2020 annual Year In Review: Go Seek Explore

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room…a 2020 “travel year in review” is going to be vastly different than any previous year, simply due to the travel restrictions and overall craziness of 2020.

At least not for me. When plans to travel to Central America for a blog campaign were postponed and then canceled, and then an optimistic-yet-naive late summer trip to Europe I started planning was just not going to happen, I was starting to get a little burnt out.

Though I did do some local weekend trips in the state of California (including meeting my new baby niece!), I didn’t do any big summer road trips, which is pretty much what we were all limited to in terms of travel as determined by the government restrictions.

I was so busy over the summer growing my marketing agency - which I am happy to report, has grown exponentially - that summer came and went in a blur. I went through waves of being on the brink of burnout every time I up-leveled with my marketing business, but I made it through the other side. (More on this later in the post!)

Before I knew it, it was Fall 2020: I was deep into planning Black Friday/Cyber Monday marketing campaigns for my clients, and a last-minute trip to Tulum, Mexico was on my radar.

It was a no-brainer. I said YES to Tulum immediately.

Tulum was by far one of the best things I did in 2020 for my overall happiness and mental health. We were able to travel to a warm location where you are mostly outdoors, and the overall vibe of Tulum was exactly what I needed. This was beyond refreshing for my spirit, and I can’t wait to return!

That said, let’s get into the 2020 Annual Year in Review!

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
2018: the year I made it to South America
2019: the year I hit my goal of stepping foot on all six inhabited continents in my 20s with Morocco in Northern Africa

As usual, this year’s review is split up into these sections:

Where I traveled
New countries visited
Travel plans for 2021
My best advice for goal setting in 2021 for travel, business, and beyond!

Where I Traveled in 2020:

San Diego, California (Home)

With stay-at-home orders in effect, I spent a LOT of time at home in San Diego through early Fall 2020. Outside the house, you’d find me on a walk or run by the beach or bay, in the socially-distant line at Trader Joe’s, or at outdoor Orangetheory workouts.

Scottsdale, Arizona

I flew to Scottsdale to see my dad and some friends literally the DAY the USA announced the Europe travel ban and the NBA canceled its games. It was so bizarre going to the grocery store with my dad the day I landed in Arizona - it was pretty “normal” for a Wednesday and nothing was out of the ordinary. Then we drove to a restaurant for dinner a few hours later while listening to the news announcements on the radio.

By the time I got home to San Diego that Sunday night, people were freaking out about toilet paper and fighting each other for hand sanitizer. The grocery store shelves were sparse. Yikes. I never want to go back to that.

2020 Annual Year in Review: Go Seek Explore goseekexplore.com by Ally Archer

Palm Springs, California

After quarantining for months, I went to Palm Springs with a small group of girls for a friend’s birthday! It was refreshing to be on “vacation” for a few days and to get out of the house. It felt somewhat “normal.”

Orange County, California

I took a few trips up to Orange County in 2020 to see family! The big event was meeting my baby niece, who is the cutest little thing. I am so happy for my brother and sister-in-law.

Tulum, Mexico

Ah, the MUCH-needed escape to Tulum. It was by far the best thing I did for my mental health in 2020. I know I’ve said it before, but it was beyond refreshing. Our entire group was able to all travel to/from Tulum with zero cases.

Seattle, Washington

I went to the Seattle area to see my mom + her fiance for Christmas, as well as catch up with a few friends. It was a quiet Christmas with no restaurant dining or holiday parties, but was nice to see friends and family.

Some General Thoughts About 2020

To be honest, the year of 2020 was such a blur, and I think most of us can agree with that. There was a LOT of heaviness that happened in 2020. A lot of emotional release, tragedy, and world events shaping the economy, media, environment, and our everyday experiences.

And obviously, 2020’s heaviness included the lives COVID directly affected. Sadly, my grandpa caught COVID in Fall 2020 and did not make it. I know so many of you can unfortunately relate to losing loved ones due to COVID.

