2022 Recap: Travel

As we near the end of 2022, I’ve been reflecting on all of the fun places we’ve been able to go to this year! This was the first year in our “pandemic era” where we’ve had the opportunity to travel, including international travel. We’ve been itching to travel for the past few years and we really got to do that this year. This year had a lot of trips to Tampa for work and many fun trips with friends. Take a look at our 12 months of travel throughout 2022!

January

We started off the year with a family ski trip to Durango, Colorado! It was our first ski trip with my family and my dad and sister’s first time skiing. We rented a condo across the street from the slopes and it was a great long weekend to start off our year of travel. Drew wants us to be a ski family, so it was a glimpse into what our future may hold!

February

This month included a trip to Austin, Texas to visit family and a trip to Tampa, Florida for work! My bestie nephew (and his parents, of course) live in Austin so it was great to spend a weekend with them. We mostly spent the weekend at their house but got also walked and explored their neighborhood.

I travel to Tampa about once a month for work, and this was my first trip of the year. It’s usually a quick trip to co-locate with my coworkers (from all over the world). It’s mostly working (but really chatting) at the office, dinners, and lots of free food. I don’t always go each month, but it’s nice to see friends and not work alone!

March

March included another trip to Austin for work! I help with campus recruiting for UT Austin (my alma mater) so the beginning of this year included a lot of trips to Austin for different recruiting events. I also had to visit my favorite nephew so I stayed with my SIL and BIL for a night before heading to my hotel for the week.

April

This month was a busy month of travel, including two trips to Austin, a week in Tampa, and a long weekend in Medford, Oregon. I was in Austin twice for campus recruiting, Tampa for another work trip, and Medford for a family trip. We flew to Medford and it was my first time flying with the baby. He was honestly GREAT, even with the mountain of bags we traveled with!

One difference this month for my trip(s) to Austin from my other trips was taking the Vonlane! Usually, when I go to Austin I will drive myself. Because I need extra time to work on the road (it’s 3 hours one way from Houston), I took a “luxury motor coach service for Texas travelers”. It is a WiFi-enabled coach bus that takes you from Houston to Austin and is loaded with free snacks and food. You pick your seat online and meet at the designated pick-up location in Houston and it drops you off at the drop-off spot in Austin. The seats are so plush and recline. There are also so many amenities such as eye masks, neck pillows, lap desks, and even electronic devices. I really enjoyed my experience and would highly recommend!

May

More work-related trips this month. I was back in Tampa for my work project and also went to Dallas for my annual training for work! My company has its own campus in Dallas where they hold training for all employees, among other corporate events. I really enjoy these few days to reconnect with friends and meet new people from all over the country. The free food and Starbucks also helps!

June

June was the first month of fun travel since January! Drew and I went to Las Vegas, Nevada for a long weekend. Neither of us had really ever been to Las Vegas so we wanted to experience everything the city had to offer. The last time I went was a pit stop before going hiking in Zion, so I wanted to go back for an entire weekend. We mainly went to see Katy Perry’s show, PLAY, but we actually really enjoyed the entire weekend. While it was very expensive, I loved our time there. We ate lots of delicious food and surprisingly, did a lot of touristy things!

We also spent a week in Waco for Drew’s work! I worked from the hotel, while Gordo just chilled in the nice air conditioning. We stayed near downtown Waco and explored all things Magnolia on our way out, including the Silos and the Little Shop on Bosque.

After our week in Waco, we dropped Gordo off at home and went straight to San Antonio to spend the weekend celebrating Drew’s birthday! San Antonio is one of my favorite places, so it was nice to revisit some of our favorite places. Drew’s favorite place to eat is Esquire Tavern on the Riverwalk. We also spent a day at Loma de Vida Spa at one of our favorite resorts, La Cantera.

July

June included a trip to Dallas, Texas to visit Drew’s extended family and a long weekend in New Braunfels, Texas for a tubing trip. On our way out of Dallas, we stopped by Drew’s solar project that he’s been working on for what seems like the past forever. It was awesome to be able to see how his hard work as has paid off!

We also took a tubing trip with some friends in New Braunfels, which is a German city in Texas. We stayed at the historic Faust Hotel and spent a day on the river with good music and great friends. It was very hot (I mean, that’s most of the year in Texas), but it was great to spend a few hours soaking in the sun.

August

I started off this month with yet another trip to Tampa for work, but at the end of the week, I took Friday off and met Drew in Miami for a long weekend! Another city that neither of us has really visited, but it was a fantastic weekend to spend quality time together. A lot of our travels so far this year had been with family and friends, so it was nice to have a weekend to ourselves. We spent the entire weekend either at the pool or at the beach and nowhere else!

September

Another month, and another trip to Tampa!

October

My favorite month of travel was October! I started the month with a long weekend trip to Austin to go to Austin City Limits with my bestie and her hubby! They had previously lived near Washington DC and just moved back to Texas so it was great to see them back in our home state. I hadn’t been to ACL since college, so I was looking forward to a weekend listening to live music with amazing friends. ACL is a 3-day festival at Zilker Park with lots of talented musicians and fantastic food. My faves were Paramore, Pink, and, surprisingly, Zach Bryan!

While Austin is always fun, my all-time favorite trip of this year was our 5-year anniversary trip to Santorini and London! Drew and I have been planning this trip for almost a year and it was over a week of relaxation and adventure. We started our trip in Santorini, Greece at the Andronis Luxury Suites for 4 days of reading, hiking, and relaxing. We ended our trip with 3 days in London for more sightseeing and doing all of the city things!

November

This month included a trip to Tampa that lasted only two nights because of Hurricane Nicole. I really didn’t want to risk waiting it out, so I ended my trip early. Good thing I left early because a few trips got canceled at the end of the week!

I planned to make another trip to Austin for my SIL and BIL’s annual Tex-Mex Thanksgiving, but unfortunately, I got the flu and I ended my November mostly in bed – it was so bad that I had to get out of line to get Taylor Swift tickets so I could go to urgent care.

December

I ended the year with a girls’ weekend in Galveston, Texas with my Book Club and a trip to Cancun with some of my girlfriends for my 30th birthday! For our December book club, we rented an Airbnb in Galveston, Texas and spent the weekend doing Christmas crafts, going to the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens, and bonding with gal pals.

However, my second favorite trip of the year was my 30th birthday trip to Cancun! I wanted to do something big for this milestone birthday and decided to go international! We stayed at an adult-only all-inclusive resort, TRS Coral. This place was where the couples from season 2 of Love Is Blind stayed and it did not disappoint. It was the nicest resort and had the most incredible spa I’d ever seen. This trip was a great way to end the year with some of my best girlfriends.

It’s been great to look back at all of the places we’ve been this year. I’m already looking forward to all of the places we’re planning on going to next year!

Happy traveling!

Vivian