The 2019 Annual Go Seek Explore Travel Year in Review
Cascais, Portugal
At the end of every year, I take a moment to reflect on my travels for that year: where I went, where I didn’t go, if I made progress on certain blog or travel goals, etc.
It’s always interesting to look back at previous annual reviews and read about where my head was at that year…which countries were at the top of my list to visit, which travel job took me to certain places, or in 2016/2017, how I started working for myself online so I could travel wherever, whenever.
You can read previous annual review posts here:
2014: the year I started Go Seek Explore
2015: the year I made it to Asia and did my first blog collaboration (a tour in New York City)
2016: the year I quit my 8-5 office job and started my digital nomad lifestyle
2017: the year I made it to Southeast Asia, Australia, and got really into personal growth and inspirational topics (this is when I started the #MotivationMonday weekly emails)
2018: the year I made it to South America
Without further ado, let’s recap what happened in 2019!
This year’s review is split up into these sections:
Where I traveled
New countries visited
Achieving my years-long goal of stepping foot on all six inhabited continents in my 20s
Plans for 2020
My best advice for goal setting in 2020 for travel, business, and beyond!
Where I traveled in 2019:
San Diego, California (home)
Guadalupe Valley, Mexico
Austin, Texas
San Francisco/Bay Area, California
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
La Romana, Dominican Republic
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
Yosemite National Park, California
Orange County, California
Maui, Hawaii
Barcelona, Spain
Seville, Spain
Tangier, Morocco
Lisbon, Portugal
Seattle, Washington (seeing family for Christmas)
6 Total countries visited: USA, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Spain, Morocco, Portugal
4 New countries visited: Dominican Republic, Spain, Morocco, Portugal
In 2014, I made a goal to step foot on all six inhabited continents in my 20s. How am I doing?
I DID IT, GUYS!
2019 was the YEAR it happened!
Here is a full breakdown (with maps, of course) on this entire process over the years:
Up until 2011, I hadn’t traveled overseas. I think we may have gone across the border to Canada for dinner one time with my family (I grew up a few hours away in Seattle) but that was it!
2011: Italy Study Abroad
In 2011 I studied abroad in Florence, Italy for six weeks. The travel bug bit hard and I wasn’t ready to leave (even though my bank account needed to be replenished, haha).
Later that year my college dance team had a special performance at a basketball game in Vancouver, Canada (very random) so I definitely went to Canada that year as well!
And that is how I made it to Continent #2: Europe.
2013: Italy travel job!
After graduating college, I knew I didn’t want to jump into a corporate life right away. I wanted to travel but…didn’t have the money to do so.
So I did what everyone does after college: get a job. Not just any job…a travel job!
Getting creative and figuring out a way to create a work + travel lifestyle was important to me. The job I had literally had me traveling for work, as I was a tour guide (and did social media as well).
We were based on Florence and traveled all around Europe most weekends, taking study abroad students to different countries.
I also worked in DC & NYC as a faculty member for international education conferences the summer before moving to Italy. Meeting students from 40+ countries really inspired me to travel outside the “beaten path,” and I knew working in Europe was just the beginning.
Highlights in 2013:
Having one of the most rewarding, fulfilling summers of my life working as a faculty member for the international conference in DC & NYC
Moving to a foreign country and literally getting paid to travel
Making some life-long friends with people I wouldn’t have met had I not took a leap of faith and said YES to the Italy job, something completely outside the norm and what many people wanted me to turn down…
Oktoberfest in Munich. So. Much. Fun!
The most “different” place I traveled that year was Istanbul, Turkey with my friend Mollie. Loved it! It was refreshing to be somewhere in far eastern Europe, but see mosques and various religious practices happening. Having only traveled to Western and Central Europe up until that point (full of churches and castles) it was really cool to see something entirely different.
2014: Back to Europe
While I didn’t visit any new countries in 2014, I worked one of those conferences in Europe and re-visited Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany. I also went to Paris for the first time (I had been to the French Riviera the year before with the Italy job). Paris was the very first time I traveled solo!
