Guess what? Today is my 25th birthday! It feels a little weird to think I’m officially a quarter-of-a-century old, but I wanted to write something a little special to celebrate. I’ve had an awesome year full of travel, so I thought it would be fun to look back on my top 25 travel experiences from the past year.
1. Earning the Southwest Companion Pass
Southwest is my favorite airline, and I was finally able to earn their ultimate perk. This meant that I was able to have a friend fly with me for free on any flight, any time – I ended up using it with my friend Hanna, my sister Carrie, and my mom. I would have liked to use it a few more times, but the good news is that I’ve earned it for 2018 as well!
2. Boston for New Year’s Eve
When I studied abroad in London in fall 2013, I made so many lifelong friends. Even though they all live in the U.S., it had been hard with school and new jobs to find the time to see them again. For New Year’s, a large group of us decided to meet up in Boston and spend a few days together. It felt like nothing had changed in the 3 years we’d gone without seeing each other. We went to a club to ring in the new year, and we even had some drama in the group afterward – it was just like old times. I loved it.
3. Orlandooooo
My friend Carson had been living in Orlando for 2 years, and I’d been lucky enough to visit him several times when I was in Florida for work – but Hanna hadn’t yet had the chance to visit. I booked us flights with my companion pass, and we spent a warm February weekend with Carson in Orlando. There’s nothing better than going to the Wizarding World at Universal Studios with your two favorite people.
4. St. Louis for Mardi Gras
Carson was interviewing for grad school in St. Louis one weekend, and I couldn’t bear the thought of Hanna and Carson hanging out without me, so I flew to St. Louis and spent another weekend with the two of them. It just so happened to be Mardi Gras, which is a really big deal there. We also ran into Megan, one of our other study abroad friends!
5. Long Weekend in Chicago
For as much as I fly in and out of Chicago-MDW airport for work, I actually don’t spend much time in Chicago. So instead of flying home to Kansas City between back-to-back weeks in Indiana, I decided to spend the weekend in the windy city. I stayed at the fancy JW Marriott downtown and did a lot of walking, a lot of shopping, and a lot of eating. What more could you want?
6. Playing Tourist in KC
At the end of March, Carson got married in Kansas City. Several of our study abroad friends were coming to the wedding, and since he was busy with wedding stuff and I’m the only other one in our friend group from KC, I got to entertain them. I booked us a hotel and took them to all the best places in Kansas City – Joe’s KC, Boulevard, the Nelson-Atkins, Westport, Power & Light, the Crossroads, the Plaza – and made sure they could locate Missouri on a map by the end of their visit.
7. North of the Border
At the end of April, I decided to go to Toronto for the weekend by myself. Why? Well, I didn’t really have a reason, and since work was paying for it, I just thought it would be fun. I actually had no idea what to expect, but I loved Toronto! It was so much bigger than I thought it would be and there was plenty to do and lots of food to try. In fact, I made it my mission on my last day to eat nothing but Canadian desserts (butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, and beaver tails). I succeeded.
8. Favorite Airbnb Hosts Ever
Not one, but two Airbnb bookings had fallen through on me – which turned out to be a #blessing in disguise. At the last minute, I booked a room in Zairah and Martin’s apartment, who ended up being two of my favorite people I’ve ever met. After we went to the Toronto FC soccer game together, we spent the entire next day together, riding Segways and drinking beer and visiting the aquarium. We also spent (literally, three) hours one afternoon just sitting in the living room and talking about life and travel. They recently moved to Amsterdam, so I’m excited to visit them sometime in the near future!
9. Boston Calling
It was Memorial Day, so I had a free day off from work – and I definitely didn’t want to spend it at home when I could be traveling! So I booked another ticket to Boston. Despite having gone 3 years without seeing my study abroad friends, I was now seeing some of them for the third time in 6 months. Robbie, Morgan, and I went to the Boston Calling music festival, which took place at Harvard. Those geniuses snuck in two giant water bottles full of vodka, so all we had to do was pay for slightly-overpriced Sprite all day long.
10. A Whole Lot of Indiana
This one could go at any point during the year, because I spent a total of 30 weeks in 2017 in Indiana. Yep, basically every Monday I would fly into either Chicago and drive 1.5 hours to LaPorte, or fly into Indianapolis and drive 2 hours to Fort Wayne, or fly into Chicago and drive 3 hours to Fort Wayne. And every Thursday I would drive back to the airport and fly home. So much fun! However, I can’t complain too much because this is the job that makes all these vacations possible. 🙂
11. 49th State
Everyone in my family had been to 48 states, and I was determined to become the first one to make it to 49. So for 4th of July week, my friend/co-worker/eventual roomie Megan and I booked ourselves a trip to Alaska! We rented a car and covered a lot of ground in 9 days – I believe we drove almost 2,000 miles. Good thing the scenery was so beautiful.
12. Denali National Park
Denali was just unbelievable. Even though we didn’t really get a *great* view of Mt. Denali (did you know the mountain makes its own weather?), there was so much to do and see in the park. We hiked at least 5 different trails, took the Denali Park Shuttle, and visited the sled dogs once every day that we were there – so 3 times.
