Happy New year to all my readers! I hope 2023 gives y’all peace and lots of exciting travels and other pleasures you find. I don’t subscribe to the good year/ bad year thing. Years are not collectively good or bad. It’s subjective to each person. Also, when the official year starts is not that relevant. Chances are, there is some culture somewhere that celebrates their new year every day. 2022 had some geopolitical disasters. The situations in Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Armenia and Ukraine were horrendous. The lack of understanding and arrogant people trying to oversimply them with blanket statements were also horrendous. Like, every year, I had my challenges to bear.

On the flip side, the world opened up again more to travel than two years before, almost to the point where I decided to stay at home and avoid the revenge travel crowd. Finally, I got around to some more travels out of Europe. I cared better for my mental health, worked on some personal challenges, and set firm boundaries. I started to do some more work in my actual field of study. My knowledge of Slovene improved a bit.

2022 travel highlights

Panama

Tunisia

The Southern US

Balkan road trip: Including one of my favourite cities, Sarajevo

Quebec

Maine

Iceland: To crash one of my best friend’s honeymoon

Several trips to various cities I count as “homes” in Europe.

I closed the year out in Hungary with a trip to Heviz and Budapest with some of my closest friends.

I consider myself lucky; many of these travels fell into my lap and cost much less than it usually does for most. Travel is a privilege that I was fortunate to be exposed to at the right time. I’ve learned to be able to utilize and build my life around it.

2023 travel plans

• Set in stone: Uzbekistan, Portugal, to witness another best friend get married ( Check out her blog here)
• Likely: Surinam, Tuscany, Finland and Estonia, Trips to my other “homes”, wherever I find a discount
• Fingers crossed or another year: Algeria, Vietnam, Tanzania, Norway, or Anywhere in Central America

What about you?? Do you have any travel plans for 2023? Is there anywhere you would like to go, even if you have to wait a year or two? Travel is not a race, nor does it have to be extravagant. Your corner of the world probably has many treasures you didn’t know existed.

Do you have any personal goals or wishes? Let me know!