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At the start of each new year, I love to sit down and think about a theme or tone I want to set for the year ahead. For me, this exercise invariably involves thoughts of travel. Over meals, I talk to the kids about what new places they would like to discover and what types of experiences would be of most interest to them. Between their wishes and ours (the parents), we come up with a rather LONG list. In addition, Jim and I have a list of destinations for kid-free trips that we are constantly curating (African safari anyone?).
Looking back
In 2018, our collective list included South Africa, Morocco, Italy/Croatia, Thailand, Japan, Greece & Cyprus, Peru, Argentina & Chile, Costa Rica, Bermuda, Scandinavia, Russia, Korea, Australia & New Zealand, and Madagascar.
Not all of these locations appealed to every member of the family and, as we discussed the various locations at length, Australia emerged as the clear favorite. So, did we get to Australia in 2018? No, we didn’t. However, by having it front and center on our radar, we were able to find an opportunity to travel there in August 2019.
Planning the trip so far in advance also enabled us to book award tickets. Thanks to our nice little stash of frequent flier miles, three of us will be flying from Washington, D.C. to Sydney, Australia (with a day in San Francisco en route) for a grand total of $102.30 (the unavoidable 9/11 security fee and Australia’s passenger service charge). So, while we did not make it to our top destination in the year that we chose it, I still consider this a success!
2018 was very good to us. We traveled to Florida, Pennsylvania, Argentina, Chile, Boston, Ithaca, Ottawa, Lac Ecorce, Baltimore, New Hampshire, London, Bath, Stonehenge, Paris, Versailles, Rhode Island, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, West Virginia, Breckenridge, Arches National Park, Salt Lake City, and Turks and Caicos.
Looking ahead
My travel resolutions for 2019 are simple:
- Visit a new state (I have 13 to go! We are hoping to take advantage of our Southwest Companion Pass to visit several states on our list in 2019.)
- Visit a new country (I use the Traveler’s Century Club list for counting countries/territories.)
What about you? Do you make resolutions? Where do you most want to travel? Please tell us in the comments section.
If one of your resolutions is to travel more and learn about maximizing frequent flier miles, please follow us!
Happy 2019! May it be a great year for you!
Heading to Rome in January! Hoping for a trip to the British Isles later in the year.
2019 includes Peru in April and hopefully somewhere in Asia for a work trip as well as Rome, Denver, London, Michigan, NYC, FL and who knows where else!