2019 will go down as one of the best years ever! We didn’t get married in 2019, we didn’t have children, we didn’t buy a house or anything like that. Instead, we TRAVELED. People tell us all the time to “travel while you can” or “travel while you’re young”. James and I took that advice to heart. Going into 2019 we really only had two vacations planned: San Diego with my family and Italy for our anniversary. The other seven destinations filled our calendars later in the year.

This blog post may be one of my favorites to date. Not because of the epic places we went, or the cool pictures I got. It’s one of my favorites because it lays out all of the memories we made this year. The people we were with, the food we ate, the sights we saw. So where all did we go? Keep scrolling to see!!

California

We rang in the New Year out in California with my whole family! We had a two part trip. This first half we stayed in San Diego and the second half we were in L.A. We visited the San Diego Zoo, Disneyland and even saw the Hollywood sign!

Some of my favorite photos were taken on this little hike around La Jolla! It was a windy day but the views were incredible.

We stopped in Joshua Tree National Park and boy was it worth it!! It was super cold but so beautiful. We climbed all over the rocks and saw some pretty large Joshua Trees. It’s a must if you’re visiting.

If you know my family, then you know we couldn’t miss spending a day at Disneyland while out in California! We are huge Disney goers and Disneyland did not disappoint. Everyone has their opinion on which is better, and I have to say Disney World will always be the best!

Italy

If you’ve been following me for a while, then you probably remember our fiasco of a trip last November. We were all excited to be heading to Italy for our one year anniversary trip and we MISSED OUR FLIGHT!! It was awful. We ended up coming home that night and eating a Digiorno frozen pizza instead. It was very sad. Anyway, after we mourned for a few days we rebooked our flight and planned for January. We ended up flying out of Birmingham instead of Atlanta and even stayed in a hotel the night before to ensure we would make our flight. Spoiler alert: we made it! And it was absolutely incredible. Hands down the coolest place I have ever been.

We started our trip in Florence. This wasn’t our favorite of the places we went, but it was still beautiful to see. The architecture is just breathtaking.

This was the closest thing we could find to a donut!! – my favorite sweet treat!

Memory of a lifetime right here!! James booked us tickets to tour an Italian castle in the heart of Tuscany. We really had no idea what we were getting into. We thought it would just be a big group of us walking the halls of an old castle. That part was true. However, there was a part two that neither of us were expecting. Part two of the tour was either a wine tasting or a cooking class. We were in the cooking class. We assumed the group would be split evenly and we would be working alongside a few other guests. NO. James and I were in a PRIVATE cooking class with the head chef of castle. Just James, me and “Big John”.  We made two different pasta dishes from scratch. After we made them, we were escorted to a private dining room where we ate the most delicious pasta in the world and drank all sorts of wine. It was seriously an experience I will never forget. 

We made our way over to Venice for a day and it was so breathtaking. Such a neat place full of life and so much history. We walked the streets for hours just soaking it all in. 

The second half of our trip was in Milan. This was a highlight for James, for sure. He is a big city guy and loved walking the streets of this Italian New York.

Lake Como will definitely be a place James and I return to one day. Preferably to shoot a wedding!! Any takers?!

Chicago

James turned the big 3-0 this year so I knew I had to do something BIG!! I ended up surprising him with a trip to Chicago. Not gonna lie, it was pretty cold. But, we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying the city and eating a large amount of pizza!!

 

Disney World

Remember when I told you my family was big Disney people? Yea, it’s practically a home away from home! It truly is the happiest place on earth and will always be a favorite of mine. My favorite rides in each park: Magic Kingdom – The Seven Dwarfs, Hollywood Studios – Tower of Terror (check out our pic below), Animal Kingdom – Mount Everest, Epcot – Spaceship Earth

Grand Canyon

This will also go down as a trip of a lifetime. Every person should go out west at some point. Talk about sightseeing! We saw the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Moab, Zion and Vegas! This was my first big vacation with James’ family and we had a BLAST!

Fort Morgan

I always look forward to a week at the beach. It is the most relaxing and enjoyable vacation. Going a whole week with no makeup, no shoes and no cares!

Jamaica 

This was one of those spur of the moment trips I was talking about earlier! James and I booked two tickets to paradise!! We took Michael Scott’s advice and visited Sandals Jamaica. We went with two of our good friends and just ate and drank as much as we wanted for a few days!

Alaska/Seattle

At this point you are probably sick of me saying “trip of a lifetime”, but this was truly one of those! This was the first time I had ever done a cruise and I am HOOKED!! It was the most relaxing trip we went on all year. One of our favorite things about it wasn’t all we got to see, but the fact that we didn’t have any cell phone service. We were truly disconnected for 9 days. It was so nice to be fully present with those you were with and soak in every memory.

New York

That brings us to our last trip of the year, New York. This wasn’t just any trip though. This was an event!! My brother proposed to his girlfriend right in the middle of Central Park!! Isn’t that romantic!

 

Thanks for following along with me this year and reading about all our adventures! We may never travel as much in one year as we did in 2019, but I am confident we still have some exciting things in store for us!!