Toward the end of 2014, I read The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau and it inspired me to create my own goal: to step foot on all inhabited continents in my 20s. (I would have included Antarctica…but as you probably know…it’s can be REALLY expensive to get there, haha!)
The purpose of that goal was to push myself to get out of my comfort zone by exploring new destinations and new cultures.
I wanted to give myself plenty of time to achieve this goal, but not too much time. I was 23 and had seven years to hit four more continents.
2015: First time to Asia!
I was working an 8-5 job at a university this year, and had 10 paid vacation days off. Using those days to work + travel for a conference in China required a lot of planning up front, but was doable!
And that is how I made it to Continent #3: Asia.
Read: How to Travel When You Have a Full-time Job
2016: Iceland!
Europe in 2016 was fun because I worked another conference with that company on my vacation days. I worked an “extension” on that conference which brought me back to Munich and Salzburg for work!
This was about two months before I left that 8-5 job, and the conference ended on a Friday morning. I had work back home at my 8-5 job on Monday. So naturally, can you guess what I did? I booked a weekend in Iceland on the way home!
Spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning in Iceland was totally worth being exhausted on Monday. As the years go on I tend to need at least half of a day to recover from big trips, but a few hours of sleep and iced coffee seemed to beat the jet lag back in 2016.
Honestly, when I returned to work after that trip, I realized it was time for a change. The job I had loved SO much had evolved a bit and I felt like I hit a ceiling in terms of growth. I was incredibly burnt out and stressed. This is the only time in my life when I experienced insomnia and emotional breakdowns.
When the opportunity came to move to San Diego, California…I took it!
2017: Digital nomad life begins!
With a move to California after leaving the 8-5 job in 2016, I started doing freelance work online (social media and email marketing) to support myself financially. My blog was only a couple years old and only made money sporadically, so it didn’t make sense to take it full-time.
However, the universe had my back when I was burnt out (my stomach would literally turn to knots when I looked at job listings) and my first two freelance clients kind of fell in my lap.
I decided to book a trip to Southeast Asia five months after my move and told myself I’d try this whole “freelance thing” out. If I didn’t like it or it wasn’t supporting me enough, I could look for regular jobs in San Diego when I got back from Asia.
Long story short, it worked out! I ended up meeting more people in Asia who hired me and referred me. When I got home, looking for a job became a choice: I could pursue that route again if I wanted to, but I didn’t have to.
Australia was another big highlight in 2017. When I was looking at flights home from Asia, I looked up how many airline points it would be to get from Asia to Australia.
I found a crazy deal from Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand for just 17,500 points (it would be 40,000 each way if I went home and back on a separate trip). Then I found a flight from Auckland to Sydney, Australia for only $125. Booked!
And that is how I made it to Continent #4: Australia.
2018: Oh hey, South America
To be honest, 2017 was kind of a weird year. I was getting my footing with the whole “digital nomad” thing. I was kind of a hot mess, but I made it work and paid my bills! Toward the end of 2017, I really missed being in a social environment when I was home and not traveling…and got a full-time job again. I didn’t last long!
Only a few months into 2018 I left that job and became independent again, doing freelancing and blogging. Only this time, I was more serious and driven.
Toward the end of 2018 I got offered short-term opportunity with Global Degree Academy, a new study abroad company, to finish out the Central America semester as an Academic Coordinator. This was a company I had been eyeing since it was new in 2017, so I leapt at the chance!
Spending five weeks in Costa Rica and Panama was incredible. I loved the students and found the role really fun and fulfilling.
Seeing how close I was to South America, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Colombia right before Christmas! I hopped on a short flight from Panama City to Cartagena and absolutely loved it.
Colombia is 100% a country I want to see more of, and Cartagena easily jumped up to one of my top five favorite cities in the world!
And that is how I made it to Continent #5: South America.
2019: Stepping foot on all six inhabited continents: done!