While there were some blessings that came in 2020, I am glad we have moved into 2021 and am hoping that more lightness and positivity will come to us on a global scale. Personally, my business grew massively, plus I know a lot of people experienced positive career changes or went after a new job related to their passions or started a business.

I also connected more often than usual with friends and family that don’t live near me (remember the Zoom Happy Hours of Spring 2020?), kept up with outdoor workout routines (went for a lot of beautiful runs along the beach), and made a list of hobbies I was going to lean into with the “extra time” but never did. ;) While my friends did crazy cool things like learn how to make bread and cheese from scratch, I was digging into a new Netflix show. I also wrote some blog posts on feeding the travel bug at home and did a memoir-style Instagram series called #GSETravelStories.

*Old photo from Austin, TX because I didn’t take a ton of photos in 2020*

New countries visited:

ZEROOOO. None. Just the USA and Mexico.

**What 2020 almost looked like:**

With my initial plans, the new countries I would have visited in 2020 would have been Nicaragua, Denmark/Sweden (for a music festival), Greece and Italy, and the British Virgin Islands (I know I’ve been to the UK so the BVIs are technically not a new “country” for me blah blah blah but you get the point).

For Nicaragua, my blogger friend Cristina and I were planning to go surfing in San Juan del Sur, stay at an ecolodge on a volcano in the middle of a lake, go sandboarding in Grenada, and boat out to the remote Corn Islands.

Denmark and Sweden would have been for a rare music festival that had been postponed to late August (on my birthday!). I was craving live music after lockdown and decided that after lockdown was over, I would see as much live music as I could. I was about to book a flight! What a coincidence it would get rescheduled on my birthday, was it fate?! But…yeah, the festival got canceled too. I’m glad that in my heightened optimism I didn’t pull the trigger on flights.

I wanted to go to Greece and Italy right after Denmark/Sweden. Didn’t happen either.

And then I almost got a crew of friends to book a yacht in the BVIs with The Yacht Week over New Year’s weekend (seriously, going on a Yacht Week has been a dream of mine for years), but yachts sold out before we could get enough people to commit.

The Yacht Week had obviously canceled all but one trip over the summer, so it makes sense that when restrictions started loosening and they had a solid COVID plan in place that their boats would get booked fast.

Travel Plans for 2021

We’re already one month into 2021, and with things somewhat/kind of/hopefully turning up, I’ve planned some trips:

Late February/Early March: Costa Rica
Early-mid March: Dominican Republic
Mid-March: Scottsdale, AZ for my best friend’s bachelorette party
May: Scottsdale, AZ for my best friend’s wedding
Early July: Denver, CO for my friend’s wedding reception (they were supposed to have a big wedding last year but did a small backyard wedding with a 2021 reception)
Mid-July: Seattle, WA for my mom’s wedding

While none of these locations are new to me, I am more than happy to be traveling soon (and will do so safely, of course).

I’m not planning too far in advance since we know how quickly things can change. I feel like flexibility is going to be the word of 2021 when it comes to travel.

Also, with the background heaviness of the past year, plus how much more of a workload I have, I have been really happy with traveling to one location and staying there. It requires a lot more logistics to travel quickly through multiple cities and that just doesn’t make a ton of sense right now.

Taking more of a relaxing “vacation” versus my usual fast travel style is very appealing. I could use a real break, and I’d guess you feel the same!

Travel Goals for 2021

My biggest travel goal for 2021 is going to all the places outlined above!

I am in need of some relaxation and to switch things up while working remotely, which is where Costa Rica and the DR come in.

As far as all the wedding-related stuff goes, I am so happy and excited for my friends and family - and have my fingers crossed that things will continue to have improved significantly by late spring/early summer.

Update on my Digital Nomad Lifestyle

2020 proved that the internet is king when it comes to keeping your business afloat. I feel so grateful that considering all that happened, the internet exists and that my business runs entirely on the internet.

While I love working out at cafes or around the world on my laptop (and really miss this component of flexibility), the convenience of already having an online business didn’t change anything with my business.

