierra (backpacking with adults)
- South Carolina (work)
- Denver and Milwaukee (work) by way of Chicago (visiting friends)

Biggest Disappointment:

I'd say the biggest disappointment was snorkeling in Hawaii. The ocean seemed practically dead compared with previous experiences snorkeling in Hawaii and the Gulf of Mexico. It made me so sad. It made me decide that I need to travel differently. I savored my time in Hawaii like I'm never going back, which was bittersweet to say the least. I haven't taken the flight free 2020 pledge, but I think I probably should.

Travel highlights

- Perhaps the most quintessentially American travel day I've ever had: hiking from the walled community around the resorts, past the municipal dump and so much poverty, to what was supposedly some of the best snorkeling on Oahu in the shade of an electric plant, then hiking up to a pillbox, then chatting with locals on the public bus back while watching the sunset over the Pacific. One of the other bus riders gave me a lei, which felt especially special because she wasn't even in the hospitality business as far as I could tell.

- The whole Sacramento trip was really amazing, at least as travel with a kid goes. We went to Fairytale Town twice, and I could hardly believe such a cute fun theme park for kids could cost so little and be completely free of powered rides and screens. It was old school in an amazing way and my kid really loved it. We also got to feed the giraffes, which was pretty special, especially since they are my daughter's favorite animal. The Railroad Museum was also really great. We were also lucky enough to get to Sutter's Fort on one of their (infrequent) Living History days, which was pretty cool. It's been 9 months since then and my daughter (newly 5 years old) still talks about several of these things, which is really gratifying.

- Swimming in and riding natural water slides in beautiful creeks in the the High Sierras.

2020 Plans:
- Boise (mainly for work, but DH is coming a coworker who lives there has promised to take us hiking to a remote hot spring)
- Jasper and Banff (with the in laws)

I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way to do the Jasper-Banff trip without flights, breaking the bank, or ruining my marriage.

[emilyinchile]

Where did you go in 2019?
California - Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Monterey, Highway 1 road trip that included Big Sur, San Simeon, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara ending with several days in LA
Punta de Lobos, Chile
Miami
CA twice more for family stuff
A couple other trips in Chile for weddings/events

Favorite trip(s)?
The first CA trip was so great. I'm from there, and my BF had never been, and it was a month-long combination of chilling at "home", revisiting places I've always loved to share them with him and seeing new places together. Yosemite in winter is gorgeous, and I'd only been in summer, and Highway 1 is just stunning the whole drive.

Miami was also a personal record of fitting a ton of friends into just a few days, plus it's hard to say no to great weather, beaches and art.

Any disappointments?
Only that we didn't travel more, but we were busy doing other things.

Bonus: Favorite travel photos from 2019?

SPOILER: Click to show

http://instagram.com/p/BsYaiUuB6lb

SPOILER: Click to show

http://instagram.com/p/BwlAYr1BE2T

SPOILER: Click to show

http://instagram.com/p/Bs53EmLBQcH

Plus this which isn't the best photo ever but shows sunrise over the SF Bay from my first (and likely only!) time in a private plane:


2020
What travel do you have planned so far?
We are currently planning our summer vacation for Feb - looking at a couple places in Brazil (I'm actually going to make a thread asking for recs) but are trying to keep that trip cheap.
March: somewhere in Chile with visiting family
May/June: UK and Norway
Sept: NY
I at least will go to CA at some point, BF may come too

[clseale]

2019
Where did you go in 2019?
-West Palm Beach, FL
-Multiple trips (lost count) the the North Carolina Mountains. (My mom is building a house, so dd and I made a lot of trips with her during the process)
- Switzerland (Wengen, Lucerne, Zurich)
- AZ (Sedona and Phoenix)
- Raleigh, NC

Favorite trip(s)?
Most definitely Switzerland. It was our first international trip since having dd (she was just over two when we went) and it could not have gone any better. So gorgeous! So kid-friendly!

Any disappointments?
Not in our actual travels, but we had a Boston trip planned that we had to cancel.

Bonus: Favorite travel photos from 2019?
View from Wengen




Lake Lucerne




2020
What travel do you have planned so far?
Not much yet. We have a week planned for Grenada in March. I have a quick girls weekend scheduled for Denver in May, and we’ll likely do CA in early summer, as we have some friends and family we want to see.

[RockNVoll]

Dec 26, 2019 22:29:44 GMT -5 scout8 said:

We are moving and will be getting "real jobs" instead of being self employed. I don't know how many vacation days that we will get, but I don't think it will be very many.

