Wrapping up 2023 with a Cute Little Bow

2023 was another big year of travel! Despite the fact that we take care of our 2 year old grandson from Monday through Friday, we were able to take two b-i-g trips and several weekend trips. And even a few day trips in between! (Many thanks to our son and our grandson's aunt for making their vacation days, ours!)

I never want to look back on my life with regret. In fact, that fuels so much of my travels.  So here are some of my no regret travel that happened in 2023 -

Countries visited:

Iceland, Australia, Portugal

States visited:

Colorado, Idaho, Washington, New Mexico, New York, California, Nebraska, Wyoming, Washington DC, Florida

A Birthday with a Big Zero

I spent a long weekend in the Temecula/San Diego area at the end of August celebrating my 6oth birthday. My daughter was attending a wedding in LA that weekend and friends were celebrating an anniversary, also that weekend, so I decided that winery hopping in Temecula and coastal drives sounded like a great way to celebrate. Plus my niece and her family live in the area and my sister was going to be there. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly and it was a  five day extended weekend with family and fun.

The Last of the Covid Delayed Trips

We flew to Iceland over the July 4th holiday to complete the last of our covid delayed trips. The trip was originally supposed to happen in the winter - to see the Northern lights - and was purchased as an air/hotel package through Icelandair. The voucher had to be used by the end of 2023 and we knew we would use it by then but...our dates changed in the covid delay and we rebooked for summer. 

We drove the Ring Road - clockwise - in a mere 5 days. And they said it couldn't be done lol. So lots of car time but I feel like we saw a good amount of the island. We ended in Reykjavik - where we spent the least amount of time - and capped off the trip with an evening visit to the Sky Lagoon (highly recommend a visit here)

There will be lots more to come here on the blog about my visit to one of my favorite new places. 

Earning the Southwest Companion Pass

Simply stated, the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is "the benefit that allows you to choose one person to  fly with you, free of charge, every time you purchase or redeem points to fly." Historically, you must fly so many miles or segments to earn the pass. I have always had this on my radar as so many travel bloggers tout this pass. But I have never flown this much on Southwest. Sometimes, though, Southwest makes a credit card offer - get their credit card and spend so many dollars in a time period and you can earn the pass for the rest of that calendar year - which makes it doable for the average joe. When I realized that we could make that happend last year, we jumped on the opportunity.

We received our credit card in February and earned our pass in April. The pass is good until the end of February 2024. And we won't be able to earn it again with a credit card so we had to take full advantage of the pass this year. So these flights were buy one, get one free (actually $11.40 for the companion in taxes and fees) -

Flight to LAX roundtrip for our Qantas flight to Sydney, one way flight to Charlotte for my brother in laws birthday (return flight was unavailable), flight to San Diego for the above mentioned big birthday, flight to Washington DC to watch a friend run the Marine Corp Marathon, flight to Florida to celebrate Mr. UR's and a friend's birthday and a flight to Boise, Idaho for a long weekend. 

Upcoming trips using the Southwest Companion Pass before it expires in February-

Weekend getaways to the Washington Coast for a (belated) anniversary trip, a weekend in Arizona for some warm weather in the middle of Colorado's winter and a long weekend to explore Texas' wine country (a return trip from 30 years ago when the wineries were just getting started)

Australia

Our daughter has lived in Sydney, Australia since the beginning of 2020. With the exception of covid lockdown, she has flown to us here in the states to visit. So we decided that it was our turn to go there. We had visited once before - she also lived there in 2018 - so we had done most of Sydney and also the Great Barrier Reef plus I had visited Tasmania with her on my own. So we decided to do a bit of Sydney and then take a road trip down the South Coast of New South Wales and visit some of the smaller towns.

We drove the four hours to Batemans Bay with stops in Berry on the way south and Crooked River Wines on the way back to Sydney. We actually stayed in the small community of Malua Bay and took day trips to Broulee and Moruya along with a boat trip down the Clyde River (best fish and chips ever!) It was not only fantastic to visit our daughter but also to see some of the small, workaday towns of Australia. I can't wait to visit again and see more of Oz. It's a beautiful - and extremely large - country so I've only seen the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, these are just the travel highlights. And of course, there will be lots more in depth on the blog. Plus I have already started planning travel for 2024. What kind of former travel agent would I be if I wasn't always planning?  Some are booked, some are in the planning stages and some are just a glimmer in my eye. 

 However it works out, I am always truly grateful for all the travel I get to do - from weekend trips to traveling all the way to another hemisphere.  I believe that it truly enriches my life. 

And I am thankful to all of you who take the time out of your busy lives to read this "travel diary". I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Linking up with: My Corner of the World at Photographing New Zealand!