Travel was a significant part of my life before the pandemic. Working as a freelancer, I’ve had the privilege of taking my “office” with me, and I took full advantage of that luxury. The pandemic was one of several challenging years, and travel stopped for me months before the world shut down. While I’d like to say that I could fuel that part of me in other ways, it just didn’t seem the same. Coming back to travel in 2024 felt like coming home again.

Reflecting On 2024

This year, I took my first complete out-of-office vacation since 2018, my first solo trip since 2018, and my first with a friend since 2017. Dipping my toes back into the world was scary, exhilarating, and emotional. I saw new places, some I had never heard of before and others I’d been dreaming of visiting for decades. There were a lot of lessons learned, a lot of contemplation, and plenty of time for reflection. It reintroduced me to how big this world is, reminded me of how much there is to be grateful for, and opened my eyes to how we’ve become so isolated - myself included. In a world where we're endlessly accessible and able to connect to anyone anywhere, anytime, we’re painfully alone and cut off from what’s happening around us.

My favorite moment of 2024 was during my final hours in California at Pescadero Beach. I’ve never been truly disconnected more than while driving in California. No service made it impossible for anyone to reach me, and it was the most liberating experience. I felt truly free for the first time in years. I was also more connected to myself than I had been since Paris in college. All the outside voices telling me what I should want, think, or feel were silenced. It also allowed me to connect with other people. There were six of us on the entire beach. Two surfers, a woman with her two dogs, and a lovely couple to whom I had the pleasure of speaking. It all started with one surfer asking if we (the couple and I) saw the dolphins swimming in the cove. The women introduced themselves to me, and I them, and we had a moment completely awestruck together at how beautiful everything was. Not usually an emotional person, I felt completely overwhelmed and overcome with how much I didn’t want to leave this seemingly perfect place. Leaving felt like I was about to lose a part of myself, and I’d be lying if I said a piece of my heart didn’t stay in California.

One of the women shared her story of having a similar experience decades ago. She originally lived in New York, and after a particularly moving trip to the California coast, she decided to live there. Years (and many peanut butter sandwiches) later, she and her partner had no regrets. It wasn’t the wisest decision financially, but it was precisely where they were meant to be. Moving to California isn’t on my bingo card for the near future, but it’s certainly something I hope to explore at some point. More importantly, and more presently, it made me realize that I have made so many decisions out of fear and practicality. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” It made me ask, what if I started making decisions based on the future I want at my core rather than what seems the most practical at the moment or for goals set by society’s standards? What if I stopped trying to disappoint other people by disappointing myself? There’s a fine line between making reckless choices to do what feels good in the moment and making intentional choices that come with a bit of risk for a better, more fulfilling life outside of what’s expected of us.

So, what does that look like for me? I want to slow down and create a path that allows more opportunities to disconnect and enjoy moments without expectation. I want to write more for this site and also creatively. I’ve had stories percolating for years that are eager to be put to paper. I want the freedom to be creative for myself and not for other people. I want the chance to have real connections and conversations with people like I did with the lovely women at Pescadero Beach on a late, windy Thursday afternoon. I want more moments like the one standing at the stage door after seeing Moulin Rouge! The Musical for the second night in a row, connecting with a woman who flew from Milwaukee just to see the show that weekend. Like the moment talking to a family from Cincinnati while heading towards a prime spot in Monterey Bay to whale watch. We are so isolated from the infinite accessibility because we’re too tired to connect in the real, tangible world actively. As a communications major, this terrifies me. As a human, it infuriates me. As a novice storyteller, it challenges me.

In creating this space, I hope to create something that can grow without an individual face as the brand so that many people and voices can represent the larger mission. As an individual, I’m limited in how much I can accomplish, and there’s more than enough room in this infinite digital world for me to provide a platform for other perspectives. If this year’s travels have done anything, they’ve cemented my confidence that this is the right path to take. There’s quite a bit of risk for me personally, but I believe in the plan I’ve created.

Top Trips From 2024

The trips in 2024 I'm most grateful for are undeniably California, Michigan, and New York City - in that exact order, but let’s talk about them chronologically. Michigan was my first chance to truly slow down and it might as well have been a dead stop. Life in the upper northwest corner of the Mitten is about as slow and sleepy as it gets in the best way. The towns are small, the people are friendly, and the views are “chef’s kiss.” Michigan forced me to reflect, look at my life until that moment, and confront what wasn’t working. It was beautiful and peaceful. It opened my eyes to a different way of living and confirmed that slowing down was exactly what I needed to work towards — enjoying moments in their entirety rather than speeding through life. It also fed my inner child. We did things simply for fun, and I rediscovered brands that my 15-year-old self had always longed to have in my closet. Michigan taught me that doing things simply for pleasure is ok and should be encouraged.

