My Travel and Blog Anniversary 2015
A year ago today I started my blogging about my travels, which was a great stepping stone to recording memories of my travel experiences not only for myself but to share with readers like you! This “Blog” just started out as a personal diary and a reflection of things I have been able to accomplish through my travel experiences. In the past year, I have been to several countries, experienced countless once in a lifetime opportunities and have been able to inspire many readers in accomplishing their dreams as well.
1. KOREA
In October of 2014, I was able to visit my family in Korea for my cousin’s wedding. This was by far an amazing trip, although I have been to Korea 11 times prior to this trip, this was my favorite experience yet. I loved spending time with my family since it had been years since I last visited after losing my mother to cancer. This was probably the most emotional trip I have been on for a long time and it reminded me why I loved traveling so much. I feel so accepted, loved and in love with myself when I travel. It reminds me of all of the culture and life experiences I have had in my lifetime.
2. PHILIPPINES
The Philippines is where I was able to spend the holidays with my Dad and family there. I was able to explore the wonderful sands of Camiguin Island and spend time exploring the island of Mindinao. This was an emotional roller coaster for me with being unable to spend the holidays with my brother and sister-in-law, but I made the best of this experience by traveling all over. My three weeks there challenged me and that is sometimes what you need in your travels to appreciate the beauty that it holds.
I spent a lovely week visiting one of my closest friends and her beautiful newborn baby girl. Chicago was definitely a windy city and the highlight of Chicago was seeing the bean. I also can not forget about how amazing the Chicago deep-dish pizza was!
Now Milwaukee was a bit of a surprise. I have traveled to Wisconsin before however, I think coming to Milwaukee as an adult was much different than when I was as a child. I could not appreciate the great food, amazing selection of beers and the number of things there were to do such as sampling cheeses, eating an array of lobster, going to a Brewers game, walks along the river and visiting the bio-domes.
5. BATON ROUGE & NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
This was my first experience in Louisiana, however, as a child growing up, I grew up on soul/creole food from my best friend’s family as a child. So visiting Louisiana was a huge highlight on my food list of places to visit. My sister-in-law and family are from Baton Rouge. This experience was a very fattening but enjoyable experience. I was able to taste foods that I love and try new foods such as crawfish etouffee and fried gator.
6. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
LA was a memorable experience to highlight one of my best friend’s graduation at USC with her Master’s in Sociology. I am so very proud of her and was happy to be a part of something so memorable for her.
After graduation in LA, my best friend wanted to take a trip down to San Diego where we stayed with my brother and explored parts of the city through kayaking, walking, hiking, and dining. This was an exciting experience to share with her and brought her spirits up after a stressful, exhausting and emotional graduation ceremony.
8. ITALY (ROME, NAPLES, AMALFI COAST, POSITANO, PISA, FLORENCE, VENICE, MILAN)
They have that saying “I left my heart in San Francisco” and honestly, this is how I felt about Italy. Italy was something so short and unexpected in my adventures for 2015, but it has been the best adventure yet. Italy was a bucket list item I am excited to have crossed off my list. Oh, how I miss this beautiful country and its wonderful food.
Coos Bay was a wonderful location full of nature, adventure and beautiful greenery all around. We were able to ride the dunes, pet some exotic animals, eat delicious sweets and explore some hiking areas. This was a great trip with my best friend driving along the beautiful coast of Oregon.
10. PHILIPPINES
Now, the Philippines is my home away from home and probably will always be my holiday destination. The highlight of this trip and what is important is family travels in the Philippines, however, the best Christmas gift I was able to get was swimming with the whale sharks.
11. AND BACK HOME TO SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
As 2016 is here, I have plenty of trips planned, such as San Diego, Long Beach, Thailand and possibly Spain. There is still a lot of this year left and tons of more adventures to go on. So as I continue to write this blog to remind me of the things I am grateful to be able to achieve in the last year, I am excited to be moving forward to new adventures and memories to make.
DISCLAIMER: Oftentimes you will find that I’ve included links to certain hotels/tours/products/services. If you purchase anything through these links, I’ll receive a commission. It won’t cost you anything extra, but it will help keep this blog up and running.
