Happy new year! The holidays were hectic, as you have seen my posts were more scattered. We have recovered from all of the holiday activities and travels, now trying to grind back into the grooves. An overdue year-in-review of 2023 is rather late than never, I suppose!
2023 was an interesting year for travel. Post pandemic, it seemed as though everyone was trying to catch up all of the travels they couldn’t do during Covid! Airfares spiked up and so did the hotel fares and everything else. Since travel-blogging is not a paid job, our family travels for leisure only, and it was challenging to plan our trips within budget. Still, we managed to squeeze in reasonable trips between the kids’ school schedules. Other times, we just spent a long weekend here and there at nearby beach towns.
- March: Las Vegas and Death Valley road-trip
- April: NYC for cherry blossom viewing
- June: Lake District, UK; London, UK; Croatia road-trip; Dolomites, Italy; Venice, Italy.
- September: Aspen, Colorado
- October: The Great Smoky Mountains – North Carolina and Tennessee
- November: Los Cabos, Mexico and Big Sur, California
- December: St. Lucia
Other people save for house renovations or splurge on collectibles or visits to fancy spas for self-pampering. Our splurge is traveling. We believe that traveling abroad can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. It can open your eyes to new cultures, perspectives, and ways of living, and can help you grow and develop in ways you never thought possible. There are so many reasons why traveling is important, but above all, it is a valuable experience that can help you grow and develop as a person. We want to instill the same values in our children as we travel together. Even if they may be too young for us to see the impact, we believe that exposing them to new cultures will have an impact on their perspectives in the long run. For me, as the name of my blog suggests, creating lasting memories and experiences with my family and friends is one of the top reasons why traveling is important. On that note, we plan to continue our quest to explore places unknown and to embrace new cultures and traditions.
Besides traveling, April 2023 opened a new chapter for me. I have always wanted to start a lifestyle blog: travel, fashion, yoga, cooking, etc… Although my fashion sense may not be suitable for everyone and I am not the best cook out there, I feel that everyone’s travel experience is unique so there’s no right or wrong. So on a fine weekend in April, I decided to sign up to WordPress and write my first post. Then to make it an official blog, I wanted to give the blog a cool domain name. Then I thought… being cool is great, but being true is authentic. And what’s authentic to me about traveling is as said above: creating lasting memories and experiences. Hence, the name of my blog emerged that way! I also wanted to base my blog on such philosophy: honesty and truth. So what I share on my blog is from my travel experiences alone and from my honest opinions only. Without any business plan in mind, I posted my first article, then second, then third… without thinking of other details such as how I should market my blog, how to make my blog searchable on Google, etc. I blog simply just to share my experiences, without any other plan in mind. So if you’re reading this, then it means you have found your way here somehow, and I’m grateful that I have been able to share my travel stories with you.
The first day I launched the blog. Since visitors are from different time zones, the traffic spanned across 2 days. Since I don’t have regular posts, it’s understandable to have gaps in visitors on days between posts. But I take this as an encouragement. My blog still doesn’t appear in the search engine (doesn’t happen automatically especially when you don’t have the premium hosting package), and that’s the goal I plan to work on.
I believe that traveling is more about the journey, and less about the travelers. What I mean is that anyone can travel; it is not reserved only for the privileged or only for the young, etc. There’s a destination suitable for every age and a travel style suitable for everyone from all paths of life. Perhaps this is the reason the About Me section on my blog still remains empty. I didn’t feel the urgency to write about myself. However, as we now have known each other for a few months, perhaps it is time that I introduce myself?! After all, as I’m sharing some of my travel memories, I hope to encourage you to visit new places and create your own memories as well. And in turn, it is as though we’re making memories together!!! With that being said, I welcome 2024 with open arms. Traveling and blogging currently remain as my hobby; I do have a full-time professional career to pursue. But there’s a world waiting to be discovered, and globetrotters know how to squeeze in every single holiday and vacation day to zip across the world for the next adventure! Rest assured, we’ll take you along with us! So fasten your seat belts, 2024 is going to be an amazing ride!
Thank you for sharing this journey with me. I wish you a new year filled with good health, good luck, happiness and more exciting adventures.
Making Memories 
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