New Years Resolutions – Travel Edition

Happy 2016, everyone! Without any cliche reminiscing of 2015, let me just say it’s been a crazy year. I never thought I would leave my career to travel, nor did I ever think I would cultivate and be welcomed to such a fun travel-loving community through Instagram and blogging. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for visiting and being a part of my year.

As far as New Year’s Resolutions go, I always feel more accountable when I write them down. I figured if I posted it on the internet, maybe I would feel even more accountable? We’ll see!

Travel: 

Visit At Least 1 New Country – I’ve been guilty of not visiting new countries ever since leaving home for college. Here’s the reason: when you live 5,000 miles away from your family, you tend to use your scarce vacation time going back homeand I think that’s a pretty fair reason, no? Because of my recent shift in life (leaving my corporate job to travel), I think it’s time I explore other countries. Last year, I went to Mexico for the first time and albeit the resort-style trip, I learned so much about the culture and community from the people there and it really made it sink that I need to branch out. For now, the new country this year is Greece!

Travel via Road Trip or Ship – I think it’s quite obvious that my preferred mode of transportation is via air. Although I actually despise the process of flying, I love exploring new airports and admiring emotional airport reunions (am I the only one that does that?). This year I aim to travel to a destination by car or boat. As a result of this resolution, I have a tentative road trip planned to go up the California coast from Los Angeles up to San Francisco. I’ve also been wanting to go on a cruise for the first time – if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Try New Hotels – This may or may not be a unique problem but I like staying at hotel brands that I’ve previously worked for. This results in me staying at one of 3 major brands and their multiple sub-branded hotels. I think I do this because I know what to expect and enjoy utilizing the hotel points. However, I’m going to make it a point this year to experiment with different brands, especially boutique hotels.

Stop Overpacking – I used to think I was a good packer but I realized I’m not. I always end up having clothing or toiletries that I didn’t use. I tell myself, “But what if I do need it…”, am I the only one? I’m planning on packing less things and more versatile items that I can use more than once. If anyone has tips or tricks, please help a girl out!

Personal: 

Get More Sleep – I love nothing more than staying up late. If I don’t cut myself off from whatever I’m doing, I’ll stay up until 2 or 3 AM and then complain the next morning that I didn’t get enough sleep! I’m not getting any younger and I’ve read so much the importance of getting 8 hours of sleep. Depending on my work schedule, sometimes I start working as early as 4:50AM so I know I’m not doing my body any good by going to sleep at 2AM!

Walk More – It really sunk in while I was in Tokyo for the holidays that I do not walk enough when I’m home here in Los Angeles. It’s such a driving community that unless I’m purposely on a run or at the gym, I know I’m not walking at all – of course working from home doesn’t help either! Time to commit to a walking/step minimum!

Digital Detox – I was inspired by Estee Lalonde, a YouTuber/Blogger and her Digital Detox video. Don’t get me wrong, I love my phone, camera, iPad and MacBook but I also know the importance of being more present instead of suffering from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I either plan on doing a digital detox at least once a month, once every other week or detox after 8:00PM – not sure yet, any ideas that are realistic?

Learn Spanish – I speak 2.5 languages – I only speak the 3rd language well enough to get by so it’s a 0.5 🙂 As you can imagine, Spanish has a significant presence here in Southern California and bugs me that I can’t understand it! I’ve been saying I want to learn Spanish once I move down to Los Angeles and it’s already been 3 years, oops! I think I’ll have to invest in Rosetta Stone so that I can get moving!

How about you? I would love to know what your New Year’s Resolutions are! Let me know or leave a link if you have a post as well!

Catch up on my Japan posts: Kanazawa, Japan & Tokyo, Japan – Part I (Tokyo Part II coming next week!)

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