It is almost overwhelming how my travel plans are shaping up for this year. It is still only February and I have already been to Washington, D.C., San Diego and Los Angeles in 2015 – and I’m heading to San Francisco this weekend. I spent the first weekend in January in D.C. to speak at a conference for work, but I also was able to attend a college basketball game in Maryland and meet up with some old law school friends while I was in town. My trip to southern California was similar – it was primarily for work, but I at least managed to catch up with several friends over drinks.
San Francisco
This weekend in San Francisco will be mostly for fun! I have never really spent time in the city and it was one of the the places I listed last month that I wanted to get to this year. On Friday, I’ll be meeting with my fellow board members for Passports with Purpose and then Saturday and Sunday I’ll be doing a ton of exploring! Any recommendations for me? Share in the comments!
New York
Next up will be New York City the weekend of April 17-19. I have visited the Big Apple countless times and always love it. This time I will be going to speak at the New York Travel Fest as part of a workshop on taking a career break to travel. It’s a topic I love to speak about and I love meeting others who are thinking of traveling long-term, so I’m really excited for this!
Kalamazoo
After a return trip to D.C. (for work again), I will head to Kalamazoo, Michigan the first weekend in May! It is just a short train ride away from Chicago and I will be visiting fellow blogger Sally Thelen, better known as Unbrave Girl. We’re going wine tasting at a haunted castle and running a 5K (because those two things go perfectly together, right?) and who knows what else?
London
This was not really in the cards at the beginning of the year, but I recently got offered a ticket for Wimbledon that was too good to pass up! I’ll be going for the first Monday of the second week, which is one of the best days of the tournament, with all of the remaining men and women in action. My plan is to arrive on Friday, July 3 so I may queue for a grounds pass on July 4 as I did when I went five years ago. Something tells me I likely won’t be watching the longest match in tennis history as I did the last time I went, but it should still be amazing!
The Balkans
From London, I will set out on my “big” trip for the year – going somewhere in the Balkans. Right now, I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of hiking a relatively new hiking route called the Peaks of the Balkans, which goes through Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. If things work out as I hope, I’ll fly in and out of Pristina, Kosovo and spend 8-9 days hiking and a couple days checking out the rest of the very small country of Kosovo.
If things don’t pan out to do the trek, I’ll likely divide my time between Kosovo and either Macedonia or Albania. Stay tuned for more!
New York (again)
I’ll spend either Labor Day weekend or the following weekend in New York again for one of my favorite sporting events – the US Open!
Ethiopia
Yes, I’m heading back to Africa! I normally don’t make travel plans quite so far in advance, but I stumbled upon killer airfare to Addis Ababa for the week of Thanksgiving and just couldn’t pass it up (in case you’re wondering, Chicago-Addis on Qatar Airways for under $700 RT!!). I first got excited about visiting this country when I looked into it as an alternative to my Mali trip last fall and I have heard so many good things, I can’t wait to see it for myself. The hardest thing will be narrowing down what to see and do in just nine days!
Where else?
I’ll likely head back to Minnesota to see my family over the holidays and there is probably another trip to D.C. in the cards (I’m hoping to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October!). I’d also like to go somewhere for a long weekend over Memorial Day weekend but haven’t decided where yet. I’m thinking perhaps a short hiking trip somewhere…