Wow, if you told me my last continent for this goal would be Africa, I would have been surprised! An African safari has been high up on my travel list since 2014.
In 2016 I almost made it to South Africa. My old job didn’t approve an extra week of vacation (even though it would have been unpaid), so I didn’t go…and a safari is still on my list!
Another route I have always wanted to take was Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. I decided that 2019 would finally be the year that happened!
The timing was tight because I was traveling with my mom and aunt for my mom’s birthday in September. There were only two days during our time in Seville, Spain when we would be able to make a day trip to Tangier, Morocco.
It all worked out when I secured a collaboration with Not Just a Tourist, a company that offers day trips to Morocco and Andalusia! (I genuinely loved this company, by the way. You can read my articles about them here and here).
And that is how I made it to Continent #6: Africa.
Plans for 2020
As you may know, I am definitely a multi-passionate person. I love to travel, but I also love doing other things too! I think that is why I haven’t traveled full-time - I enjoy being home when I want and traveling when I want. When I’m home, I do normal things, have a regular routine, and see my friends.
What will drive most of my 2020 plans:
1) Teaching Group Fitness Classes
In June, I asked my favorite fitness studio about being a coach/instructor and decided to go for it! I used to teach Zumba back in college and absolutely loved it. While I’m not currently interested in teaching Zumba anymore, doing fitness in a different capacity sounded fun and rewarding.
Group auditions for coaches happened at the end of August, and I passed! However, the 5-day certification training occurred during my trip to Europe, so I had to wait for the next round…which happened in December!
Now that I’ve passed the certification training, I have one final piece of training.
UPDATE: When one door closes, another one opens. I reached the end of the entire training process and was not offered the role. It totally worked out in the long run, though, because my marketing business grew even MORE in 2020 and there is no way I could have kept up with fitness coaching AND running my business and blog!
2) Koola Creative Digital Marketing Agency
Fall of 2019 was big for me. I had a big change in my personal life and was questioning working for myself entirely. After gaining clarity in Europe, I went full steam ahead with my freelance work.
This meant stepping back a bit from blogging and Instagram to get things moving, but it was entirely worth it. Between August and October, I 10x-ed my income.
Now I am operating as an agency, have interviewed a few people to join my team, and will continue to push forward with this
I always took my client work seriously, but this year, I feel far more professional. 2020 is the year ya girl is gonna get to woooork! #bossgirl
3) Travel and blogging?
Travel will depend on which days I’m coaching at the fitness studio and how much time I’ll be able to take off. (UPDATE: Lol yeah I didn’t get offered the fitness position, which is totally okay!). Since my trip to Europe and Morocco in September, I’ve only taken ONE trip: three nights in Seattle to see family for Christmas!
I am excited to see what trips come through in 2020!
Curious as to how we can work together?
1-1 Coaching: I’ve been helping freelancers take their side hustle full-time with my 6-week signature coaching program. Space is extremely limited as I’m running my agency, but feel free to check my calendar and book a time to chat if you’re interested in hearing more!
Done-for-you Digital Marketing: High-end coach, thought leader, or business looking to outsource your digital sales funnel or social media strategy? Get in touch with me: koolacreative @gmail.com
My BEST advice for goal setting in 2020 for travel, business, and beyond!
Ready to make 2020 your best year yet?! Create a goal that feels doable? Come up with a real action plan to make your goals a reality, such as:
Transitioning from side hustler to full-time online business owner?
Land that travel job?
Move to a new country?
Become a digital nomad and roam the world?
Start a business?
Write that book already?
Create healthy habits that stick?
Nothing happens unless you make it happen. Seriously.
If you don’t take action, you’re never going to change where you are right now.
If what you’re seeking is different than your current situation…get these free goal setting sheets!
These printable sheets launched last year and received great feedback!
They are updated for 2020 with a helpful guide on navigating them in the best way possible!
Cheers to a new decade, friends! As always, thank you for reading. Your support, emails, messages, comments make my day. Keep doing good things in the world!