I hope I don't come across as super creepy but congratulations on the big changes and I'm curious what you're transitioning to. Sounds like you don't have something specific lined up yet but here's hoping the vacation time is better than you expect!

[scout8]

Dec 27, 2019 23:46:51 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 26, 2019 22:29:44 GMT -5 scout8 said:

We are moving and will be getting "real jobs" instead of being self employed. I don't know how many vacation days that we will get, but I don't think it will be very many.

I hope I don't come across as super creepy but congratulations on the big changes and I'm curious what you're transitioning to. Sounds like you don't have something specific lined up yet but here's hoping the vacation time is better than you expect!

Thanks! We are moving to Asheville. We are tired of Chicago and have always wanted to live in the mountains so we decided to go for it. It's a little crazy/scary as we are going without jobs lined up. Hopefully, it won't be too difficult to find something. We've been self employed as real estate brokers for many years so we are pretty used to an inconsistent income. If it takes a long time to find something though, it will start to get a bit stressful. 

[GilliC]

2019
2 weekend cabin trips for cross-country skiing
A week in Montpellier, France for work
Norwegian coastal ferry (from Bergen to Kirkenes)
Indianapolis for a funeral
Serbia for a wedding
Weekend in NYC

Favorite trip(s):
Serbia was a surprise! People were all so warm & friendly! This surprised me, since it’s very different from most of the Serbian people we know at home.

Any disappointments?
The coastal ferry was my sister and SIL’a first visit to Norway, but they picked up a bug on the flight over and proceeded to pass it around. We each spent 1-2 days of the trip sick in bed.

2020
I rarely plan anything more than a few months ahead!
- Antarctica in Feb/Mar. Sailing on a small expedition ship from New Zealand around the coast to Argentina. 30 days at sea with helicopters on board for shore landings. I saved up a year’s vacation on the off-chance that I would be crazy enough to book this, and I finally caved a few weeks ago.
- Houston in April for a wedding

[frlcb]

2019 travel:

DC
Miami
Key West
Dry Tortugas
England
Scotland
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany
Luxembourg
Outer Banks
NYC
Nashville

Favorite trip(s):
We always love Europe but I had never been to the Outer Banks before and really liked it

Any disappointments?
Dry Tortugas. It was pricey to get to (as well as difficult) and I was underwhelmed

2020 Travel (through August):

DC
Hawaii (Kauai)
Spain
England
Scotland
Either Budapest or Copenhagen

[scout8]

Dec 28, 2019 19:01:14 GMT -5 GilliC said:

2020
I rarely plan anything more than a few months ahead!
- Antarctica in Feb/Mar. Sailing on a small expedition ship from New Zealand around the coast to Argentina. 30 days at sea with helicopters on board for shore landings. I saved up a year’s vacation on the off-chance that I would be crazy enough to book this, and I finally caved a few weeks ago.
- Houston in April for a wedding

Wow! This sounds incredible!

[meowmaps]

Dec 28, 2019 21:13:18 GMT -5 frlcb said:

2019 travel:

DC
Miami
Key West
Dry Tortugas
England
Scotland
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany
Luxembourg
Outer Banks
NYC
Nashville

Favorite trip(s):
We always love Europe but I had never been to the Outer Banks before and really liked it

Any disappointments?
Dry Tortugas. It was pricey to get to (as well as difficult) and I was underwhelmed

2020 Travel (through August):

DC
Hawaii (Kauai)
Spain
England
Scotland
Either Budapest or Copenhagen

Would you recommend an area to stay in the Outer Banks?  I live within driving distance but have never visited and don't know much about it.  I imagine it would be an easy-going/kid-friendly destination.  TIA

[chailattelover]

I used to post semi-regularly here (under another username) but last year I left my ex-h and ever since then was emotionally consumed by the divorce, or more apt, the total lack of progress. But happy to say that's no longer the case

Thankfully though 2019 was such an incredible year of travel for me!

Dec 19, 2019 10:16:06 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

I always enjoyed these threads but I think it's been a few years since we had one. 

2019
Where did you go in 2019? Riviera Maya, Scottsdale AZ, Disney World, London, Oxford, New York City, Clearwater FL, Turkey (Istanbul and Cappadocia + a day trip to Gallipoli which was an incredible experience for my inner history/WWI obsessed nerd), France (Paris, Avignon, Montpellier), Amsterdam, and Berlin.