13. Kenai Fjords National Park
Although the majority of our trip had been planned independently, Megan and I booked an all-day, small boat tour to explore Kenai Fjords National Park. We wanted to see Alaska from the water, but we didn’t want to be on a huge ship full of tourists – so the Captain’s Choice tour was the perfect choice for us, with only 7 other people on board, including the captain and deckhand. They provided us with commentary, lunch, and snacks as we got a close-up look at glaciers, whales, otters, and sea lions.
14. KC Stay-cation
When my sister Carrie’s favorite soccer player, Bastian Schweinsteiger, came to town with Chicago Fire, we knew we had to go to the game. We also decided we had to try to meet him at the hotel his team was presumably staying at in downtown Kansas City. Using some of my hard-earned Marriott points and platinum status, I booked us a room. Carrie, my dad, and I staked out in the lobby until midnight, at which point we declared defeat and went to bed. In the morning, Carrie and I enjoyed breakfast in the executive lounge and took a stroll to the River Market.
15. Carrie’s First Flight
Carrie had never been on a plane, and I promised her I would make her my Southwest companion and get her a free trip. So the two of us decided to spend four days in Seattle. Unfortunately, her first flight experiences involved heavy delays – but we still had fun. We sampled peaches (again and again) at Pike Place Market, left our mark on the famous gum wall, and checked out the city from the Space Needle.
16. Sporting KC @ Seattle Sounders game
One of the main purposes of our trip was to attend a Sporting KC game as away fans – Sporting’s CEO provides free tickets to fans who travel for away games. We met up with a group of other Sporting fans at an Irish pub for breakfast, and with our newly-purchased scarves we marched with the group to CenturyLink field, chanting all the way. Sporting lost that day (they decided not to play any starters, for some reason) but it was still a good experience. And the tickets were free.
17. Amtrak to Vancouver
Since we were so close to Canada, we decided: why not get Carrie’s first passport stamp? So we booked a trip on Amtrak to Vancouver, where we spent less than 24 hours. Vancouver was initially a bit of a struggle due to some bad luck on my part, but the city was beautiful and we had a really good time there.
18. Labor Day in St. Louis
It was another free day off from work, so I planned to drive to St. Louis and spend it with Hanna and Carson again. But… I’d broken a bone in my right foot during my trip to Seattle, and being in a cast and a boot, I was not able to drive for a month. Problem solved: I booked myself a round-trip flight from Kansas City to St. Louis. Yep, I brought my knee-scooter that had been my constant companion for the three weeks prior. I got to see Carson’s new house, and I had a wild night out with Hanna. (The knee-scooter didn’t come to the bars, though.)
19. Boston with Mom
Fun fact: my parents met, and I was born, in Boston. So even though both of us had been recently, my mom had a friend she’d been wanting to see, and I thought it would be fun for us to go together for once. She got to see her friend, and I met up with Robbie and Morgan for the fourth time this year. My mom and I also had fun eating (drinking wine) at Pellino’s in the North End, and visiting a restaurant where she used to go on dates back in the day.
20. First Trip to Asia
With all the traveling I’d done, and my first big solo trip under my belt, I decided I was ready to take on another continent. I purchased my plane tickets to Thailand in June (and didn’t tell my parents until August). Several months and minimal plans later, I was boarding the plane from Chicago to Hong Kong and things were feeling surreal.
21. Meeting Boong in Bangkok
My first days in Thailand were a whirlwind of new experiences. I remember feeling really stressed out on day one, trying to find somewhere to eat dinner. On day two, I met up with a former AFS student from my high school, Boong, and we had dinner together. It was so relaxing to be with someone who spoke Thai and knew what was going on. And it was great to catch up, 9 years later!
22. Basically Everything About Chiang Mai
I’m not even sure what made me decide to go to Chiang Mai, but I’m glad I did. From becoming fast friends with Will from London on the overnight train, to exploring temples and getting massages, to cheap drinks at the “ladyboy show,” Chiang Mai was a blast. Oh, and let’s not forget that I got to take a trip through the Thai wilderness and go swimming with elephants. If we ignore the ill-fitting swimsuit bottoms I purchased at the Night Bazaar, it was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
23. Thanksgiving at Angkor Wat
I also took a side trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I knew next to nothing about Cambodia, but I wanted to see Angkor Wat. At my hostel, I met two Australian girls, and they invited me to join the tour with a private guide they had booked for the next day. So I spent my Thanksgiving riding around Angkor Archaeological Park in a tuk-tuk with Johanna and Lily, whom I soon felt like I’d known forever, and our Cambodian guide, Nemo. I was feeling pretty thankful.
24. A Weekend in Iceland
Yep, you read that right – I went to Iceland just for a weekend. Two of my co-workers and I were able to get it paid for, so we decided to go for it. We hoped for a glimpse of the Northern Lights, since we were crazy enough to go to Iceland in December – braving the cold and a meager 4 hours of daylight – but no luck. I guess I’ll just have to go back someday!
25. 74,191 miles
I did a little math and figured out that I traveled 74,191 miles by plane this year. That’s definitely my single-year record… I wonder how I can beat it next year. 🙂
As always, thanks for reading!
-Cathy
Originally Published on December 14, 2017.
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