2023 Annual Travel Year in Review
Munnar, India
If I had to choose a few words to describe all the travel I did in 2023, I would choose, “unexpected,” “epic,” and “how-is-this-my-life.” (Using hyphens for that last one to make it one word haha, and I mean it in a good way!).
2023 was the year I released my book, Infinite Entrepreneur, the year I started putting the DJ skills I learned in Fall 2022 to use, and the year of many twists and turns.
It was a year of many highs and some lows. However, I’ve done my best to reflect and find meaning, lessons, and gratitude for the lows, as I feel like everything in life happens for a reason. Everything we experience is either a blessing or a lesson (sometimes both at the same time!). More on this in the work section toward the end!
In Cancun, Mexico, right before I launched my book in paperback and e-book last June!
The highs were pretty amazing, though. My book launch party was a major highlight, seeing friends and family gather to celebrate the launch of a project I put 2.5 years of work into. Knowing that people from all around the world have read this book, and receiving fantastic feedback, is a dream come true - knowing that something I felt so creatively inspired to do, is helping so many people.
In addition, music has made such a positive impact on my life and creativity as I explore this new space professionally. Electronic music has been my genre of choice for over a decade, and somehow, DJing feels totally natural to me. I am still wrapping my head around the fact that I am an actual DJ, getting paid to play at events, clubs, and my first festival. It feels both natural and random at the same time.
Since I learned how to DJ a little over a year ago, I’ve played live in six countries in total so far! Seriously, what a dream.
Let’s get into the recap!
You can read previous annual review posts here:
2022: the year I went to South America twice and then traveled for six months straight
2021: the year the world started opening back up
2020: the year the world shut down
2019: the year I hit my goal of stepping foot on all six inhabited continents in my 20s with Morocco in Northern Africa
2018: the year I made it to South America
2017: the year I made it to Southeast Asia, Australia, and got into personal growth and inspirational topics
2016: the year I quit my 8-5 office job and started my digital nomad lifestyle
2015: the year I made it to Asia and did my first blog collaboration (a tour in New York City)
2014: the year I started Go Seek Explore!
As usual, this year’s review is split up into these sections:
Where I Traveled/New Countries Visited
Full Travel Recap
Travel Plans For 2024
Business Update
Blog Update
What’s Next
WHERE I TRAVELED IN 2023
New Countries Visited in 2023 (2): El Salvador, India
Total Countries Visited in 2023 (9): USA, Mexico, El Salvador, India, United Kingdom, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, plus Caribbean overseas territories which include Saint Martin (French/Dutch overseas territory), Anguilla (British overseas territory), and Saint Barthelemy (French overseas territory)
Total Countries Visited (All-time): 46 countries/six continents
Cities Visited in 2023 (31+, I lost count in India): San Diego, California; San Jose del Cabo, Mexico; Santa Ana, El Salvador; El Tunco, El Salvador; San Salvador, El Salvador; Seattle, Washington; Cancun, Mexico; Ramona, California; Trivandrum, India; Munnar, India; Wayanad, India; Kochi, India; (and so many more cities in the state of Kerala, India); Maho Beach, Saint Martin; Anguilla; Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy; London, United Kingdom; Paris, France; Mykonos, Greece; Paros, Greece; Rome, Italy; Sorrento, Italy; Positano, Italy; Amalfi, Italy; Cannes, France; Saint-Tropez, France; Barcelona, Spain; Ibiza, Spain; Orange County, California; Los Angeles, California; Scottsdale, Arizona
FULL TRAVEL RECAP
spontaneous weekend in cabo, mexico to escape the rain
Palmilla Beach, Los Cabos, Mexico
Winter 2022-2023 was the rainiest winter I’ve ever experienced in San Diego, and every other Californian I know says the same. Consistent rain and overcast skies made it feel like I was living in Seattle again. (I even saw a meme where someone Photoshopped the Seattle Space Needle into a photo of the San Diego skyline, which was pretty funny.)
I kept joking to my friends, “I need to get out of here!” to escape the weather. I can get very affected by gloomy weather (where are my fellow Seasonal Affective Disorder people at?) and knew that taking a trip was exactly what I needed. One Wednesday in February, I looked up flights using Google Flight’s map feature and found roundtrip flights from Tijuana to Cabo, Mexico for about $100 USD roundtrip that coming weekend. Booked!
Even just feeling the warm sun on my skin was amazing. Since it was so last-minute, I went solo - yet still ended up making some new friends!
visiting el salvador
Volcano hiking in El Salvador
San Salvador, El Salvador
In January 2023, I was browsing YouTube looking for a travel vlog to watch. I came across a video from a girl who took a solo trip to El Salvador. At that time, I didn’t know of all the updates and strides the country had made to reduce crime in the country, so I was intrigued, and after seeing the video and doing some research, I knew I had to visit.
