Jetset Wanderlife 2017 Year in Review

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I’m a manbaby who lives a fantasy life and has somehow managed to escape any sort of responsibility for nearly 33 years. That might only be partially true, but for the sake of this travel blog, just accept it as gospel.

2017 was a good year. A very good year. Apericots did well, which provided us a lifestyle I certainly don’t deserve. But it was awesome. In fact, it was the best, quite possibly because a Buddhist monk at Angkor Wat put an orange band on my wrist on January 5^th, 2017, and promised me good luck. And good luck did I have.

HONG KONG

Ok yeah whatever, we were in Hong Kong on December 29^th and 30^th, 2016. Not technically 2017. It’s my blog and I do what I want so I’m including it here. We visited Hong Kong before I had this travel blog, but click here to see the short post I do have. It was a phenomenal city.

THAILAND

We loved Thailand. We flew from Salt Lake to Hong Kong, spent a couple days there, and then flew into Phuket. Again, I didn’t have Jetset Wanderlife at the time, but click here to hear what I remember about Thailand. Spoiler alert: Food. Monkeys. Beaches. Parasailing. Eating. Food. Cramming our gullets. Food.

CAMBODIA

Even though it was only for a day and a night, Cambodia was life-changing. I had some personal connections to Cambodia, but seeing Angkor Wat is just a new level of mind-blowingly coolness. We had an awesome guide and an awesome time. For photos and whatever brief recap I can remember, click here.

ICELAND

If you’ve read any of my posts (hi mom), you know how I feel about Iceland. It still, even 9 months later, seems to be my favorite place I’ve ever been. And by this point, I had Jetset Wanderlife, so you can read a rambling 300 page (approximately) take on our Icelandic adventures here.

AMSTERDAM

By this point it was getting ridiculous. After Hong Kong, Thailand, and Cambodia in December and January, then Iceland in April, there was no way I deserved the insane trip we went on in August. But alas, I went and it began in Amsterdam, which was a rad atmospheric city. Wanna read more? Of course you do! Do it here.

EGYPT

Egypt was insane for sundry reasons. The pyramids rules, the Sphinx creeped me out, the mummies were awesome, and getting robbed was hilarious. Click here for the whole story.

JORDAN

Petra was super rad. I didn’t even know a thing about it, but I’m so glad Caitlin made me go. Aside from the long drive from Amman to Petra and back, the trip was short but oh so sweet. See our rock-filled adventure here.

ISRAEL

We figured if we were in the Middle East, we might as well do everything we wanted. We stayed near Old Jerusalem and saw so much of Israel through tours and just wandering. It was powerful and it was worth doing. Interested? Long story found here.

PARIS

Since Caitlin’s mom and sisters came with us to Paris, it was extra fun. Between every museum under the sun and Versailles, it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of our entire traveling lives. Here’s a long and overly-detailed Paris post.

NORMANDY

Seeing all the World War II sites in Normandy was humbling and powerful. Seeing Mount Saint Michel was stunning and awesome and whatever other adjectives convey the words I’ve run out of. Just read this post and you’ll know.

MAUI

Yeah so I got crazy sick and missed most of Maui. Luckily, Caitlin and her sister and her sister’s boyfriend did not, so they share their adventures (and the few that I was conscious for) here.

HAWAII’S BIG ISLAND

Hawaii’s Big Island is so different than any of the other 3 we’ve been to (that’s not a humblebrag, I swear). It’s cool in a very different way, and we got to watch lava flow. End of story. Read and enjoy. 2017 ruled!