If I measure 2016 by the one yardstick that matters to me, how much I travelled, it was 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 to do what I wanted to do. I prioritised paying for the big stuff, like making sure I had a roof over my head, could get from point A to point B, and that I stayed healthy. I savoured the little stuff I could afford. I refused to be a glass half empty person and bemoan that I couldn’t do X, Y, or Z because of a tight budget and instead celebrated that I was wherever I was at that moment.
I covered so much ground this year that you might have forgotten where I started. So here’s my 2016 travel retrospective.
January started in Mazatlán, Mexico. 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.

The lagoon in Mazatlán’s Bosque de la Ciudad.
February brought me to Mérida, in the Mexican state of Yucatán, on a scouting mission in anticipation of possibly moving there!
I saw ancient Mayan ruins!

The Mayan ruins at Uxmal.
March had me discovering the wonderful botanical gardens right in my backyard on Isla de la Piedra.

The lake at the heart of Isla de la Piedra’s botanical gardens.
April found me seeing Monument Valley…

Monument Valley
…and exploring Arches National Park…

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park
…and the town of Moab, Utah.
May took me to Cody, Wyoming…

downtown Cody, WY
…with plenty of time to explore the Center of the West…

Sacagawea at Center of the West
… and a Japanese internment camp…

Heart Mountain Interpretive Center
… before going home to Haven…

Sunset at Haven, May, 2016
… before getting on a plane and technically visiting my last Canadian province.
So June took me to London, England (really!)…

London from St. Paul’s Cathedral
… and to Bulgaria!

Malak Izvor, Bulgaria
July took me on two trips to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
August took me to Plovdiv…

Plovdiv from Nebet Hill
… and across Bulgaria in a Chevy to Nessebar…

Old Nessebar, Bulgaria
…to Soviet ruins…

Buzludzha

Tsaravets Fortress, Veliko Tarnovo
…the scenic town of Teteven…

Teteven

Prohodna (Eyes of God Cave)
…the Etropole Waterfall…

Etropole Waterfall
…and a the magnificent 15th century Glozhene Monastery.

inside the Glozhene Monastery
September saw me quit Bulgaria for Serbia and finish the month in Belgrade.

Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia
October found me in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina…

Sarajevo, BiH

Old Kotor, Montenegro
…blipping through Albania…

an Albanian fortress
…staying out too late in Prizen, Kosovo…

Prizren, Kosovo
…not being impressed by Skopje, Macedonia…

Archaeological Museum, Skopje
…ambling through Barcelona, Spain…

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
… then through Alicante…

Alicante, Spain
… before settling in Almería for seven weeks.

The port of Almería
November was spent in lovely Almería learning to live in the real Spain.

Pedestrian street in downtown Almería
December saw me in Málaga for a few days…

Málaga from the top of the itinerant Ferris wheel.
…before jetting off to end the year and ring in 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands!

Quintessential Amsterdam scene
What a journey 2016 was, from getting more and more comfortable in Mexico to becoming a seasoned European traveler!
But the most amazing thing that happened? I was offered my key to Mexico. So my 2017 is well plotted. But before I return to the blistering tropical heat of the Yucatán, England, Quebec, and Haven beckon. So clichéd as the saying is, the best really is yet to come.
Happy New Year to all of you lovely readers!