This past year was my biggest, most epic year of travel.

I visited 8 countries, took 14 flights, and drove over 15,000 km.

Some of these places I’d only dreamed about visiting for so so long. I planned and planned for over a year with my closest friends to make this trip a reality.

I worked my a$@ off for months to save up to be able to afford this massive trip and I am overjoyed looking back at all the new memories collected in these different countries visited.

Going through the thousands and thousands of photos I took and trying to pick a top photo from each country was impossible.

So I chose a few.

If you follow me on the gram, you’ll probably have seen my best of 2019 highlight reel in my stories, if not go check it out!

It honestly took FOREVER to put it together but I can say I loved every minute of it. It was almost like reliving all the moments of the year and I feel so blessed to have experienced all that I did.

The good and the bad.

I’m going to go a little more in-depth than I did on IG and show you little snippets from my travels.

I hope you enjoy this little(ish) recap of this past year’s travels.

My 2019 end of year travel recap

The Dominican Republic

I had the opportunity to jet-set off to the sunny island of La Romana in the Dominican for the destination wedding of a friend.

We stayed at the Grand Bahia which was a massive resort and a very impressive lobby.

The wedding was beautiful even though it wasn’t as private as it could’ve been (there were a lot of people walking by and just looking in on the ceremony as it was held on the beach).

Yann and I took 2-day trips, one to the beautiful island of La Saona and one to Santo Domingo to learn the history of the Dominican.

Bangkok, Thailand

I generally liked Bangkok and I was super excited to be there, halfway around the world in the crazy populated city.

The street food was delicious and everything was so affordable and we made it a point to get massages as often as possible in those few days spent there.

I mean how could you not when they’re only about $13 for 60 minutes, that’s a freakin’ steal!

We visited the Grand Palace, saw the massive Reclining Buddha, and experienced the night markets.

It was awesome.

If I’m being completely honest, Bangkok was a little too touristy for me but I would definitely return, it’s just not high on my list.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

A short flight north from Bangkok is the much more relaxing city of Chiang Mai. I surprisingly loved my time there more than I initially thought I would.

Everything moved a little slower there which was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. The vibe was so much more relaxed and I seriously dug it.

We walked around the town where we met a novice monk who wanted to practice his English (that was a very cool experience and interesting conversation).

We went to an elephant sanctuary where we bathed and played with the gentle giants and I encountered my first natural waterfall.

Another highlight was our trip to Chiang Rai where we got to visit the white temple, blue temple, and the black house. 

Laos

Don’t sleep on Laos people!

When I initially voiced that I’d wanted to visit there, my friends weren’t all gungho for it and it almost got nixed from our plans.

Laos had been on my bucket list for a while though, specifically Kuang Si falls, which turned out to be everything I’d hoped and so much more. I never realized just how massive and expansive the falls were. That day was truly a dream come true.

I absolutely loved the house we stayed in, even though some of my friends didn’t (it was kind of open concept and so we dealt with some bugs). I, on the other hand, felt like I was one with nature in the Ebony house and the hosts were amazing.

Literally the nicest and most giving Airbnb hosts I’ve ever had. We were taken to see the Alms-giving ceremony and then to an authentic market where we learned about and got to try some traditional food.

He was also a chef and owned a restaurant in which we decided we had to try our last night in Laos. The service and the food were amazing and if you’re going to Laos, I highly recommend dining there.

Vietnam

Our flight into Vietnam was the scariest flight I’ve ever taken. The hour-long flight felt unending because of the unforgiving turbulence that terrorized us the entire duration of the flight. I was extremely relieved when we landed and descended from the plane and my feet touched solid ground.

Despite the rough start, Vietnam turned out to be an amazing destination and I absolutely loved my time there.

Although I thought we would certainly crash into another moving vehicle or a pedestrian(the traffic in Vietnam is insane), we safely got to each of our destinations.

There was so much to see and do and the few days spent there simply wasn’t enough.

We took a walking food tour where we visited some popular and authentic restaurants. Everything we tried was amazing!

We frequented the night markets regularly,(the vibe was unreal), and we took a cruise in Halong Bay which was quite the experience.

It was important for us to take in the history of Vietnam, so we visited Ho Lao prison where we learned about the sad past of Vietnam and the war waged on the country.

Cambodia

Landing in Cambodia was like stepping into a wall of HEAT. The humidity was unreal so we were super thankful we had fans and A/C in our Airbnb.

Cambodia was our time to relax a little from the first hectic part of our travels. Even still, we frequented the night markets (it was our goal to visit a night market in each country we went) and caught a movie with some monks ( we didn’t actually go together but they sat a few seats ahead of us).

We also visited Angkor Wat where we watched the sunrise over the temple and we took a walking tour of the killing fields and the Genocide museum.

It was one of the more depressing days of the trip but again, we felt we needed to learn about the history of Cambodia, both the good and the sad.

Phuket & Krabi

Our time in the south of Thailand started out in Krabi where we stayed in a beautiful mountainside hotel with incredible views over the Andaman Sea from the rooftop infinity pool.

We spent a day visiting the beautiful Phi Phi Islands and we hit up the beach near our  Airbnb as often as possible. After 4 beautiful days there, we caught a ride taking us to our penthouse in Phuket for the final leg of the trip with my gals.

We didn’t end up doing as much in Phuket because 1. we were extremely tired from all the traveling and activities of the last 30 days and 2. Because we were living it up in a Penthouse.

This Airbnb was THE nicest I’ve ever stayed in. It came complete with 3 rooms, each room having their own bathroom, a wraparound balcony with a private pool and the most amazing view where we could watch the sunset every night.

