2023.

What. A. Year.

If someone time traveled from the future to visit December 31st, 2022 me, I don’t think she would have believed them when they told me how absolutely mental 2023 would be. I mean 2022 was mental but like 2023 was next level. Both poles? 7 continents in a year? Polar bears? Penguins? Whales? Did I mention mental? I mean we’re talking 31 countries and 3 territories.

I don’t even know the best way to make a highlights reel of this year because I’ve just done so much. Some months have been more packed by others but still, mental, magical, all of the extremist adjectives can be used here. 

From left to right, top to bottom: Saying goodbye to the O Trek; Taken in the mountains of Tierra del Fuego where we stopped on the helicopter; Setting foot on the continent of Antarctica; Finally seeing Rio; Colorful Buenos Aires; Sunrise on the Salt Flats of Uyuni; Talia and I in Guatape; Dad and I at the terraces of Machu Picchu

The good: 

  • Visiting and doing the polar plunge in both poles 
  • Mailing postcards from some of the most extreme places possible
  • Taking a helicopter ride over Tierra del Fuego and landing in the mountains
  • Seeing 7 different species of penguins during my trip to Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falklands
  • Falling in love with all things Antarctica 
  • Completing the O Trek (this was done over NYE so it was almost mentioned in my 2022 highlights which can be found here)
  • Finally finding good pizza in Buenos Aires
  • Crossing off another world wonder, Christ the Redeemer
  • Visiting the surf town of Ponte del Diablo, Uruguay
  • It took two trips to Paraguay, but finally seeing my first Tapir
  • Finally setting foot in the salt flats of Bolivia
  • Scuba diving in Providencia, Colombia
  • Driving a boat on the way to Guatape, Colombia
  • Visiting 7 South American countries with Talia
  • Hiking the 12km day hike to Machu Picchu with my dad, seeing the sun gate for the first time. WOW.
  • Surviving the hike to Rainbow mountain
  • Spending a long layover seeing Panama City
  • Reuniting with Laura in Georgia
  • Finally visiting Azerbaijan after it being on my list since the 6th grade
  • Making fun of YouTubers while making our beds on the train between Georgia and Armenia
  • Flying to Israel for 52 hours because I was in the area and wanted to see family
  • Spending 5 weeks driving 5,000 km around Türkiye
  • Visiting Laura and Tom in the UK
  • Seeing OneRepublic for the fifth time live and 2nd time in the UK with Ali
  • Getting to see Laura again at the airport because of a delayed flight
  • Watching people from my hostel run the midnight sun marathon in Tromso including a man who was cycling Europe and had never run a marathon before
  • Flying into Svalbard not knowing how much this trip would impact my future
  • Having some of the most perfect weather in Svalbard especially when we spotted our first polar bear
  • Baby’s first brash ice kayak paddle
  • Stepping foot on East Greenland
  • Spending 72 hours in Iceland in which I drove 20+ hours to see a waterfall, a canyon and some puffins
  • Landing in Stewart Airport just for a fellow American to think I’m Australian because of my accent
  • Spending both weekends at Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium
  • Taking a road trip through 6 different countries to see friends in Switzerland
  • Trying raclette for the first time in Switzerland
  • Finally visiting some of the small towns in Alsace, France that have been on the list for ages
  • Spending 5 days in the PNW celebrating the death of Meg’s youth aka her 30th birthday
  • Making the entire month of October my birthday because I was turning 30
  • Finally feeling the ocean breeze in Fiji after 6ish weeks working in NY
  • Having multiple crazy baby swims with the humpbacks of Tonga
  • Returning to Sydney to get doubles back mount certified
  • Flying business with a layflat from HK to Addis Abbas (as part of my Sydney to Tanzania trip)
  • Meeting four other friends for the 30th birthday of a lifetime in Tanzania
  • Staying in a treehouse and swimming with whale sharks with Monica on Mafia Island
  • Returning to Southeast Asia for the first time since the pandemic to see Thailand, Laos and Malaysia
  • Finally making it to Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai
  • Falling in love with Luang Prabang, Laos
  • Finally visiting the helipad lounge in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Landing back in Sydney and finally being able to see it from the plane again
  • Finishing GUE REC 3
  • Catching up with Antarctica friends in Melbourne
  • Solo roadtripping around Tassie and seeing my first wild wombats and echidnas 
  • Deciding to extend my stay in Sydney to dive and write more

