Have you seen all of the recaps of 2016 popping up all over your feed? I have and even though its a little too #trendy for my liking, I couldn’t help but oblige here too, as a perfect way to express my gratitude for 2016.  In fact, in a lot of ways 2016 got a bad rap… and I can see why – but no year is without good things too, and those are things I’m choosing to dwell upon.  And so to start our recaps, I’m sharing one of my favorite parts of 2016 – all the places I got to see.

For me, this year has been quite a year when I think about how much of the world I got to see.  I don’t know about for you guys, but my family was the type of family who did a vacation each year, always to the same place, and every other year included an additional trip to see family.  That meant that I had seen little past the extra trips we had made up and down certain parts of the east coast, and Michigan, one of my favorites states and our every-other-year-destination.  To be honest I appreciated the tradition of it all that my parents instilled, but I also found myself craving to experience more.  Just over two years ago in January, I spent my first week on the west coast traveling on a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

If you take a trip like that, it’s hard not to be smitten with that sweet little nagging travel bug …and just like that I was bit.

And so this year, I made travel a priority and graciously got to do it often – a luxury that I don’t want to take for granted.  I started the year off exploring New Zealand and Australia, then Charleston, Los Angeles, Catalina Island, Phoenix, and San Francisco.  It was quite a year, and I loved getting to learn new things about unique places and terrains, and all of the fun new people that come with it.  This year came with lots of airports, some new passport stamps, and experiences I won’t forget… oh and lots of trying new food, too.  If I could teleport to wherever I wanted to be, it would be eating my way through the beautiful country of New Zealand.  Until then, I’ll just have to look back through with some #Nostalgia instead.  Join me, won’t you?