Wow—another year in the books! But this one feels extra special because we finally took the ideas floating around in our heads and made them happen. And guess what? 25,000 downloads later, here we are! If there’s one thing we’ve learned (and hope you have too), it’s that sometimes, you just have to take that leap of faith. Whether it’s starting a business, booking that dream trip, or even just saying yes to a new experience—once you start, it gets easier every time.

This post isn’t going to be super long—just a little recap of our year in travel and a sneak peek at what’s coming next. We’ll be diving deeper into some of these trips in the new year during our Travel Talk episodes, but for now, let’s take a look back!

January: NYC Times Two

We kicked off the year with not one but two trips to New York City! First up was the Adventure Travel Show, where we got to connect with tourism board members and learn about some incredible destinations. (Technically, this was a business trip, so we don’t count it in our Travel Talk budget—but hey, perks of the job!)

Our second NYC trip was purely for fun: catching Merrily We Roll Along off-Broadway, which I loved so much that I had to see it again when it hit Broadway. NYC is just an hour and a half away for us, so it’s our go-to for quick getaways. Even if you don’t have a major city in your backyard, you might be surprised by what’s just a couple of hours away!

February & March: Vermont Ski Getaways

In February, we took a very cold ski trip to Vermont to visit friends. It was so cold that even Bruce asked for feet warmers—something I never thought I’d see! We drove up because it’s only about four hours away, and it was a great reminder that visiting friends can be the best excuse for a trip. (Pro tip: If you’ve got a friend in a cool place, go visit them!)

March saw us back in Vermont, but this time for our annual friends’ ski weekend. We’ve built a tradition of gathering friends from all over NY and New England for a long weekend of skiing, eating, and catching up. Highly recommend planning something like this—it’s always a highlight of our year!

April: Vegas & London

April was packed! We started with a travel conference in Las Vegas, which was our first time in Sin City. It was a whirlwind—arriving at our hotel at 2:55 AM (just before the system reset at 3:00 AM), waking up at 9:00 AM for the conference, and then somehow ending up on a rooftop bar overlooking the Strip with free beer in hand. Classic Vegas, right?

Mid-April was even bigger: we took my dad on his first international trip to London! We quickly realized that London is massive, so we focused on a mix of guided and self-made tours. Highlights included Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, Windsor Castle, Oxford, a show at the Globe Theatre, Camden Market, and the Harry Potter studio tour. Plus, we met the sweetest café owners at Sheila’s Café—one of those unexpected travel moments that stick with you forever.

May & June: Local Adventures & A Road Trip South

May was all about local exploring in Connecticut—hiking, discovering new breweries, and taking a last-minute trip back to NYC to see Parade on Broadway.

June started with yet another NYC trip (Bruce had a gig at Carnegie Hall—casual, right?). I made the most of my solo time by scoring Broadway tickets to Leopoldstadt, Grey House, and Book of Mormon. (One was amazing, one was a total flop—you win some, you lose some!)

Mid-June, we hit the road for a big trip down south—stopping in Memphis (my hometown), catching up with friends in Panama City, and then making our way to Orlando for our annual Disney check-in. This trip was part fun, part work since we run a Disney/Universal travel agency, but let’s be honest—it’s always fun.

July: Norway & Beyond

July was all about our big trip of the year: Norway and a few other Scandinavian stops. I was lucky enough to receive a Fund for Teachers grant to study climate change in Norway and Svalbard (yes, where there’s permafrost!). This trip was surreal—hiking, learning, and trying to survive Norway’s crazy-high food prices. Svalbard, in particular, felt like another planet.

After Norway, we extended our trip to Copenhagen, where we experimented with a split-itinerary approach: we each took half the trip to plan! We’ll dive into that experience in a future episode, but spoiler—it was awesome.

To top it all off, we jumped on a Disney Cruise through Northern Europe, hitting Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and back to Norway before wrapping up in Copenhagen. It was our first Disney Cruise and a total mix of business and fun.

August – September: Slowing Down (Sort Of)

After all that travel, we kept things local for the rest of the summer—just a quick trip to Cape Cod to visit family and some fun fair-hopping, including our favorite: The Big E in Massachusetts. And yes, we snuck in one more trip to NYC to see Merrily We Roll Along again. No regrets.

October: Universal & A Tough Goodbye

October means one thing for us: Halloween Horror Nights at Universal! It’s our favorite spooky event, and we go every year (again, work perks!).

We also took an impromptu trip to Vermont after losing our first travel adventure partner, Ben. It was a much-needed reset—spending time with friends, hitting up a local crafts fair, and just slowing down for a bit.

November & December: A New Adventure Begins

November brought a new kind of adventure: puppy parenthood! We road-tripped to Ohio to pick up Pippy, and since then, our travels have been all about local adventures—hiking, brewery visits, and getting her used to the world. She’s already proving to be an excellent future travel buddy!

Our Little Icelandic Sheepdog- Pippy! 

Looking Ahead

That’s our year in travel! We’ll be breaking down the financial side of things in our upcoming Travel Talk episode, so stay tuned. But for now, we want to hear from you—what was your favorite trip of the year? Drop into our Facebook community and let us know (and maybe give us some inspiration for next year!).