My friend Steph and I booked a 10-day trip to El Salvador in March and had so much fun! We felt extremely safe and made friends with some locals who we hung out with multiple times. We hiked the Santa Ana volcano, spent a day at Lago de Coatepeque, drove the Ruta de las Flores, took surf lessons in El Tunco, hung out at Playa el Zonte, ate a bunch of pupusas, and I even DJed at a club downtown in San Salvador.
Highly recommend a trip to El Salvador, especially the beach areas (and also if you have a grasp of Spanish, at least at a basic level). Every local we spoke to was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and many were excited to see tourism starting to pick up.
Friends’ Weddings in Seattle and Cancun
Two of my close friends from college got married in the spring! One friend got married in Seattle and the other in Cancun, Mexico. The Cancun one was my first time attending a destination wedding outside the US - the traveler in me joked to my friends that someone finally decided to do a destination wedding after all these years!
It is always great to catch up with old friends - it feels like we can pick up right where we left off every time we see each other. And the weekend in Seattle was (mostly) sunny - go figure!
Going to India with the Kerala Blog Express
Trivandrum, India
Munnar, India
Wowww wow wow! India has always been a country on my travel list, but it was a destination I knew I wanted to take a lot of time to plan and go with friends or a boyfriend (I know many girls have safely traveled through India with the right precautions, but I’ve always felt like it was a country I’d like to experience with other people!). Early on in the year, I watched travel vlogs of a couple taking a luxury train through parts of India, and my excitement for “one day” going to India increased even more, though I dismissed it as a possibility for 2023 as I had other travel plans in the works.
Little did I know, that Kerala Tourism was going to invite me to be part of the Kerala Blog Express! To say I was flattered to be invited to the KBE is an understatement. Having been travel blogging for close to a decade, I’ve heard about the KBE, as it is very well-known in the travel blogging community. Every year (except during the pandemic) they take 25-30 travel bloggers and creators on a 2-week trip around the state of Kerala, which is in Southwestern India.
Each blogger represents a different country. I represented the United States (brb crying, like what?!) and we had others from countries like Kenya, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Poland, and more.
We began in Trivandrum (the capital of Kerala), and zig-zagged our way around the state, staying in houseboats on the Alleppey backwaters, to a luxury resort surrounded by lush rainforest and monkeys in Wayanad, to the tea fields in Munnar, and so much more in between.
Alleppey Backwaters, India
Alleppey Backwaters, India
If you are planning a trip to India, I think Kerala would be a great place to start your trip, especially if you like tropical travel, cities, and rainforests (it has it all depending on where you are in the state). I recapped the experience in more detail with a podcast episode if you’d like to hear more and plan a trip!
If anyone at Kerala Tourism happens to see this…thank you so much for having me! I really appreciate everything you put together and for having me be part of it.
The Caribbean
On my way back from India to the States, I decided to stop in the Caribbean to see my friend Cristina, because why not? If you’ve read my blogs about the Dominican Republic, Guna Yala/San Blas Islands, and Costa Rica, you might “know” Cristina as one of my good travel friends!
After a whirlwind of fast-paced travel in India, a chilled-out Caribbean week was a refreshing opposite. We stayed on the Dutch side of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (it is half French, half Dutch) and took day trips to nearby Anguilla and Saint Barth.
Saint Martin was the perfect location on its own for a nice beach trip, as well as a great base location-wise for getting to Anguilla and Saint Barths. We went snorkeling, made some friends, had delicious Caribbean food, and went to a couple of beach clubs.
Anguilla had some of the most stunning beaches I had seen in a while! It was very chill and quiet - I’d recommend it if you are seeking a very quiet, relaxing trip or honeymoon, especially if you like snorkeling or diving.
Saint Barth became one of my favorite places in the world. Cristina and I both felt an “energy” to this island - you know when you feel like you “click” with a place? I think it really comes down to the individual. Some places that “click” with one person might not “click” with another. There are only a handful of destinations I’ve felt this “click” feeling with, and Saint Barth is one of them. The beaches are amazing, it is extremely safe, there are a number of beach clubs, adorable turtles are slowly roaming around the streets and beaches, and there are plenty of cute restaurants and shops. I will be back. :)
European Summer for my birthday
Amalfi, Italy
If you know me well, you know that European Summer is my favorite time of the year. To me, nothing compares to being along the Mediterranean in the summer. It is a total vibe and something I like to experience at least once a year. For me, it’s less about sightseeing and more about enjoying beaches, boating, amazing summer Mediterranean food, and great music.
