Travel Recap: 13 Countries in 2022

After 2020 and 2021 I remember starting this year with people saying they just wanted a “precedented” and normal year after too much uncertainty and unprecedented times.  COVID definitely through the world for a loop the past few years and this year my personal life was anything but what I had planned.

As 2022 comes to an end I wanted to take a look book at some of my fond memories, many of which revolve around travel.  Even I was even a bit surprised that given everything I was able to visit 13 countries in 2022 and only one of them was a business trip (where I would have gone anyway). I doubt I will ever hit 20 countries in a year, making 19 countries in 2019 my record, but hey, a girl can dream!    In chronological order, here were my international travels:

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1) United States x3 | I started the year in Florida for New Year’s, the  visited San Fransisco for work in June, and went a third time in October to visit my family in New England.

2) England | The majority of my year was spent in the England (a good thing otherwise it would void my visa) and besides checking out new places in London we visited many beautiful countryside spots in Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and more!

3) France x2  | In March I went on a solo trip to Nice for a long weekend and in September went back to France with Mark visiting Paris and spending a week biking in the Loire Valley.

4) Monaco |  Only a 20 minute train ride to Nice I spent a day in Monaco eating, shopping, and photographing the gorgeous micro-nation.

5) Scotland | We took a quick weekend trip up to Scotland (it is less than an hour flight London to Edinburgh) to see the castles along the English / Scottish border.

6) Portugal |  For Easter break in April we went to Lisbon and Porto which proved a lovely trip despite our lost luggage but makes me sad every time I think about it as it was just a few weeks before the twins were born.

7) Sweden | For the “Late May Bank Holiday” also known as Memorial Day Weekend Mark and I spent a few days in Stockholm revisiting some of the spots from my 2016 trip as well as ticking off some new ones.

8) Spain | In July we traveled to Spain and while I have been a few times over the years but it was my first time to the Canaries. We split our week of Summer sunshine between Fuerteventura and Tenerife and just thinking about it makes me want to go back.

9) Netherlands | In late August we went to Amsterdam for a weekend as Mark had never been to the Dutch capital and enjoyed gorgeous weather on the canals for a few days.

10) Ireland | In early October I took an overnight trip to Dublin to surprise my Nana while she was on holiday there and it was definitely  one of my best weekends of 2022.

11) Turkey | In mid-October Mark and I flew to Istanbul for a long weekend where we both explored the Turkish captial for the first time and had an amazing time celebrating at a co-workers wedding.

12) Poland | Of the 13 countries in 2022 I visited Poland was the only one I went to for the first time flying out in November for a snowy weekend in Gdańsk where I fell in love with their Christmas market.

13) Ecuador | Last but certainly not least only two weeks ago we went on a family holiday to the Galapagos which you can read about here!

Did you visit any new countries in 2022?