Where I Traveled in 2017

2017 has been a fun and full year for me, but with everything going on, I’ve gotten away from keeping up with my blog.

I’m excited to say that in 2018, I intend to devote more time to blogging again! This past year brought some really exciting trips for me, and I can’t wait to write about them.

For now, I’ll just give a quick overview of each, but more detailed posts are to come.

Riviera Maya, Mexico

Last winter, my husband John and I spent ten gorgeous, sunny days exploring the Riviera Maya region of Mexico. We broke the trip up between three home-base locations — Isla Mujeres, Playa Del Carmen, and Tulum — and we took some other day trips from there. It was an active vacation full of beach time, snorkeling, Mayan ruins, and cenotes (which are water-filled caverns or sinkholes abundant in the region).

We also enjoyed some really delicious meals while in Mexico. Aside from the obvious Mexican fare (fish tacos, anyone?), we had cuisine ranging from Italian to Venezuelan arepas.

Norwegian Fjords Cruise

The beauty of the Norwegian fjords is UNREAL. I would take this trip again in a heartbeat! In May, we went on an eight-day cruise to the fjords region with Norwegian Cruise Line. The cruise started and ended in Southampton, England, so we decided to spend two days before the cruise in London as well.

During the cruise, we had five ports of call in Norway: Stavanger, Skjolden, Alesund, Geiranger, and Bergen. Each place had elements I really enjoyed, though my two favorites were the most scenic ones: the small villages of Skjolden and Geiranger. WOW is all I can say. There really are no words that give justice to the beauty of the landscape, but let’s try magnificent, surreal, humbling.

Reykjavik, Iceland

To cap off the year, we spent six days in Reykjavik, Iceland in early October with John’s family. Like Norway, Iceland is insanely beautiful — but in a different way. Norway is impressive in it’s grandeur and scale, while Iceland captivates you with the unique and varied volcanic landscapes, making you feel like you are on another planet. Towards the end of our trip in Iceland, I said to John, “I feel over-saturated with beauty.” We kept seeing beautiful sight after beautiful sight, and I felt like I just couldn’t fully soak it all in anymore or give each new sight the mental appreciation it deserved.

In addition to the spectacular landscapes, I also LOVED the city of Reykjavik itself. It was so comfortable and manageable — not a huge, overwhelming metropolis.

And yes, during our time in Iceland, we even saw the famed elusive Northern Lights!

Looking to 2018

So there you have it — a brief summary of my 2017 travels. Between all of the trips combined, it seems that we spent almost one month’s worth of time abroad this year. I feel really grateful that we could see each of these amazing places, and to the locals and other travelers we met along the way who made our experiences even better.

Now, we are at the very start of 2018, and I’m really looking forward to this year! I anticipate some upcoming changes for myself career-wise that I’m hoping will allow me to explore my next path, do some introspection, and focus more on the things in life that bring me joy — and also to take some more pretty cool trips.

And at the start of this new year, I also wish YOU, dear reader, a very bright and beautiful 2018! Thank you for reading! I hope you’ll be back soon.

If you have a minute, drop a line in the comments below to tell me where your travel plans will take you this year in 2018! Or, your favorite places from 2017!