This ended up being a month-long trip with a group of friends and five countries in total. I was the only “digital nomad” in the group, and my friends were trying to fit in a sizeable amount of locations to fit their work schedules’ vacation time, so it was pretty fast-paced.
I flew into London, took the Eurostar train to Paris to meet two friends for the weekend, and then flew to Mykonos for my birthday where another friend joined us. After, we had more friends meet up with us in Rome, where we then went to the Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, and Ibiza. I took side solo trips to Paros, Greece, and Cannes, France to catch up on client work. I also DJed in Italy and Ibiza!
Overall, this was an amazing trip with many of those “how-is-this-my-life” moments. Really grateful for having a business that supports location freedom and travel.
San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, and Holidays in Arizona
Windansea Beach, San Diego, California
The rest of the year was mostly rooted back home in San Diego. With only three weeks home between India/The Caribbean and Europe, I wanted to balance all the travel with some time at home.
The week after I got back from Europe, I had four DJ shows in a 7-day period lined up! It felt great to have some momentum after Europe. I played several more times around San Diego throughout the end of the year, including a festival in December, which was amazing.
Outside of music, I focused on client work, went up to LA for some events, and visited family for the holidays in Arizona. Pretty low-key compared to the summer!
TRAVEL PLANS and Predictions FOR 2024
Alleppey Backwaters, India
First - did my Travel Predictions for 2023 Happen?
This time last year, I wrote about how I wanted to go back to Greece and Italy, visit Ibiza for the first time, and go on The Yacht Week in Croatia or Greece. A few friends and I were planning on going to The Yacht Week for my birthday - we booked flights but some people pulled out, so we never booked the boat.
Instead, we ended up going to Mykonos for my birthday. Not a bad tradeoff at all! So Greece, Italy, and Ibiza happened, but not The Yacht Week.
As far as shorter trips went, the Seattle and Cancun long weekend trips I anticipated happened for my friends’ weddings, but the more local trips in the US I was considering (Joshua Tree, Aspen, Austin, and Miami) never did.
Completely unexpected trips in 2023 included El Salvador, India, the Caribbean islands, and revisiting Paris.
Travel Plans and Predictions for 2024
Booked: At the time of writing, the only trip I have booked is to Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival in January!
Most Likely to Visit: Likely travel plans include European Summer (my favorite time of year) - thinking coastal Turkey and Croatia or Greece, Southern France, Barcelona, and Ibiza. Those may need to be split into two separate trips or we might need to pick and choose 1-3 countries to not make it overwhelming. And for my birthday, we’re planning a short trip to Japan! And I have a friend who wants to celebrate their birthday in Mexico City.
Potential Ideas: After Japan, I might hop over to Seoul. I’ve also toyed around with other potential trips with friends, including floating some ideas for South Africa (though that may need to wait until next year) and going somewhere tropical for New Year’s Eve (I know I live in Southern California, but it still gets pretty chilly in January once you acclimate to living here).
Also considering somewhere coastal in Mexico in late winter/early spring, Miami, Las Vegas, and maybe a weekend in NYC and the Hamptons during the summer. I’m considering going to the Philippines for the first time and a return trip to Bali as well! We’ll see…come back next year for the update, haha!
Business Updates
San Diego, California
Freelance Client Work - Highs and Lows!
As you probably know, I have been running my freelance business/marketing agency since the end of 2016! It is my main income and supports my location-independent work-and-travel lifestyle. My business model is what I recommend and guide you to set up for yourself (using any skill/talent you want to do as a freelancer) in my book.
I’ve been extremely grateful for all the wonderful clients I’ve worked with over the years, including 2023! This morning, I went to update the folder I use for examples of my work and reflected on the number of cool projects I did last year. Truly, it feels amazing to know that I have worked with so many genuine, good-hearted people and businesses, who I do not take for granted.
There were a few instances, though, that made a…not so great impact! Below are the “lows” I mentioned in the introduction of this post.
Challenge #1: Client Attempts to Change Payout Structure After Project Completion
I first dealt with a big company that paid me consistently, then tried to change their timeline for approvals around (as in, not pay me for a lotttt of work I submitted on our original timeline), then after I professionally, politely, and assertively stood my ground, they finally paid me six weeks late.
I don’t have hard feelings though and am glad we worked things out, but I will admit that it was stressful in the moment having completed so much work for them and not knowing if I’d get compensated for it.
This was the only time I made an exception to not bill for my services upfront, so this is a solid lesson learned!