Favorite trip(s)? Turkey had been at the top of my bucket list for the longest time so I was so happy to finally visit. It was everything I thought it would be and even more. Istanbul was such an incredible city and I could have stayed even longer than I did. Hot air ballooning over the surreal Cappadocia landscape was also a dream come true.
Not as epic worthy but still lovely in its own right, I celebrated my 34th birthday in London (specifically afternoon tea at the Ritz) so that was super special.

Any disappointments? I planned my late fall European adventure last minute (well, for me at least). Originally I was going to spend almost a month in France, namely to take French language classes in Montpellier. Well, the classes weren't what I had hoped for and then paired with train cancellations, money lost due to prepaid hotel rates, and the chaotic clusterf*&^ otherwise known as the nationwide strikes that began in France on December 5, I called an audible and majorly changed my plans. It was for the best but still. I did finally make it to Amsterdam, a city that for some bizarre reason I had never visited so that was super cool.

Bonus: Favorite travel photos from 2019? (Short on time and I forgot how to upload pics, but many more travel photos over on my blog!)

2020
What travel do you have planned so far?
Finally making it back to Asia! I am flying into Singapore, then traveling over to Vietnam (Hanoi/Halong Bay) and then heading south to HCMC for a Mekong River Cruise that terminates in Cambodia. I'm beyond excited to finally make it to Indochina and more importantly, to try all the food!!
A mother-daughter trip to somewhere in New England, a Bermuda cruise, hopefully make it to Vegas finally...

[keweenawlove]

2019
Where did you go in 2019?
-Biggest by far was 2 1/2 weeks in Colombia to bring home our daughter! 
-Long weekend in Copenhagen with a side trip into Malmo, Sweden
-Portugal-Lisbon, Lagos, Douro Valley, and Porto
-Zion National Park
-Upper Michigan for my sister's wedding
-A few overnights in Chicago
-Work trips to Portland, NYC, Dallas, Austin, Calgary, and Anaheim with some fun thrown into most of them

Favorite trip(s)?
-From a "memorable" standpoint, it's hard to beat Colombia because we got to see where our daughter spent the first three years of her life and see the country in a way we wouldn't have on our own. 
-Getting to visit a sauna that was built at the end of a pier in Sweden and skinny dipping into the North Sea in March was pretty unreal. 

Any disappointments?
-I loved Portugal as a whole but was disappointed in Porto. We didn't have a ton of time there but it was so crowded and tourist packed. I'm glad we spent more time in the Douro Valley where things moved a lot slower.
-There were some major protests in Bogota the last week we were there so we couldn't visit most of the places in the city we wanted to. We loved Bogota so much and were considering spending a few days after we got our approval to go home but with so much uneasiness, we left as soon as we could. I can't wait to visit again because it is such a great city. 


2020
What travel do you have planned so far?
Pretty up in the air based on how our first couple months at home go. Hoping we can sneak in something later in the year. We for sure have weddings in Vegas and Montana we're hoping to make it to. 
For sure work trips to Phoenix and Philly. 

[doctoranda]

2019
Portland (work/seeing family)
Tampa
Vancouver (work/seeing friends)
Sacramento (seeing family)
LA (seeing family)
Grenada
Navajo Nation
Santa Fe (seeing family & friends)
Jacksonville/Ashland/Medford (seeing family)

2020
Sacramento (seeing family)
Portland (seeing family)
Albuquerque (work) 
Montreal
Lisbon/Porto (work and vacation)
The Netherlands (seeing family and friends)

hoping to also visit: Belize, Mexico City and Puerto Rico

[expatjen]

2019
Where did you go in 2019?
Jan - March : Hawaii
April - July : Hawaii
July : Japan
October: Maldives
December : Hawaii

Favorite trip(s)? The Maldives was phenomenal.

Any disappointments?
Japan was awesome except for the heat. I do not recommend visiting in the summer. We literally melted.

2020
What travel do you have planned so far?
Jan & Feb: Hawaii
April : Russia
June : Hawaii
July: planning the South Pacific
October: Bali

[mrsjrd23]

Ugh reading all these travel plans for 2020 is a gut punch. Did anyone get any traveling in before Covid hit?

[chimera]

We got to Oman for DH’s birthday in the last half of Feb. it seems like years ago vs months.
DH was supposed to go to Milan the weekend after we got home, but that trip (work) got cancelled as they went into lockdown that weekend. Our county went into Red 3 weeks later.

[dreamcrisp1]

We made it to Portugal and Malta. Super grateful for that!

[sillygoosegirl]

My work trip to Boise happened, and it's a cherished memory.

