Happy New Year! I know everyone says this, but it’s hard to believe that 2018 has now officially come to a close and the new year has begun. Personally, 2018 had a lot of ups and downs, but it has been one of my favorite years to date. I was lucky enough to travel to several bucket list destinations and ended the year by starting this blog – something I’m very much looking forward to working on in 2019! In honor of today being the first day of the new year, I want to share some highlights of 2018. Buckle up because it’s a long one 🙂
Thailand
The year started off with a bang (quite literally!) as my mom and I ended 2017 and started 2018 in Thailand! This was a destination that had been on my bucket list for years and we had an amazing trip! New Year’s Eve last year is one of my favorite days to date! We spent the day with the elephants at Elephant Nature Park and then ended the night participating in the lantern festival in Chiang Mai. It was such a wonderful experience and one I will never forget!
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
A few weeks after returning from Thailand, I jetted off to Mexico! Here, I met up with a few of my college friends in Puerto Vallarta to spend the long weekend. We didn’t take a lot of pictures, but it was a relaxing trip filled with plenty of sand, sun, margaritas, and guacamole – just a few of my favorite things!
Sonoma, CA
I visited wine country several times this year, and one of those times was on a family trip in the beginning of summer. It is one of my favorite places to visit in the Bay Area as it is only about an hour away, but it makes for a relaxing getaway. The vineyards are stunning, the wines are delicious, and the weather is usually much nicer than in San Francisco – what could be better! P.s. if you missed it, I visited Napa for my birthday in November and shared a guide of everything we did in this post.
San Francisco, CA
I moved to San Francisco in September of 2017, and although I’m from the Bay Area, I surprisingly hadn’t spent much time in the city prior to my move. It really is a beautiful city and I’m excited to explore it even more this coming year!
Budapest
My next big vacation of the year was a fairly last minute trip to Europe with my mom in June. Our first stop was to Budapest, which is now one of my favorite cities! To be honest, I had heard good things about Budapest prior to our visit, but did not expect to love it as much as I did. I’ll never forget that feeling our first night there walking along the Danube River and seeing the Chain Bridge and Parliament lit up at night – it was truly magical!
Prague
After Budapest, we hopped on a train to Prague to spend a few days. I really liked Prague, but if I had to choose between the two, I think Budapest would win by a smidge. One of my highlights from Prague was spending our first night at Letna Park watching the sunset while drinking a beer – priceless! We also took a day trip to the town of Cesky Krumlov, which I would highly recommend! It’s such a cute town that truly reminded me of a storybook due to how charming it is (it honestly felt like we were at Disneyland at times). I was ready to move in by the end of the day!
Peru
My final international destination of the year was to Peru in the fall, which had been on my bucket list for ages! We visited Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu, and the trip exceeded all of my expectations! I’m only sharing a few photos as I’m thinking of putting together a guide of our trip – let me know if you’d be interested!
Phew that was a long one! In closing, I can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring! Wishing you all a wonderful new year! Thanks for reading xo