Challenge #2: A Service Provider I Hired…Stole Thousands of Dollars from Me
Last year, I hired a fashion stylist for styling/personal branding and it turned into an absolute nightmare in many ways. This included an entire fiasco where she stole thousands of dollars from me by “accidentally” charging my credit card on file, ghosted me, and came back with a check that ended up bouncing due to insufficient funds (in California, this is a crime). I kindly and professionally asked her about it, giving her the benefit of the doubt, and then she ghosted me again. It was a huge headache and took almost seven weeks of me running around to different banks and sitting on the phone with financial people trying to sort it out.
I eventually got my money back, which I am grateful for! But people like that should not be in business. I was super chill and understanding at first, assuming it was a true accident, being patient with her refunding me - but her ghosting and lack of accountability, leadership, or apology showed her true colors.
Lesson learned: trust what people show you the first time. The first ghosting was a major red flag and I should have taken immediate action versus giving the benefit of the doubt/being patient.
Challenge #3: Toxic Client
When things were wrapping up with that situation, I started a new client. I was really excited about it and had a ton of creative ideas. This turned into quite a toxic working relationship about 4-6 weeks in. There was gaslighting and emotional and psychological abuse (according to Google haha) from the client and it was draining. Scathing gaslighting emails filled with delusion would be followed by apologies filled with “woe is me” type of statements and immense praise and appreciation for my work. It was a constant 180 where I never knew what I would be getting. I truly understand why people say it can feel like you are kind of losing your mind when you are getting gaslit.
My body knew what was “up” and was giving me major warning signs: I almost fainted twice, almost threw up after reading one of the emails, and had intense nightmares about drowning or house fires. This is completely out of the norm for me and I had to listen to those warning signs. I decided to wrap up the projects and tasks we had agreed on with enthusiasm in a professional manner…and then decided to GTFO and discontinue our work together.
Lesson learned: things started out okay, then took a turn. When intuition pings, get out versus assuming it is just a “phase.” This applies to romantic relationships too, and I am glad to understand how it sounds/feels so I can avoid it if it were to ever come up with dating.
Reason for sharing the above stories
Cinque Terre, Italy
I shared these stories not to scare anyone away from getting into business, and definitely not to get pity at all - remember, a vast majority of my client/service experiences, I’d say 99%, have been absolutely amazing!
It is easy to share the highlights only, but not the true difficulties that might occur in life, business/career, travel, and relationships…after sharing some tough lessons I encountered growing my business in my book and podcast in 2023, and how people wrote to me about how helpful it is to read/hear about it so they can easier navigate challenges they might face, I felt it would be helpful to share the stories above.
The biggest takeaway I’ve had after going through these instances is finding the lesson in everything. I’ve learned a lot and understand how it feels when my intuition is giving warning signs, which will help me steer clear of potential instances like this in the future.
Everything happens for a reason and reflecting on these lessons helps me build an even stronger foundation for my life and business!
Go Seek Explore
Alleppey Backwaters, India
Yay, onto some fun stuff! Go Seek Explore, this blog, has been a wonderful creative outlet as always to share travel tips, digital nomad tips, and other inspiration.
GSE turned 9 years old this year and I can’t believe it has been this long! It feels like yesterday I hit publish on my first post. Thank you for being here, whether you found the blog recently or have been around a while!
2023 on GSE:
13 new blog posts published in 2023
19 new podcast episodes published in 2023
20 new videos on YouTube: 5 regular videos and 15 YouTube shorts (but no YouTube vlogs!)
1 book released ;)
Blog
Last year I was hoping to publish at least 30 blog posts, which would be about 2-3 per month. With only 13 blogs published in 2023, what happened?
Well, the editing, interior design, formatting, and marketing for my book launch took a huge priority! Also, summer travel was very fast-paced compared to typical nomadic travel which tends to be more slow, so my client work took priority during my travel working hours this year.
I have plenty of drafted content about various destinations I’ve been meaning to get to all about where I went in India, parts of Europe, and El Salvador :) so hopefully I’ll get that up sometime soon!
However, I am not setting a goal for publishing blog posts as I have more than enough projects happening right now. This has meant that I have been cutting back pieces of things I’ve done here and there (like the Sunset Sale I held last fall where I decided to discontinue selling my e-courses…as much as I love them, I just don’t have the time for maintenance and updates, even if it is minimal!)
Book
Eeeek! I mentioned this a bunch of times throughout this post already, but launching Infinite Entrepreneur last year was a dream! This time last year, I chose June 1st as my goal and made it happen. In October 2022, I finished the first draft of my manuscript, which meant it just needed the final publishing steps to get it across the finish line!
