One Year of Travel: A Review

Post date: Jan 05, 2018 11:53:4 PM

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. I don’t see the New Year as a time to fix everything, I’m more of a continuous improvement kind of girl.

However, last year my friend Penny (who I now have a podcast with, check us out here (momimfine.vodka) or find us on iTunes (search for "Mom I'm Fine)) came up with a challenge: travel somewhere new once a month in 2017. Living overseas you would think that it’s all travel and fun! But just like living in the US, one often gets caught up in the day to day grind. Things to do, people to see, homes to decorate, etc. So having the goal of “somewhere new” once a month makes it managable (it’s not “every weekend”), but motivating (get off the couch, go find an adventure).

So although I’ve already written about almost all of these trips, I want to take a minute to recap one year of traveling.

January- Giessen: This trip was for work, and to the least interesting town I’ve ever been to in Germany (although in 2018, I’m looking at you Magdeburg). But it was new, and something different and I stayed there for a week… so it counts! Boring places exist in Europe too!

February- Hamburg: First trip with Penny! Ok, technically we met in Brussels. And I visited her and she visited me at this point. But this is the first… ah well never mind. Another trip with Penny!

Penny suggested something close to me, and Hamburg was high on my list. Turned out it was worth it.

March- Warsaw: Another, another trip with Penny! I’d like to continue eastern European country exploration in 2018, partially because of the cost. And the food. I’d also like to add Krakow to my list for 2018. But going to Warsaw was awesome. Go in the off season.

Well this photo was a little bit of forshadowing…

April- Avignon, Nice, Marseille and Cannes: This one could also be titled “South of France” but I’m pretty sure that I’m going to Montpellier this year, and I want that to count separately… My boss wanted me to go to a conference. I did not want to go. I was just coming off a lot of travel and wanted to stay home. It was only a two day conference. I said I would go if I got a rental car for the weekend. A trip was born.

Cannes, outside the film festival. Without the celebrities.

May- Norway: My friend Marius is from Norway, and his girlfriend was visiting. So off to Oslo I went! It was very Norweign Fushion.

June- Saxony Switzerland: June was a CHALLENGE! Mostly because Jordan had joined me in Europe, and he hasn’t seen anything. So we did a few trips retracing things that I had already done (Paris, Garmisch, Leipzig, Halle). BUT we went and did an overnight camping trip in Saxony Switzerland, and it was SUPER fun.

July- Hebrides: The entire month of July, Jordan, Delphine and I lived out of a van in Scotland. Specifically, we were on the Hebride Isles, the islands off the west coast of Scotland. It was challenging work, and long days, but it was really REALLY beautiful and lots of fun. Really beautiful. 100% will be back.

August- Amsterdam: Conference in Groningen, trip with Jen to Amsterdam! I was starting to feel a bit burnt out at this point, and all the cities in Europe were blending together into a blur of “shrug”. But Amsterdam stands out in it’s exceptionalism. And importantly, I want to come back in the off season.

September- Cinque Terre: Another trip with Penny! Soulmates! Penny had never heard of Cinque Terre, but trusts me enough to go along with it. After our failed trip to Milan, we were craving Italy. And it was BEYOND stunning. I’d like to go when there are fewer people.

October- Roscoff: I never wanted to live in Roscoff. Too small, too remote, too… bleh. Then I visited. I may need to reevaluate my life choices, and my principles. All of them. Wish I was kidding.

November- Erfurt: I had a big Christmas Markt tour scheduled this year, which had to be abandoned due to job interviews/moving/traveling home for Christmas. BUT I did make it to the Erfurt markt and talked some friends into coming with me. Next year I’d like to expand my Christmas markt study to include more people and a larger geographic range.

December- Maplewood, New Jersey: SLID IN UNDER THE DOOR! I was worried that I was going to fail in my last month, again due to travel home for Christmas, and job interviews. However, I went to see Team Gehrke in Maplewood NJ, the first weekend I was in the US. Never been here before, and it counts! Plus I got to hang out with my favorite small people.

Final thoughts: I’m doing this again next year. I loved it. I may need to scale back other travel (not traveling as much for work with my new job, plus a renewed commitment to pay down debt), but am committed to keeping this up.