2016 Travel Goals

I know this is a bit late, although 2016 got off to a busy start for me with both work and travel. I have been working hard on getting my new website, www.justonemoretrip.com, up and running from scratch, and I have been making big decisions regarding my career in these first couple of weeks of the new year. So now that I am finally getting my life together a bit more, here are some of my travel goals for 2016:

• Australia. It is finally time for me to hit my 6th continent after traveling to the other populated 5 contents several times over the past three years. Don't worry, Antarctica is also on my list, but probably not for this year. I really want to visit Melbourne more than anything, although a trip to the Sydney Opera House is definitely going to happen. I still have to find the right plane tickets and dates for this trip, but this is my number one travel priority this year.
• Petra. I am not sure if I can make this happen, but I really want to finally visit Petra in Jordan this year. It is one of the last new wonders of the world that I have yet to see.
• Cuba. This trip would be a stretch, but it would be a dream to visit Havana and even the rest of Cuba before American tourists are allowed to go (currently American visitors are allowed, but only under 10 specific categories, and tourists are not one of them). I want to see Cuba and get a feel for the culture as it is now, before all the old vintage cars and things are replaced with newer imports from the U.S. The only thing stopping me from getting a visa now is that my Spanish isn't fluent, and I would have to go with someone who can speak it well enough to understand the Cuban accent. This is one place I would not go solo.
• Eastern Europe. With all the deals to Central and South America last year, I didn't end up having enough time to do a mini backpacking trip through Budapest, Vienna, Croatia, and Prague like I had wanted to, although I did get to spend one day in Prague. I still want to take at least 10 days and go some time this fall.
• Chicago. I still have not been to Chicago!!! Luckily, I have plans to drive to Wisconsin with Elvera next month under the condition that she take me to Chicago once we get there. February is not the ideal time of year to go, but I just can't wait! :)
• Montreal. And probably Quebec City. A little piece of Europe in North America. This is pretty high up on my list. I have never been disappointed by Canada.
• Victoria. I have been wanting to take the ferry over to Victoria from Seattle for a while now. I hope I can make this happen some time this year. I think I could make a fun weekend trip out of it. Victoria is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous, and I'd love to see the gardens and do some hiking out that way. Maybe I could even see some whales!
• Celine Dion in Las Vegas. I love Las Vegas, and as many times as I have been there, I have never seen Celine Dion in concert!!! My very first album was The Reason on cassette tape that I bought in Thailand, and I listened to it every night in order to fall asleep when I was a kid afraid of the Night Marchers (Hawaiian ghost stories are no joke people!). I can't wait to finally see her live!
• Havasupai. I had reservations last year, but Tianqi had to go and get married on the same weekend that I had reservations for. I will try again this year, and so far it looks like I will be able to bring quite a large group of lovely ladies from my favorite Facebook group, Girls LOVE Travel! It will be a blast! Now let's just pray I get enough reservations when I call and call and call in on February 1st.
• Travel Blog. My final and most important travel goal is to blog more regularly, even if it's a small post here and there, and to set up and maintain my new website properly. This will be a big feat for me as I just barely started my web tech/development education in 2015. Actually, that is something I am extremely proud of, even though my skills are at a bare minimum so far. I randomly found this awesome group called Girl Develop It and started going to their meetings and learning how to code and about computers and stuff. I was even in a video (watch it here) about it! Now that I've finally found the perfect blog name, I hope I can transfer those skills I have learned into real life.

2015 was an EPIC travel year for me, and I know I won't be able to travel nearly as much this year. But I hope I can make these things happen! I'm so excited!! :)