Now, THIS was a fun year.
Although in 2021 I managed to escape three times to Banff, Aruba and Jamaica – I promise you 2021 doesn’t have SHIT on what I got upto in 2022.
As 2021 was coming to an end I told myself I would make sure I escaped as often as I could in 2022, because WHO KNOWS if another lockdown was coming, or some new crazy illness, like, I don’t know, monkeypox?
I managed to visit ELEVEN countries this year, nine of them being first time visits for me.
Fucking awesome. I worked hard and I am the luckiest person ever for having this privilege.
Feeling really blessed at the outcome of my 2022 looking back at it.
For the most part, the past year started pretty normal. Nothing too crazy, my best friends and I were slowly waiting on our trip to Antigua to happen.
January felt like the longest month EVER (as it always does), but waiting on a trip in February made it feel that much longer.
Eventually, February came and the three of us took off to the gorgeous island of Antigua. The recap of this trip mostly consisted of me talking about drinking, partying and laying on various beaches. One underrated feature of this trip was mentioning how incredible the food was. It may have been just as incredible as the locals were – may have. Because they were pretty incredible themselves.
I really hope in 2023 I have time to come back to Antigua with my friends. I guess that remains one of those traveler issues, arguing with yourself if you should return to someplace you loved or try someplace new. Feel super duper philosophical in this thinking at the moment.
FYI – this is what the remainder of my year was looking like in March. Strap yourself in, this blog post is going to have a whooooole bunch of shenanigans. (Also, one country was missing from this list, as we didn’t even book to go there until July)
Luckily, five weeks after this trip it was time to venture to another new place for me. A place that I had long waited to visit and finally made it to.
MIAMI.
Oh, Miami. What a fucking disappointment. There aren’t too many places I’ve visited that I hope to never visit again, but Miami sure is at the close top of that list. (after Barcelona, Venice, St. Barts….)
I definitely said it when I wrote my recap of the trip, I understand WHY other people like Miami. It is like when everyone has a crush on some guy you find hideous because he just is not your type. Miami is that guy.
Glad that I got to take my boyfriend there for the weekend as his birthday gift, but if I never return again, I won’t be particularly upset.
After a mostly uneventful remainder of my April, aside a quick visit to my family in Detroit. Heyyy Detroit!
It was time to go gallivanting again.
The Victoria Day long weekend was the perfect time to take advantage of a good deal to San Jose, Costa Rica. I went on this trip with my mom and dad.
If you read the recap of that specific trip, you’d know the rain was really an issue on this trip. We got very lucky that during an overnight trip to Jaco the sunshine came out. Not my favourite beach I’ve been to in this coastal town, but I liked Costa Rica very much. This is a very relaxed place and tons of remote workers were everywhere. If you’re one of those nature hippies, this country is a MUST visit for you.
Now this is where the year began to pick up, expeditiously.
So you see I went on this trip to Costa Rica during the tail-end of May, and then June came around. Busy June.
What had happened was, earlier in the year there was this crazy $300 flight deal to Portugal and I had to hop on it as my one solo trip of the year.
In the middle of June I went to Lisbon, Portugal + Nice, France and Monaco. Craziest five days of my life. Between the bullshit with Pearson airport and just not getting any sleep, plus rain, again, this was a ride.
Checking out the recap of this specific trip, you’ll see I indulged in a lot of good food and also regretted one of the choices for accommodations. In fact, I got VERY sick returning from this trip due to the lack of sleep and constant switching of airports, I think.
I would totally do it all over again, but, I also don’t seem to care about my health. Maybe don’t listen to me.
Oh, you thought I was done? That THIS was the only part of the whirlwind in June? Ha.
No. Four days after returning from this trip I was back on a plane heading to Guayaquil, Ecuador.
I told you I clearly don’t give a damn about my health.
This trip was with my boyfriend and his daughter. Within this specific recap, you will see how amazed I was at the low price of Ubers and food in Guayaquil. You know I had six, yes SIX, crabs for $20USD? I’m never ever going to find another deal like that anywhere. No way.
Awesome trip, but I wouldn’t suggest doing Europe AND South America within a week of each other. My body was pretty fucked up after these treks side by side.
Luckily for my health, I did not travel for the remainder of the summer.
I try not to leave Toronto during July and August because it’s really the only time living here is fun. Winter lasts nineteen months so naturally, July and August flew in a flash. I don’t understand. This may have been the quickest summer of my life. All I did was work and go to a few parties. Flew.
Next thing I knew it was September and time for another trip.
This was one of the lengthier trips I did in my life. I usually don’t like to spend more than 4-5 days in one country, MAYBE seven, fine. But this time, I was staying for 10-days in one country: Peru!
Big bucket list trip with my mom. Finally getting to see Machu Picchu was incredible and I also thoroughly enjoyed all of the food in Peru. This recap was one of the longer ones, so whenever you have a long lunch break, check that out.
I got back from Peru feeling pretty tired. This was a longer trip and we did a lot.
Didn’t really matter though, since like 5 weeks later it was time for another trip.
This was a big one – Country #50!!!
The chosen destination? The Bahamas.
Obviously, I’d always wanted to visit The Bahamas, who doesn’t? But it really became an even bigger ‘want’ after I flew over the islands when we were going to Antigua earlier in the year. The Bahamas trip was only for the Thanksgiving long weekend and I went with my parents.
You can read all about that trip here, and if YOU are considering going to The Bahamas, make sure you have money. This is not a broke people destination and I learned that shit the hard way. Beautiful, but expensive.
I came back from this trip looking for some extra shifts at my second job. Seriously.
Normal people would have peace after this, but no, OF COURSE I still had another trip planned, and this one was only four weeks later.
I’m dead serious – definitely not going at this pace ever again. I love travel, but when you have an international trip every 5-weeks, it gets to be a little wild. Especially with the way Pearson airport was sucking all 2022.
A few years ago, I was in Zurich one week and Prague the following week and I thought the price difference was DEEP. I was kind of going through the same process when I went to The Bahamas in October and then followed up by going to Roatan, Honduras in November.
Roatan. Ah. Now this place is a gem. For the amount of worried about my safety messages I got and ‘where the fuck is Roatan?‘ – I was really happy to show people this destination.
They had fantastic food, gorgeous beaches and really nice locals. IT WAS ALSO SUPER WELL PRICED!!! Important.
If you’re interested in reading about my Roatan adventure, please click here. You will not be disappointed.
On November 7th, when we came home from Roatan, I was pretty happy it would be a decent amount of time until my next trip. This next one wasn’t going to be a 4-day weekend like The Bahamas and Roatan were, this was another big trip, like Peru was.
Bucket list place. World wonder.
Yes, we are heading to Egypt!!!!
This trip was supposed to happen last year, but that bitch Omicron became a thing and we couldn’t go there. So now, it was time to visit my first country on the African continent.
When I get back I will write the actual recap. Make it a part of my 2023 recap, which I hope is just as awesome as 2022 was.
Happy New Year Everyone.
- Mirna