I started hinting at the book coming on social media in March 2023 (the day after I went to see Odesza play live in San Diego - I find their music so inspiring). All of March and April were spent working with my editor on finishing touches and planning a launch party at a venue in San Diego.
May was spent on the cover design, branding, and working with an interior designer who did all of the formatting (he did a phenomenal job - this is more important than you might think!). In May I also set up some podcast interviews, did a business mindset podcast series on my show, finished the launch event logistics and support (thank you to Yard & Sea, Avana Tequila, and Topo Chico!), sent out advanced copies of the book, and did a lot of promotion on social media!
June 1st came and the book hit #1 New Release on Amazon in two categories, which filled my heart with gratitude. I didn’t know my heart could be even more full until the book launch party happened a few days later, where I celebrated with friends and family. The party began with me giving a 10-minute speech sharing stories and takeaways from the book with a visualization exercise at the end, then socializing and yard games with my friend Ethan DJing (and then I DJed the last 30 minutes!).
If you want an even more detailed breakdown of the entire writing, self-publishing, marketing, and launch planning process, listen to my podcast episode where I share this in even more detail! I also shared about the writing process with Danielle as a guest on The Wanderlover Podcast.
Podcast
This brings me to The Limitless Nomads Podcast, which I launched in 2022 for a single season, then brought back in January of last year for season 2! In 2023, I included more travel tips and lifestyle content in addition to just business-related content for digital nomads.
YouTube
I also considered doing more vlogging on YouTube at the start of 2023 but I don’t know what I was thinking. I love watching vlogs and feel like I could create my own, but it honestly is very time-consuming. If I were to do long-form videos in the future, I’d consider hiring a videographer and/or editor for some of the support!
Instead, I published 15 YouTube Shorts (all repurposed from Instagram and TikTok) and uploaded 5 videos of my DJ mixes. This live set recording is my favorite. :)
Other Projects
Mindfully Noted - The Visioncast Journal
On Christmas night, I sat down to do some journaling to reflect on 2023 and do some goal-setting for 2024. I’ve been doing pretty much the same reflection and goal-setting process for years on both New Year’s and my birthday, and decided to turn it into a digital, printable journal!
The journal is called “The Visioncast Journal.” It includes 26 pages and 3 sections for reflection, clarity, and goal setting/habit tracking.
Learn more about The Visioncast Journal here on my Etsy page (I named the store “Mindfully Noted”)! It’s never too late to find clarity and cast your vision for the next 12 months. This is also a great practice to do on your birthday.
Music
DJing at Bloom Nightclub - photo by Bloom
DJing at Bloom Nightclub - photo by Bloom
Eeeeek so I mentioned this a few times above but music has become a much bigger part of my life these days since I started DJing in 2022 and I am fully here for it. I’m still seeing where things will go but it is just so much fun that I can’t help but continue doing it.
At the start of 2023, I wanted everything to be about music outside of my client work and travel, if I am to be completely honest. However, I knew I had some other projects going on and was super close to being able to to release my book! This time last year, I decided that I would dedicate a majority of my energy to releasing Infinite Entrepreneur by June 1st, do some summer travel, then dedicate a bigger chunk of energy to DJing the second half of the year.
Organizing this around my biggest overarching goal last year (releasing the book) was really helpful. It allowed me to feel less “guilty” about not doing as much with music in the spring when so much of my time, focus, and energy was needed to get the book across the finish line. I spent 2 years writing the book and about six months in the publishing process, so I needed to give it the attention and care it deserved!
DJing in Italy
DJing in San Diego
When time opened up more, I started DJing a little more in San Diego, then played in India, Italy, and Ibiza over the summer while traveling, and started playing more consistently in San Diego in the fall of last year! Wrapping up the year by playing a Christmas-themed music festival at one of my favorite outdoor venues in San Diego was the cherry on top. My “stretch” goal was to DJ at that venue and get booked for a festival that year (even if the festival happened in 2024) - and I ended up playing a festival at that venue! Dream. Come. True. I am so grateful for the opportunities because it has been so fun. As long as it continues to be fun, I’ll keep doing it.
In 2024 my goal is to dive deeper into music production. I’ve started some tracks, including a collaboration with a fantastic producer and vocalist, but I’d really like to move the needle on my production skillset and…finally…release something! I have ideas for remixes and originals so we will see how things shape up.
WRAPPING UP & WHAT’S NEXT
Wow, I can see why I was able to write an entire book because this blog post was LONG. Haha :)
Every year when I get to the end of these, I think, wow! It feels nice to reflect on how much happened, how many surprises came about, and which goals I did (or didn’t) hit.
If you made it to the end, thank you for reading! Cheers to 2024! Find updates throughout the year on my Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest!