{"id":9019,"date":"2016-12-31T00:02:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T22:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/?p=9019"},"modified":"2016-12-31T01:17:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T23:17:15","slug":"recap-of-the-best-year-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/recap-of-the-best-year-of-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap of the Best Year of My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

If I measure 2016 by the one yardstick that matters to me, how much I travelled, it\u00a0was the best year of my life. That’s hard to reconcile with how horrible the year was to the world in general, but it’s my truth.<\/p>\n

This was a rare year of my life where there was enough money to do what I wanted to do. I prioritised paying for the\u00a0big stuff, like making sure I had a roof over my head, could get from point A to point B, and that I stayed\u00a0healthy. I\u00a0savoured the little stuff I could afford. I refused to be a glass half empty person and bemoan that I couldn’t do X,\u00a0Y, or Z because of a tight budget\u00a0and instead celebrated that I was wherever I was at that moment.<\/p>\n

I covered so much ground this year that you might have forgotten where I started. So here’s my 2016 travel retrospective.<\/p>\n

January<\/strong> started in Mazatl\u00e1n,\u00a0Mexico<\/strong>. It was the second year of my life starting there and the novelty hadn’t worn off! I spent many hours cantering on a beautiful tropical beach, a weekly ritual that made me feel like the richest and luckiest woman in the world.<\/p>\n

\"The

The lagoon in Mazatl\u00e1n’s Bosque de la Ciudad.<\/p><\/div>\n

February<\/strong> brought me to M\u00e9rida<\/strong><\/a>, in the Mexican state of Yucat\u00e1n, on a scouting mission in anticipation of possibly moving there!<\/p>\n

I saw ancient Mayan ruins!<\/p>\n

\"The

The Mayan ruins at Uxmal.<\/p><\/div>\n

March<\/strong> had me discovering the wonderful botanical gardens right in my backyard on Isla de la Piedra<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"The

The lake at the heart of Isla de la Piedra’s botanical gardens.<\/p><\/div>\n

April<\/strong> found me seeing Monument Valley<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Monument

Monument Valley<\/p><\/div>\n

…and exploring Arches National Park<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Landscape

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park<\/p><\/div>\n

…and the town of Moab, Utah<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

May<\/strong> took me to Cody, Wyoming<\/strong><\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"downtown

downtown Cody, WY<\/p><\/div>\n

…with\u00a0plenty of time to explore the Center of the West<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Sacagawea

Sacagawea at Center of the West<\/p><\/div>\n

…\u00a0and a\u00a0Japanese internment camp<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Heart

Heart Mountain Interpretive Center<\/p><\/div>\n

… before going\u00a0home to Haven…<\/p>\n

\"Sunset

Sunset at Haven, May, 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

… before getting on a plane and technically visiting my last Canadian province.<\/p>\n

\"2016-map-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So June<\/strong> took me to\u00a0London<\/a>, England<\/strong> (really!)…<\/p>\n

\"London

London from St. Paul’s Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

… and to\u00a0Bulgaria<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"Malak

Malak Izvor, Bulgaria<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

July<\/strong> took me on two trips to Sofia<\/a>, Bulgaria<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia<\/p><\/div>\n

August<\/strong> took me to Plovdiv<\/strong><\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"Plovdiv

Plovdiv from Nebet Hill<\/p><\/div>\n

… and across Bulgaria in a Chevy to Nessebar<\/strong><\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"Old

Old Nessebar, Bulgaria<\/p><\/div>\n

…to Soviet ruins<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Buzludzha\"

Buzludzha<\/p><\/div>\n

…Veliko Tarnovo<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Tsaravets

Tsaravets Fortress, Veliko Tarnovo<\/p><\/div>\n

…the scenic town of Teteven<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Teteven\"

Teteven<\/p><\/div>\n

…Prohodna (Eyes of God Cave)<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Prohodna

Prohodna (Eyes of God Cave)<\/p><\/div>\n

…the Etropole Waterfall<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Etropole

Etropole Waterfall<\/p><\/div>\n

…and a the magnificent 15th century Glozhene Monastery<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"inside

inside the Glozhene Monastery<\/p><\/div>\n

September<\/strong> saw me quit Bulgaria for Serbia<\/strong> and finish the month in Belgrade<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Zemun,

Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia<\/p><\/div>\n

October<\/strong> found me in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/strong><\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"Sarajevo,

Sarajevo, BiH<\/p><\/div>\n

…Kotor, Montenegro<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Old

Old Kotor, Montenegro<\/p><\/div>\n

…blipping through Albania<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"an

an Albanian fortress<\/p><\/div>\n

…staying out too late\u00a0in Prizen, Kosovo<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Prizren,

Prizren, Kosovo<\/p><\/div>\n

…not being impressed by Skopje, Macedonia<\/a><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"Archaeological

Archaeological Museum, Skopje<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…ambling through\u00a0Barcelona<\/a>, Spain<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\"La

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

… then through\u00a0Alicante<\/strong><\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"Alicante,

Alicante, Spain<\/p><\/div>\n

… before settling in Almer\u00eda<\/strong> for seven weeks.<\/p>\n

\"The

The port of Almer\u00eda<\/p><\/div>\n

November<\/strong> was spent in lovely\u00a0Almer\u00eda<\/strong> learning to live in the real Spain.<\/p>\n

\"Pedestrian

Pedestrian street in downtown Almer\u00eda<\/p><\/div>\n

December<\/strong> saw me in M\u00e1laga<\/strong> for a few days…<\/p>\n

M\u00e1laga from the top of the itinerant Ferris wheel.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…before jetting off to end the year and ring in 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Quintessential Amsterdam scene<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016-map-7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What a journey 2016 was, from getting more and more comfortable in\u00a0Mexico to becoming a seasoned European traveler!<\/p>\n

But the most amazing thing that happened? I was offered\u00a0my key to\u00a0Mexico<\/a>. So my 2017 is well plotted. But before I return to the blistering tropical heat of the Yucat\u00e1n, England,\u00a0Quebec, and Haven beckon. So clich\u00e9d as the saying is, the best really is yet to come.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year to all of you lovely readers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I measure 2016 by the one yardstick that matters to me, how much I travelled, it\u00a0was the best year of my life. That’s hard to reconcile with how horrible the year was to the world in general, but it’s my truth. This was a rare year of my life where there was enough money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1597,1601,1485,1608,13,1589,1565,1582,54,632,906,637,934,636,924,4,1598,1592,55,1587,1611,917,815,895,14,900,1590,922,1607,635,11,639,1599,1583,807,1564,814,1588,915,1484,3,56,16,53,920,27,894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-albania","category-alicante","category-almeria","category-amsterdam","category-arizona","category-barcelona","category-belgrade","category-bosnia-and-herzegovina","category-bulgaria","category-canada","category-cody","category-england","category-etropole","category-europe","category-glozhene","category-haven","category-kosovo","category-kotor","category-london","category-macedonia","category-malaga","category-malak-izvor","category-mazatlan","category-merida","category-mexico","category-moab","category-montenegro","category-nessebar","category-netherlands","category-north-america","category-personal","category-plovdiv","category-prizren","category-sarajevo","category-saskatchewan","category-serbia","category-sinaloa","category-skopje","category-sofia","category-spain","category-travel","category-uk","category-usa","category-utah","category-veliko-tarnovo","category-wyoming","category-yucatan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32318,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9019\/revisions\/32318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}