Goodbye 2015, and hello to a new year! I have to say that this last year has been a roller coaster ride in pretty much all aspects of my life. I rang in 2015 on the beaches of Rio De Janeiro and it was incredible, I don’t think I have ever experienced a fireworks show quite like that one. Everyone was just partying on Copacabana with music, drinks, the sounds of the waves and massive fireworks show. It was the perfect way to end my almost a year of traveling through Southeast Asia and South America.

I came back to Los Angeles a week later and learned that my grandmother had fractured her pelvic bone so I spent several weeks keeping her company. Eventually, I started to work for a great marketing company in Los Angeles where I was able to carry out my blog, social media marketing and communication skills. Of course, I was worried that by committing to a full-time job, I would be losing the freedom to travel as I pleased especially coming off this high of indefinite travel, but I was truly blessed because the company happened to be virtual with the option to come into the office as desired. That was a win if you ask me.

Most of my travels had been with my now ex-boyfriend, we rang in the new year together, so now for the first time I’m going to share some personal information. The original plan was for us to travel together throughout 2015, but my funds dwindled and the blog we started together was no longer generating our income so I came back home. He decided to continue traveling until June, and a couple of months into that I found out he was cheating on me with girls he met on CouchSurf and then our relationship ended. Do I hate CouchSurf now? Absolutely not, CouchSurfing is a great way to travel; I hosted a few CouchSurfers this year and they are awesome people whom I still talk to on a weekly basis.

So now what? Now with my full-time job, which unfortunately isn’t virtual anymore, but still flexible, I’m keeping up with my adventurous desires.

Here are some of my travel highlights of 2015

My sister and I decided it was the perfect time to take a road trip up to Humboldt County because one of my favorite events was going on, the Arcata Oyster Festival. The weather was perfect in Humboldt County so the weekend was filled with oysters, hiking and swimming in the river.

 

My friend Ernie who is an amazing photographer and an adrenaline junkie-skydiver, invited me to go on a camping trip to Zion National Park in Utah. It was my first time in Utah and now I can’t wait to go back. We did a few of hikes including Angels Landing and it offered some of the best views I have ever seen. Angels landing can get very crowded so we stuck around until the sun was beginning to set to have it ourselves and it was well worth it.

We headed for another bucket list location in Paige, Arizona/Utah: Horse Shoe Bend and Antelope Canyon with our friend Sarah. Both locations ended up being very touristy and crowded, but even with that it was a great experience. Horse Shoe Bend was beautiful, the geography and the sight of the river wrapping around the canyon with the sunset lit from behind it was epic. One of my favorite sunsets for sure. At one point, lightning struck several times and it looked perfect amid the red soiled desert landscape. The naturally carved sandstones in Antelope Canyon were remarkable. The experience was not very personal, but regardless it was impressive.

I took a week long trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Random, right? My best friend Scottie Lee is native Wisconsinite and since knowing him, I have always wanted to visit the state. Milwaukee is now on my favorite-city list. While there, Scottie gave me a tour of Wisconsin Public Radio, a station which is an NPR affiliate. Scottie is a producer for The Kathleen Dunn Show at WPR which is awesome. We went to a traditional fish fry at Lakefront Brewery where we also did a brewery tour, went salsa dancing at a night club, saw Lake Michigan for the first time, ate some tasty cheese curds, saw JD McPherson and other bluegrass bands perform, and tried coffee from all the hippest coffee shops. I love Milwaukee!!

In October, I went to Costa Rica with my friend Sylvain for both of our birthdays.  Costa Rica is probably one of my favorite countries so I was excited to find a deal during the week of my birthday. We stayed in Tamarindo with Sylvain’s friends and to get there we had to take a 5 hour ride on a rickety bus which was quite nostalgic of taking even longer sleeper buses cross-country in unfamiliar places. While there I knocked off scuba diving off of my bucket list on this trip and I felt like a mermaid. I plan to get my certification this year and will make travel plans geared towards amazing dive spots.

One of the most memorable nights of this trip was when we stayed at a bar longer than we should have considering it was starting to rain … Costa Rica has had a dry rain season so we assumed it would rain for a bit and then stop after 30 minutes like it usually did. This particular evening the rain was relentless and it down poured monsoon style for about 3 hours where the roads began to flood knee-deep. We made a run for it when the rain eased up and had to stop again when it started pounding yet again. It was insane! When we got home, the ground floor of the house flooded about a foot high with rainwater and red silt. The rain had stopped at this point so we all spent about the next two hours cleaning out the water. Thankfully, there was no serious damage. Costa Rica is so beautiful and so fun.

In November, Ernie and I drove up the California coast after work and spent a weekend camping and exploring the Big Sur and Santa Cruz area. I have taken road trips up the Pacific Coast Highway several times especially on my way to school, but never camped out along it south of San Francisco. Ernie is a photographer so we came back with some incredible photos from our hikes and star gazing.

I went to my first music festival in YEARS this year and I forgot how much I loved them. I went to Symbiosis Gathering for three days and it was filled with good music, good people and good energy.

How did I end 2015? By booking a trip with my best friend Zoey to Peru and I am so excited! We found a great deal using the Google Flights search engine. We’re going to do the Inca Jungle Trail to Machu Picchu, something we have been wanting to do. This year is also booked up with a couple of bachelorette parties in awesome destinations so I cannot wait to celebrate the closest people to me getting married.

Happy Travels!

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