From left to right, top to bottom: Laura and I are the Symphony of Stones, Armenia; Laura and I are in Baku, Azerbaijan; Laura and I at Kazbegi, Georgia; On a hot air balloon in Cappadocia; OneRepublic in London; Tromso from a viewpoint; The famous polar bear sign of Svalbard; Kayaking in the caves of Svalbard

The bad:

  • Almost getting my phone stolen in Rio
  • The 12 hour bus rides in Bolivia turning into 16+ hour bus rides in which we questioned our safety every second (sorry mom and dad but I survived so I guess you can know now)
  • Getting ditched by my tour guide on Rainbow mountain which meant I wasn’t able to visit the higher viewpoint for fear of the tour leaving without me
  • Going on the worst “free” walking tour I’ve ever been on in Armenia and leaving early because we were questioning everything
  • Having my flight to Bergen (and then Tromso) delayed by 3 hours making everyone on board worry we would miss our connection to Tromso. To make up for it the airlines gave us a whopping 6 British pounds to buy food with. As it turns out the flight in Tromso was also delayed so we didn’t have any issues making the flight.
  • Only spending 2 days in East Greenland because the ice was too dense so we went to Iceland instead
  • The logistics of the Tanzania safari just being the hottest of messes and then the driest cake ever
  • The weather in Fiji just not being the best so we couldn’t make it to the dive sites we would have liked too.
  • It’s silly, but spending way too many hours above water. Too much land travel this year, not enough underwater time.

From left to right, top to bottom: Taken on the frozen Arctic Ocean; Steeping foot on East Greenland; The waterfall I drove 20 hours for – Hengifoss; My favourite waterfall in Iceland, Bruarfoss; The entry to Dreamville, Tomorrowland; Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany; Reflections in Strasbourg, France; Pretending to be Aussie at Tomorrowland

The ugly:

  • Getting food poisoning not once but twice during our South America trip… both from our own cooking (okay one of these is technically 2022 but it was like Dec 29th 2022 so it counts)
  • Waking up on a long haul flight from Addis Abbas to the two woman behind me hitting me because they were upset that I had put my seat back. Then having the flight attendant originally side with them until I admitted they hit me and burst into tears (hi, I was deep asleep when they woke me up and so overtired). I was then “allowed” to put my seat back and ended up cried myself to sleep. I was petrified they’d assault me again to try and wake me up. 
  • Almost missing my flight to Sydney from Kuala Lumpur because of an accident on the highway. I had to run through the entire terminal and just barely made it on the flight.

From left to right, top to bottom: Meg’s 30th in Portland; Cape Cod Sunsets; Fijian Sunsets; Baby’s first layflat business class; When the trip makes it out of the group chat, Tanzania; Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai; Back scuba diving in Sydney, Australia; Bay of Fires, Tasmania

Traveling isn’t always pretty but when it is, it’s damn amazing. To be honest, even the ugly stories are something I tend to look back on with a laugh… except maybe the assault on the flight, that wasn’t fun at all. 

I realized recently that I haven’t really stopped since quitting my job in March of ’22. The longest I’ve stayed anywhere is about 6 and a half weeks this summer when I was working. That’s insane. I’ve got some great ideas for 2024 and I can’t wait to share them with you soon. 

I think you’re going to find me slowing down a bit in 2024. I’m not stopping traveling, trust me I’ve got plenty of places I still want to see. But, I want to spend more time underwater and more time writing. I don’t want to go another seven months without a blog post like I did this year. I’m excited to see what this next year has in store but I really can’t believe it’s about to be 2024.

What are your travel plans for next year? And where would you like to see me write about first… I know I owe you guys a lot of blog posts.