Every year, I like to look back on where I thought I’d be in the world and outline my plans for the year ahead. This is a great way to make plans to use all of my PTO, see as many people as I can, and balance my work travel into my life. And, I set my budget for the year, making sure I save enough money to get to all the places I want to go. To get started, I like looking back through my calendar to remind myself of where I’ve been.

2022 in Review

2022 was a wacky and wild ride. I made it to five of my seven planned trips including Georgia, New Orleans, and Austin. I ended up changing jobs in September, so I missed Hawaii, and my husband didn’t have any work trips to Denver after all. Of those I had budgeted for, I made it to two of the four trips, Iceland (an island) and New Hampshire. While I didn’t make it to all of the places I had planned to, I added quite a few new (previously) unplanned trips. I made it to Seattle, Portland (ME), New York, Martha’s Vineyard, Columbia, Senegal, Boston, and back to New Orleans. In all, it was a fun and crazy year. Between all my travels, I changed jobs, sold a house, and bought a house and managed to keep up with the blog.

Planned Travel for 2023

Working remotely is awesome! After doing it for about 8 years, I am finally getting the hang of working on the road while traveling. This has helped me stay productive and see the world. Here’s where I am already planning to be for 2023:

• Chattanooga, TN (personal): in two weeks I am heading to see a good friend, and former co-worker, and her family; I’ll also be updating my Chattanooga bar guide
• Nashville, TN (personal): I’ve been receiving emails from a professional co-working retreat company for a long time. The retreats always look fun but they don’t fit into my schedule. So, I decided to make my own and have invited several friends who all work remotely, but don’t know each other, for a week of working and after-work adventures.
• Los Angeles, CA (personal): ever since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opened, I have wanted to take my film-major husband there, so I gifted him a trip for Christmas
• Bangladesh and Indonesia (work): this trip is not technically planned, but is very likely to happen. We’ll be visiting our grantees and recruiting potential grantees for a new round of funding opening in May.
• San Juan, PR (personal): attending the Women in Travel Conference (WITS)
• Geneva, Switzerland and France (work/personal): I am taking my dad to the Tour de France for a 10-day trip for his 70th birthday and retirement. It’s the only sport we ever watched in our house and he’s been racing bicycles for most of his life. We’ll get to watch the race and he’ll be riding some of the routes. I’ll spend the first couple of days visiting one of my offices.

Tentative/Unplanned Travel for 2023

There’s quite a few trips that aren’t finalized but I think will happen in 2023. A lot of them are for work but I have one or two that I hope to squeeze in. Here’s where else I hope to go:

• Brazil (work): similar purpose and activities as my trip to Bangladesh and Indonesia
• Baltimore, MD (work): I’m thinking about attending the PEAK Grantmaking Conference
• Lisbon, Portugal (personal): I’ve had to cancel two trips to Lisbon in the last three years; here’s hoping taking the husband along makes this time stick!
• Kampala, Uganda (work): hoping to meet up with my colleagues in person later this year
• Osaka, Japan (work): hoping to attend the Global Internet Governance Forum (and maybe sip a cocktail or two)
• Panama (personal): looking to unwind with a girlfriend getaway to a remote beach in a country I’ve longed to visit

So that’s overwhelming to read through but there’s plenty of time remaining for me to be in Kansas City. (And I am secretly thrilled to try and retain my Platinum status on United.) I hope to see a lot of you along the way. And, I hope that you’re able to get out into this crazy, wonderful world we live in. Cheers to an incredibly bright 2023 for you and yours!