My 2017 Year of Travels

Happy New Year!

I wanted to review my year of travels in 2017. Some places I actually forgot about until I started writing this and going through pictures. Where have you been this year? What was your favorite place?

It all started with Mexico back in January. I was scuba diving in Cozumel and the cenotes by Tulum.

Car Wash Cenote

Then I was living in Chicago for a couple months rock climbing and going to a bunch of concerts.

April I headed to California for a wild weekend at Coachella with some old friends.

At the end of April I headed out on a road trip out west with some friends from college. We started as 2 and 2 more joined us midway through the journey. From Chicago we headed west to Denver, across and down to Zion, over to Las Vegas, up to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, and over to San Fransisco. From there we headed up Highway 1, into and around Oregon. Eventually we continued up in Washington, around Seattle, into the Cascades and on to Vancouver. From Vancouver we finally headed back East towards Jasper, down to Banff, Calgary, and Glacier National Park. Then began the long journey across the plains to Minneapolis and soon Chicago.

What a trip. Tons of hiking, climbing, and camping along the way. We ate and cooked some amazing food too. Kind of rushed due to schedule restrictions, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Angel's Landing, Zion National Park

Yosemite, National Park

Hiking around Banff National Park

A week after returning to Chicago I headed to Thessaloniki, Greece. Again another month and a half trip, this time around the Balkans. From Greece I detoured for a quick stop in Sofia, Bulgaria before heading to Macedonia, around Kosovo, Albania, and Montenegro. Again tons of hiking, climbing and great, cheap food. Croatia was next followed by Bosnia, and Hungary. From there I flew back to Chicago to relax for a couple weeks. For the most part I was only in the major cities in the Balkans. I wish I had more time to see the country-sides but there were too many friends to see and people to meet up with along the way.

Prishtina, Kosovo

Sarajevo Olympic Bobsled Track, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Viewpoint in Dormitor National Park, Montenegro

After a wedding and two weeks in Chicago and a quick mountain biking bachelor party in Utah it was time to head off again this time for a little longer. Destination Edinburgh, followed by London, Prague and Zurich. From Zurich I roamed around Switzerland before heading to Munich and Innsbruck. Took a few cheap flights and bounce around from Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam, and then Krakow. Moved south into Zakopane and Poprad, eventually back to Bratislava, Vienna, and again to Munich.

Charles Bridge, Prague

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Octoberfest, Munich

Then it was time to head to Asia. Headed up to Cologne for a couple days because I managed to find an incredibly cheap flight from Cologne to Bangkok.

I love Asia. I hadn't been back for 5 years and boy did I miss it. I love all Asian food. I love the simplicity and yet chaos all around. I only stayed in Bangkok when in Thailand because I was busy with work but also because I had some friends there. Then it was on to Hong Kong for a few days, all around Taiwan, South Korea (with a few brief and scary steps into North Korea), and then down and around Vietnam.

Sunset in Taipei, Taiwan

Biking around Northern Vietnam

From there I found an error fare deal and headed down to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a steal. I road-tripped around the eastern part of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. I also took a brief trip up to Mozambique. Flew up to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana for some 4x4 exploring and then it was back down to Cape Town.

Amphitheater Hike Drakensberg National Park, South Africa

Devil's Pool Victoria Falls Zambia and Zimbabwe Border

Cape Town coast, South Africa

Following the expedition around South Africa it was up to the Middle East. Specifically hitchhiking, busing and relaxing for a couple weeks around Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Wadi Rum, Jordan

After 6 months away from the US it was time to head home just in time for the holidays. Along this journey I was constantly meeting up with friends who lived in these places as well as friends or family who joined me along the way. Tons of hiking, climbing, scuba diving, surfing, and eating my heart out. I jumped around a quite a bit because of cheap transportation, friends or family though I definitely did stay in some places for quite a while.

2017 was quite a year. I learned a ton, saw a ton of new landscapes and old friends. I am incredibly fortunate with my job freedom. I'll go into specifics with some of these places and many more in time. If there is a specific place you want to hear more about, feel free to ask! My run-on sentences need work, so this is great practice too. :)

Thanks for reading. Happy travels and Happy New Year everyone! Looking forward to what 2018 has in store.