Growing up in South Africa meant that I didn’t frequently venture very far. I think that there are two main reasons for this 1) South Africa already has so much to offer 2) You’re pretty isolated on the southern tip of Africa and it’s a rather long and expensive journey to travel almost anywhere. Hence, I spent my childhood exploring the bush, beaches and cities of Southern Africa – from Botswana to Mozambique and Cape Town to Durban.
It wasn’t until about 10 years ago when my parents and later my sister both immigrated to Europe and I fell in love with my now husband who is Dutch, that I started traveling further and more frequently. Traveling is now a huge part of my life and the more I travel the more I want to travel. Last year was in fact the year that I traveled the most thus far with five countries, eight US states and 18 different cities explored! As I plan for 2018 to be no different, I’m already well into holiday taking (you can read about our first trip of the year here) and planning for the year – dreaming of all of the exciting destinations that I hope to see in 2018:
Return to Chicago: we visited Chicago in September 2016 and absolutely loved it. I would in fact rank it as one of my favorite cities in the US (with New York also sitting right at the top of that list) and probably one of my favorite cities in the world! I am determined to return to Chicago this year when the weather warms up.
See more of Canada: I visited Canada for the first time last year and had the most wonderful time exploring Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto (which you can read about here, here, here and here). This year, we have already booked a trip to Montreal in June but I also hope to return to Vancouver in the Summer with my husband.
Visit Columbia: Having visited the US five times before moving to San Francisco and having lived in San Francisco for almost two years now, I would say that I’ve seen quite a bit of the US and pretty much all of the places that I have ever thought to see. So now I’m ready to start heading south and explore more of Central and South America with Columbia being top of my list.
Go on a Europe trip: With almost all of my and my husband’s family and more and more of our friends living throughout Europe, a trip to Europe has become somewhat of an annual (if not more frequent) occurrence. I’d certainly like to continue this tradition as there are so many wonderful places to see in Europe. This year we have a trip to the UK, the Netherlands and Sicily coming up in April which I’m incredibly excited for as I think it’ll be the perfect mix of time spent with friends and family in our favorite places and exploring new places!
Take more microadventures: I was recently introduced to this page which offers inspiration for microadventures – short, simple, local and cheap adventures and I love the idea of bringing the excitement and wonder of discovering a new place into my every day life. Plus, San Francisco with its beaches, bay and bridge and being just a quick drive from wine country, lakes and beautiful national parks, offers so many opportunities for microadventures so I’m excited to share more of my favorite local finds here.
I’d love any tips if you’ve visited the places that I’m dreaming of and I’d also love to hear about your travel plans for the year.
Give it a Whirl 