New York City was a beautiful challenge. There was so much emotional baggage for me in that city - some of the worst moments of my life happened when I went in 2019. 2024 was an ending to a cycle centered around a personal loss, and returning to NYC felt like a firm beginning to the end of that chapter. There was a lot of healing, a lot of joy. The trip was centered around seeing Moulin Rouge! The Musical with the original male lead, Aaron Tveit, as Christian and Jojo as Satine while they were doing a limited run. We had third-row seats, and seeing “Roxanne” performed by the Aaron Tveit mere feet away will forever be a key memory. I did a victory lap in the seventh row the following evening and had no regrets. This show was the center of my original trip back in 2019 as well, and seeing it a little more than five years later provided a full circle moment of closure I didn’t realize I needed to step forward and leave the heartbreak behind. Grief is something we will always carry with us, but there’s a definitive moment in our journey when we stop giving it power over how we’re living. NYC 2024 was that moment for me.

Finally, California. The state that stole my heart. It started with a brief 48 hours in Santa Monica, then a drive up from Los Angeles to Monterey for four days before driving to San Francisco for a flight to Vegas. The further north I drove up the coast, the more at home I felt. Once again, I was forced to slow down; this time, I was ready to embrace it. The absolute beauty of the coastline and the mountains was overwhelming. This was my first solo trip in six years, and I didn’t realize how uncomfortable I’d gotten in my own skin. California was a gentle reminder that I could venture out into the world alone. That getting lost could be a blessing, and disconnecting fosters more profound, authentic connections with ourselves and people who unexpectedly come across our path. It also confirmed a suspicion in the back of my mind that I am meant to live near the ocean, but more on that another day.

Thoughts For 2025 & Trips I’d Like to Take

Moving into 2025, I have a singular goal to thrive, not simply survive. The chaos of life is out of our control. We have no power over what happens in the world around us, and trying to control it is asking for failure and disappointment. What we can do is control our reactions. For nearly ten years, I’ve been on this unending road to find balance, resisting the thought proposed by Jay Shetty that “balance is a myth,” but he’s right. There will be cycles when certain parts of life must be prioritized, whether it’s work, family, health, finances, or something else. I have spent so much energy trying to predict and control outcomes that I’ve forgotten some of the best endings are the ones we never saw coming. And in trying to control the direction, we miss out on the moments along the way, and that’s where the best memories often lie. Maybe this is starting to sound familiar to you as well.

I don’t consider this a New Year’s resolution because 1) I’ve been contemplating this for a few months now, so it’s hardly a new goal, and 2) resolutions lack longevity. However, starting a new year allows us to reflect on what we might have done differently if we knew how the next twelve months would turn out. It provides an opportunity to look at our accomplishments and say, “Hey, I did that.” It also makes all the missed moments obvious because we focused on what was next. So here I am – a veteran over-achiever, control freak with commitment issues - telling you that my intention moving into a new calendar year is to soak up the journey from one goal to the next. To set smaller goals on the way to achieving our big plans so we have more to celebrate. Part of that is breaking out of my bubble and continuing to travel.

I put the Pacific Northwest on hold in 2024 to make room for California – and thank the universe for that! However, this year, I’d love to prioritize the PNW: drive up the coast from San Francisco to Seattle and experience the rest of the spectacular western seaboard. I can’t imagine how amazing it will feel to be a speck of dust among the giant trees they have out there. I’ll be in Texas for several weeks this spring - my favorite season in those parts. I haven’t made much effort to go out and explore Dallas in a few years, and several small towns have caught my interest. I also want to be more intentional about taking long weekends near home - perhaps back to Michigan. The Mitten stole my heart last year, and it’s so convenient to get to from Chicago. Why shouldn’t I take advantage?!

Another big goal for 2025 is to go abroad again finally. The UK is screaming my name, and a fall trip to Scotland – with a brief stop in London to visit the West End – sounds like a good idea. The jury is still out on whether this is realistically possible, but we’ll see as the year gets going. I haven’t thought too much outside of these few destinations, but I’m sure there will be a few curveballs. After all, California was not on the 2024 bingo card and came together in two months.

In 2025, I hope for all of us that we’re open to more reflection and can connect more deeply with ourselves and each other by receiving the opportunity to disconnect from life’s distractions. Let’s put our phones down and have honest conversations. Let’s put our emails away and sit in silence, listening to the sounds around us. Let’s look people in the eyes as they tell us their stories. Let’s find compassion and understanding not just for others but for ourselves as well. Let’s rediscover curiosity, creativity, and small things that bring us joy. Let’s let go of judgment and envy – stop thinking we know best or better. It’s time we jump into the chaos rather than resist it. Maybe then, we’ll finally find an inner peace.