“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon

That’s my 2017 in a nutshell. It was a year of plans and non plans.  A year of spontaneous wanderings and creating new homes. A year of new friends, new food and new places. 2017 was big. I visited 13 countries and found myself on 26 flights. I found myself hoping that my bus was going in the right direction and running to catch last minute flights.

In the midst all of the chaos of travel, I found myself chasing my dreams.

My 2017 Highlight Reel:

  • Celebrating visiting my 50th country in Cyprus
  • Valentines Day galavanting around Belgium
  • Getting #stuckinfrance for an extra day
  • Hitch hiking for the first time (sorry mom and dad)
  • Missing my first flight ever
  • Eating my weight in fondue in Geneva
  • Running my first 10k and Mud Run
  • Finally crossing #sydneyinsydney off my bucketlist
  • Taking a picture with a welcome to Sydney sign
  • Falling in love with the city I share a name with
  • Driving the Great Ocean Road
  • Seeing the sunrise in Byron Bay
  • Spending Shavout in the Ukraine and all of the crazy stories that come from that
  • Living on the beach in Faro with Claire
  • Saying “goodbye” to Roma
  • Exploring Amsterdam
  • Visiting Laura in DC
  • Surprising my parents by coming home a week early
  • Taking a good friend apple picking for the first time
  • Saying “goodbye” to home
  • Falling in love with New Zealand and all of its waterfalls
  • Making Sydney, home

That’s a long reel, isn’t it? I wasn’t kidding when I said 2017 was a big year. It was a year of firsts and a year of goodbyes. I honestly can’t believe it’s over in some ways. It’s the first year that I’ve lived the majority of it abroad and I couldn’t be happier about that. From life in Israel to life in Australia, it’s been amazing fulfilling this part of my dream – The dream of living abroad and seeing everything the world has to offer. Even with my head in the clouds, I found this year of firsts to also have a lot of goodbyes within it.

Goodbye.

Google defines goodbye as “used to express good wishes when parting or at the end of a conversation.” That being said, I don’t think my conversation with Rome or Europe or my home is finished. It’s a ‘conversation’ that I don’t think will ever be finished. I guess I have a strong dislike for using the word ‘goodbye’ for what it’s defined as. It’s too definite, but at the same time it has a nice ring to it. Maybe that’s why I say it, when I really want to say ‘see you later.’ That’s really what I was doing in Roma, in Europe and at home. I was saying ‘see you later,’ because I know our story isn’t done. Even though at the time I thought I wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon, I knew I’d come back at in the future to write another page to our story. A story that I’ll continue throughout 2018 and the coming years.

I mean, hey, I already have a ticket to Europe in April (but I didn’t know I’d be heading back at the time). So I guess I’ll be spreading my wings again soon.

2018 is going to be a big year. I can just feel it. Hopefully it’s a year of more hellos than goodbyes. A year of more firsts and more adventures. I’ve already got some plans in the works and I can’t wait to explore some more, but until then I’m happy to call this city I share a name with home.

So for the moment, just enjoy all the jokes you can make about Sydney living in Sydney.

P.S. One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog more, so hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me this year. Your girl already has a couple of pieces in the works.