The rest of our time was spent hitting up Patong Beach, Bangla Walking street and we visited one last night market. 

Bali

Visiting Bali was one of my highlights of this massive trip. I was looking forward to experiencing Bali for such a long time.

From the lush green atmosphere to the insanely chill vibes, it was pretty much everything I thought it would be and a little more.

To be honest, my time there didn’t get off to a great start. I arrived in Bali but my luggage did not and I had to fork out money to purchase some clothes to get me through the few days till my bag came back to me.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel with a gorgeous outdoor pool and a room that came complete with little ants. While it wasn’t ideal, we were out most of the day so we didn’t mind too much.

Yann and I toured the Beachwalk mall in Seminyak, spent a night out in Badung, and took a stroll along Kuta beach.

A day trip over to Nusa Penida was an absolute must. On the Island, we were rewarded with the most amazing views of Kelingking beach, Broken beach, Angel’s billabong, and Crystal Bay.

We then journeyed north to Ubud where we spent another 3 nights in a beautiful indoor/outdoor private villa.

In Ubud, we ate at different Warungs, visited the Tegallalang Rice Terraces, visited a few temples, and experienced some awesome waterfalls.

The most epic part of our time in Bali was definitely when we hiked to the top of Mount Batur at 4 o’clock in the morning and then lounged around in the calming waters of Toya Devasya’s hot springs.

Australia

Australia was beautiful and I absolutely adore Australian accents.

We started off in Melbourne where we visited the CBD district, took a tour of the city in one of the original trams, and visited the colourful beach boxes.

Then, after picking up our rental, we set out to drive along the great ocean road with our final destination being Kangaroo Island. This drive was probably the most scenic I’ve ever taken. The route was full of beautiful beaches, breathtaking skylines and tree-lined winding roads.

After a little mishap (who am I kidding, it was a pretty big one) we landed on Kangaroo Island where we spent one day and night exploring the southern part of the Island.

Back on the main island, we took an afternoon to explore Adelaide before hopping on a flight to Sydney. We made sure to hit up all the top tourist spots like the Sydney Habour Bridge, the Opera house and the CBD.

New Zealand

How can I even put into words the excitement I felt landing in New Zealand. I think New Zealand was one of the countries I was the most excited to see. I’d done extensive research on New Zealand.

Even after watching video after video and seeing photo after photo, I was still unprepared for the sheer beauty of the country.

I was amazed.

Seeing the blue lakes and the expansive mountains with my own eyes was simply unreal.

Starting in Christchurch, we picked up our craptastic campervan and hit the road to Lake Tekapo followed by a failed hiking attempt at Mount Cook. We drove to Queenstown where we took the Skyline gondola to the top of Bob’s peak and were prized with the most spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu.

If you know me, you know I live for the views but I lose all sense of reason when faced with heights, so this gondola ride was really tough for me. I was only able to appreciate the views after about 10 mins of deep breathing.

We enjoyed the luge ride twice (an absolute must when visiting Queenstown), it was so much fun!

Leaving Queenstown we headed further south and in the rain took in the sights and the sounds of Milford Sound on a discovery cruise. I witnessed hundreds of waterfalls and it was truly mind-blowing.

Heading north towards Auckland, we journeyed through Arther’s pass, hopped on the massive ferry that took us from the South Island to the North Island.

We visited Wellington and did what all the popular kids do and purchased tickets to take the Wellington cable car up to the top to gain some more amazing views.

Visiting Mount Doom (if you watch Lord of the rings you know what I’m talking about) was out of this world and we finished out our time in NZ with a tour of Hobbiton. 

Home, Canada

This was the first year that I actually got to take the time to experience some of the activities and destinations in my very own backyard (not figuratively speaking of course).

One of my besties ( who came on the amazing Southeast Asia trip) was preparing to move away in November and came up with a summer bucket list of sorts.

Many of the places on this list were ones I’d wanted to go before but never had the time or simply made the effort to visit on my own.

So we set out to have the most amazing summer slowly crossing each item off the list.

We visited the Cheltenham Badlands, took a tour of Terre Bleu Lavender Fields, had a beach day at Elora Gorge and went on multiple hikes. These were just a few fun things we did.

Nova Scotia

In August, I planned a road trip to Nova Scotia with a friend and Yann.

We rented a car and drove 1,770 km first stopping in Federicton for a night and a quick visit (it’s super small and hard to believe it’s the capital of New Brunswick).

Next, we explored the Bay of Fundy area where we walked along the Atlantic ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks and ate the most delicious pasta and pizza I’ve ever tasted (seriously, we went twice and got the exact same thing both times).

Our mission was to try to visit as many lighthouses as possible in our 8 days and actually managed to see quite a few.

Two nights were spent in Halifax exploring the city, the waterfront, Peggy’s Cove and the colourful town of Lunenburg.

I was super excited to visit Cape Breton and to drive the Cabot Trail.

Unfortunately, we were delayed a day because of torrential downpours and decided to visit Sydney and go gift shop hunting instead. We were introduced to the world’s biggest fiddle and danced along to the “music” it played.

The following day was much better and onto that Cabot trail we went! After a very beautiful and scenic drive and a little encounter with some moose, we set out to return home.

***

2019 was truly an amazing year and looking back, I still can’t believe how many places my feet touched down on.

I’m so humbled by all the experiences (both good and bad) that I was able to share with my closest friends and I honestly can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store.

I’m excited!

Until next time, stay blessed ♡

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Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote. I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.

-Unknown

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