I started this blog at the beginning of the year because I realized I would be spending most of 2016 on the road and I wanted a way to document and share what I learned from all my adventures. After 3 continents, 11 countries, 52 cities and towns, I do have a couple favorite places and trips from the year

Myanmar

Myanmar was never actually on our list of places to go initially, but once we were in Thailand, we heard more about it and it sounded like a good idea. So along with a friend whom we’d met in Koh Tao we headed to out to explore Myanmar. The country itself is beautiful, and the people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered. Some of the best moments on our whole trip happened in Myanmar, from riding motorbike on the beach, to watching fireworks explode off of hot air balloons at the Balloon Festival, to trekking through mountains, jungle, and countryside, and exploring the temples in Bagan.

Japan

Japan was a bit of a culture shock after being in South East Asia for so long, but in a good way. I loved exploring Tokyo, and wandering around the neon sign lined streets and tiny little alleys. And even though the Robot Restaurant is probably the most touristy thing to do, it was awesome. After exploring Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, and Osaka we headed north to the island of Hokkaido to go snowboarding. It was some of the best snowboarding and snow I’ve ever experienced. The scenery as beautiful and the slopes were uncrowded, so yeah it was pretty much perfect.

Coachella

I know this wasn’t part of the Grand Adventure trip we took, but it was still one of my favorites this year. In April we headed out to the desert for 3 days of music, dancing, and hanging out with friends. We saw a ton of good music (Sia and Ellie Goulding were my favorites) and were able to relax and hang out with good friends. It doesn’t get much better than that does it? You can read more about our Coachella trip here.

Greece

All of Greece was awesome, but my favorite part was the island of Milos. It was such a mellow island, not too crowded or touristy, and great beaches. We rented an ATV and cruised around the whole island, it was the best way to get around, plus it allowed us to explore the west side of the island that isn’t accessible by car where we found some awesome little coves and beaches. For more about Milos check out this post, and for the beaches see this one.

Ireland

Our first international destination was Ireland, and it was a great place to start out our adventure. We met my family there and were able to hang out with them for a little over a week before striking out on our own. We also managed to see a ton of the country by hiking, biking, and driving around which was awesome. It’s a beautiful country and it cool experiencing by so many different means of transportation. For more on our Ireland trip check out this post.

I traveled more this past year than I have probably in my whole life and it was an amazing journey filled with tons of ups, plenty of down, and experiences that I’ll always remember. I’m excited to see where the new year will take us, we probably won’t be on the road as much as last year but I get the feeling there will be plenty of trips and adventures to be had.

Happy New Year!