This last year was a great travel year for me. Alaska was state number 49 in my quest to visit all 50 states before I turn 30! The family trip itself was incredible, and it will likely be high on my list of places to go back to during my lifetime. Between Denali National Park, the Fjords, and the train ride, we truly had an unforgettable time that was well worth the wait. Other family trips included a visit my uncle’s cabin on Donnell Lake in Michigan, a quick stop in Dayton, Ohio for a funeral, and a visit to family in Tampa and family friends who snowbird in Orlando, Flordia while on a trip with my mother to Disney World, Harry Potter World, and the Kennedy Space Center.
For personal trips, I ended up visiting friends in New York City and San Francisco during school breaks. I was able to visit Monterey, California, and the surrounding area. The aquarium was a particular highlight. I took an extended trip up the west coast of Michigan (from Holland all the way to Traverse City), as well as catching up with friends in Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, to visit the Meijer Gardens and Holland Tulip Festival. I traveled to Washington DC twice, once at the start of a road trip while driving my sister home from Baltimore (catching the end of the cherry blossoms) and once on a school field trip where we got to talk to various higher education think tanks, associations, and journalists. The road trip also included a stop in Pennsylvania to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial (for the 9/11 flight that was commandeered and bravely downed in a Pennsylvania field by passengers and flight crew to thwart the hijackers). I traveled to Minnesota to present at my first academic conference, went skiing in Colorado, and traveled home to Chicago from East Lansing, Michigan, monthly.
Domestic travel wasn’t the only thing on my list this year. For my friend’s wedding, I visited both England and Scotland, stopping in the Lake District and visiting Hadrian’s Wall in England and visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Isle of Skye in Scotland. While I had been to both England and Scotland before, I got to visit areas I hadn’t been to before. It was also incredible to catch up with my friend again and see a place she’d gushed about more than 5 years before!
All in all, I was in 12 states plus Washington DC (Flordia, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Alaska, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Maryland, Ohio, and of course Illinois), and 2 other countries (England and Scotland) in 2024!
Next year looks like it’s shaping up to be busy, as well! My family is slated to visit Hawaii during my spring break to sneak in state 50 right before my birthday! My yearly National Marquette Day trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and friends’ board game weekend in Holland, Michigan, are both on my radar. I’m hoping to get in a ski trip or two and maybe attend more conferences. Additionally, I was recently accepted into a study abroad course which will allow me to spend most of the month of May learning and educating at a university in South Africa, which will allow me to visit both Cape Town and Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha).
Many of the trips I took this year were unplanned at the start of 2024 or turned out slightly differently than I anticipated when wrapping up last year. I’m excited to see where 2025 takes me!
WANDERING 