DH and I had a nice drive out there and back... adult conversation and stuff, a little sight seeing.

A bunch of our favorite coworkers were there, so during the days we supported our amazing new member clinic on their new electronic medical record software, and got to see the amazing work they do for their patients. And in the evenings we hung out with our friends, played board games, ate good food, and really had a blast. Just kind of that ordinary everything that normally we take for granted and has been SO MISSED this year.

On the way back, we went by way of a winter backpacking trip that involved wading across a thigh-deep icy cold river to get to a hot spring on the other side. I've never done a trip like that before, and it was really cool, and we did it with one of our favorite coworkers. Also, we didn't slide off the icy side of a mountain in her truck, and all didn't fall to our deaths together, even though we all seriously thought we were going to... so there you go: one bad thing actually failed to happen in 2020.

[tcu2003]

Dec 20, 2019 1:49:25 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

2020:
St Louis (hopefully - we’ve been saying we’ll do this for the past couple of years and haven’t yet)
Boston (might tack on Maine or something else as well)
Fort Worth
Bentonville
Somewhere for our 10th anniversary (haven’t figured out where and totally open to suggestions - we’ll take kids who will be 8 and almost 4, and want to go in the summer; also relevant is we all have passports and I want to use them)

The only thing on this list that happened was Bentonville/NW Arkansas as we did that in mid-February.

I also had a ton of work travel in January/February - Miami, Orlando, North Carolina, El Paso/Los Cruces, and West Virginia.

I’ve been to Milwaukee and greater Chicago area (twice) this summer and fall, also for work, but saw nothing other than the inside of my hotel room, the site I was visiting, and the airport.

We did drive to North and South Dakota right before our (delayed) start of school, which actually worked out well as no place we went was crowded and we could social distance well. We stuck to outside stuff, so did hiking at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (trip highlight for me - it was gorgeous), Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and a couple of other things. We took my mom with us, so it was fun to have grandma along and gave us an extra set of hands with the kids.

[tcu2003]

Dec 20, 2019 1:49:25 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

2020:
St Louis (hopefully - we’ve been saying we’ll do this for the past couple of years and haven’t yet)
Boston (might tack on Maine or something else as well)
Fort Worth
Bentonville
Somewhere for our 10th anniversary (haven’t figured out where and totally open to suggestions - we’ll take kids who will be 8 and almost 4, and want to go in the summer; also relevant is we all have passports and I want to use them)

The only thing on this list that happened was Bentonville/NW Arkansas as we did that in mid-February.

I also had a ton of work travel in January/February - Miami, Orlando, North Carolina, El Paso/Los Cruces, and West Virginia.

I’ve been to Milwaukee and greater Chicago area (twice) this summer and fall, also for work, but saw nothing other than the inside of my hotel room, the site I was visiting, and the airport.

We did drive to North and South Dakota right before our (delayed) start of school, which actually worked out well as no place we went was crowded and we could social distance well. We stuck to outside stuff, so did hiking at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (trip highlight for me - it was gorgeous), Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and a couple of other things. We took my mom with us, so it was fun to have grandma along and gave us an extra set of hands with the kids.

[keweenawlove]

I went on my work trip to Phoenix in Feb. It was my first time (2 nights) away from DD and it went great so that was a nice mental hump to get over. Also had a 1 night stay in Chicago shortly after that.

In a "glass half full" sense, I have enjoyed finding fun places to explore closer to home. We spent our summer beach hopping around SE WI (easy to find uncrowded areas) and exploring new little pockets of Milwaukee and some of the surrounding areas that had pretty places to hike or just walk. Also went camping at 2 new state parks.

[erbear]

Nothing. I’m so bummed and am really hoping our postponed Europe trip can happen this June.

[CheeringCharm]

The only place we made it to on my list was Belize, which was such a cool trip. We were so happy to have been able to go before the shutdown. 

Living in NY, we were able to spend a week at Mohonk Mountain House and Maine this summer. MMH was sort of a consolation trip but I'm so glad we ended up going because it was gorgeous. We loved the beautiful scenery and all the hikes and activities and swimming in the lake. We also spent a week in Bar Harbor. Acadia had been on my mental list for a while so I'm also really glad we got to go there.







As for 2021, it's really up in the air but I made reservations for a week in the ADK (a few days at the Sagamore on Lake George and the rest at the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid) and we rented a house in Nantucket for a week. We're also doing a week in Stowe in February (quarantining for 7 days prior then testing before leaving for Vermont). We'll see if those end up happening.