Toward the end of 2019, I started experiencing a lot of growth with my freelance social media business turned online marketing agency. I made some strategic and key mindset shifts in Fall 2019, and even more in February 2020, and really started seeing growth.

When March 2020 hit, my number of clients started to grow rapidly. And with the extra time at home, I partnered up with my friends Dylan and Ricky to create a 3-day online workshop called Zero to Digital, where we helped small business owners pivot to marketing and serving their customers entirely online.

I knew I was in a good place with my business, and I just wanted to get out there and serve others. I wanted to see how I could help. I feel like everyone kind of came together last spring.

I also ran a sale for my book, The Adventure Club, and donated all profits to Feeding America. Book royalties don’t add up much in general, but I knew that any little bit counted. Plus, I hoped the content in the book - especially the location-independent business section - would help anyone affected by 2020 to start or grow their online business.

As the year went on, I graciously received referral after referral from my current clients. This is something I do not take for granted. Yes, to get referrals you must do great work, but it is also a blessing to have someone refer you via word-of-mouth.

During this growth phase - which lasted months, and honestly, is still happening - my blog had to stop taking half my time and be less of a priority. It made sense, because this blog covers many topics, but is mainly a travel blog. I still posted content on creating an online business and tips for working remotely, but my main focus in 2020 was growing my marketing agency.

What blows my mind is to look back at my business a year ago. Just one year ago, I was working as a solopreneur and coming up with my plans and ideas to make my way into more of an agency model that was in a better position to scale.

By the end of 2020, my team grew to FOUR people! Four part-time freelancers who are awesome and helping me make things happen for our clients. I now have two Social Media Support/Content VAs, a graphic designer, and an Online Business Manager. Wow! This was one of the best things I did for my business. It wasn’t easy to get to this point, and I should have hired out a lot sooner, but I am glad I did.

I also hit my first $10k month in May 2020! This was a milestone I had sought out for ages, and it finally happened last year. My revenue remained consistent + growing due to the strategic (and mindset) shifts I made in early 2020.

Additionally, I’m finally getting to a place where I’m still scaling my marketing business but have some more free time (in my schedule and also mentally). This means I have been creating more content for this blog (I’m back!) and I’ve been working on some other fun, exciting projects. Stay tuned.

>>> If you want to start or grow an online freelance business (aka what I do), check out my free masterclass where I cover what freelancing is and why it is the best route to take for working online, getting started quickly, and traveling (when we can travel more freely!).

My best advice for goal setting in 2021 for travel, business, and beyond!

Think Bigger

2020 showed us that we must think outside the box. Innovation is key to keeping up with change.

Focus on serving others and be detached from the outcome

I don’t think it’s a total coincidence that when my friends and I created our free online marketing workshop out of a true desire to help people, and not being attached to whether we got clients from it, was also when we all experienced massive growth in our businesses.

Gratitude is the attitude

Feeling the emotions when they come is important, but you don’t want to stay stuck in a funk for too long. When you look for things to be grateful for, or uncover the lesson that is happening in the moment, it improves your mood and overall energetic vibration.

When you start each day from a positive place with a grateful attitude, things shift.

I’ll be honest and say that I had quite a few not-so-great days in 2020, though choosing to shift out of the negativity and into a more positive space helped a lot.

Focus on the next steps

We learned that things can change in an instant, and that life is more fragile than ever. My roommate was saying how her new attitude is to only focus on the next few steps and not get too wrapped up in the drawn-out future.

I think being flexible and focusing on just the next few steps ahead is what will carry us through in 2021.

No Regrets

Also, understanding that life is fragile, and to not take it for granted. Everyone I talk to seems to say how they can’t wait for “normal” things again, like hanging out in a crowded room or bar or festival, traveling freely, and indoor dining, and not feeling like life is on pause.

I think any time we are able to take a chance to do something we love or something that excites us - whether it’s starting or growing a business or crossing an item off our bucket list - we should just do it without hesitation. We’ve only got one life. No regrets!