Do you have travel goals? One of my long-stated travel goals was to visit all 50 U.S. states, 50 countries and all seven continents by the age of 50. I cannot remember when or why I came up with it but think it was about six years ago, in the early spring of 2016, long after I’d been bitten by the “travel bug.”
It was back in 2016 that I came up with this crazy idea to see how many countries other than the United States I could visit in 12 months. I’d just returned from a yoga retreat in Belize that February, had a Baltic cruise and trip to Ireland booked for that summer and a few other ideas for later in the year. As I thought about my upcoming travel plans, I realized I was going to be setting foot in many countries in a short period of time. My goal was to visit 12 countries in 12 months starting with that trip to Belize and by January 2017, I successfully reached that goal after a trip to Thailand.
Fast forward to today, May 18th, 2022. It’s been exactly seven months since I returned from my last international trip to Crete and Sicily last October. Seven months to the day. Which seems oddly significant as when this pandemic took fold, it was exactly six months from the day I returned from my last “before times” trip to Morocco until I took off for Croatia, my first pandemic trip. Yes, I'm a little all about the numbers...sometimes.
It’s been a very long seven months. It wasn’t supposed to by that long, but if you’ve been following my travel journey during this pandemic you’ll know that I had my first trip canceled last November. While it was admittedly a swift kick in the gut while I'd been riding the high of mastering pandemic travel, I tried not to let it keep me down for too long.
So, what did I do? I spent those seven months planning trips. Lots of them. Pouring over my calendar, coordinating schedules with friends I'd hope to connect with during my travels, and researching the places I'd planned to visit. I was booking plane and train tickets and making hotel reservations so frequently that I was waiting for either my United Mileage Plus card or someone from Hilton to call me and ask if I’ve gone overboard trying to make up for lost time. It was safe to say I was fully immersed in planning travel.
As I drove home from my routine pre-travel errands this evening, it hit me that with all I have booked in the next 12 months, if all goes as planned, I’ll beat that goal I had back in 2016 in a shorter period of time. While many of the places I’ll visit in the coming months will be return visits to places I loved, there are some new places I’ve yet to experience mixed in there, too. And as I sit here waiting for the results of my COVID self-test (which isn’t required for entry to my first destination, I just feel weird not taking one to just make sure I’m in the clear), I’m relishing in the feelings of excitement and pure joy knowing that I’m about to be reunited with the friendly skies once again. And I cannot wait. Because....It’s time.
And well, I’ll finally have another journey to write about for this often-neglected blog!
It all starts tomorrow...as I return to London for the third time. Country number one of the 15 I hope to visit between mid-May of 2022 and early-March 2023. Fifteen countries in ten months. I have a feeling my suitcase is going to have a lot to talk about....if only my writing can keep up!
And that COVID test I was waiting on while I wrote this out. Negative. Not that I was really worried, but another check off the list.
"I'm not sure what I'll do. But - well, I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Disclaimer: And yes, I wrote this two and half months ago and just realized that I never posted it. Clearly my writing cannot keep up with the travels of my suitcase. But, I promise there is much more to come! Especially since the new travel goal is now out there!
Love your travels and blog! 😍