Year End Review: Goodbye 2012

I cannot believe that today is the last day of 2012. It seems like just yesterday I wrote my year-end post, reflecting at all of the travel and life experiences that I had in 2011. It seems like just yesterday I was writing lists of New Year’s resolutions that I would completely forget about after two months. Again. This year I wanted to travel to five new countries. Unfortunately that did not happen, although I did travel to five countries, I only visited one new country. Though I have done quite a bit of travel, I visited many friends in places that I had already been. So let’s recap the year in travel.

The worst snow in Rome in 24 years

I started the year in Detroit. In the middle of January I returned to Rome.  I sat still for almost a full month and a half before making the spontaneous last minute decision to go to Miami to the “House of Ratchet” in celebration of my BFF’s 30th birthday. After traveling for 27 hours for a mere three days on the ground, I sat relatively still. In early May, at the last minute, a good friend of mine convinced me to pop over to London to do some early birthday partying. I did not regret a single moment of it, even with the rain and cold. In June, for the first time ever, I went sailing for several days. It was my first time sleeping on a boat. Following my sailing trip it was full speed ahead. I had to pack up my apartment within days, as I had to travel to Oman for work after which I would be flying straight back to the US for two months. It was my first time in the Middle East and it was an absolutely amazing experience. As soon as I got back from Oman I had five hours between flights and had to head into the city, grab my luggage, and stop at work for two meetings, before heading onto two more flights. When I landed in the states my head was spinning.

There was a lot of this

Snippets of my weekend in Miami

Partying in London

The Italian countryside

Italian beaches

Sailing in the Mediterranean

Dinner with representatives of the Omani government

I had a very eventful summer in the US. I landed in Detroit, spent about two weeks in NYC, went to Orlando to see my sister and celebrated my ten-year high school reunion in Detroit. I went to San Francisco to see an old friend and caught up with a few others from London. I spent Labor Day weekend in Philly for the Made in America festival and I popped down to DC and Baltimore to hang with friends that I rarely see.  I logged a lot of air, train, car and bus miles this summer, but it was all domestic.

In September after a slight visa delay, I headed back to Rome for a period of time shorter than I had previously planned. In the three months that I was there, my movements were fairly limited. I enjoyed a weekend in Paris with all Detroit people which is always fun. I had three visitors. I went to Milan to party with my girls and took a road trip around Italy with my sister and her friend. I finally saw Pisa, more of the Tuscan countryside and spent a few days in my favorite Italian city, Florence.

On December 18th I left Rome on a one-way flight back to Detroit. I packed up everything I own, which is a disgusting amount of things and had things shipped to my mother’s house. I spent the holidays in Detroit and enjoyed being with my friends and family. It is a great time to be home as everyone comes home from his or her corners of the country/world.
In typical Jessica fashion, I am writing this blog on a flight from Detroit to LA on the last day of the year. I am going to celebrate NYE with my BFF in his new city. I look forward to what next year will bring and I fully intend to do a better job of documenting my trips. Stay tuned.

Countries (cities) visited:

• United States (Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Miami, NYC, Orlando, Baltimore, DC, Philly, San Francisco, Davis, CA)
• Italy (Rome, Grosetto, Milan, Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano)
•  England (London)
• Oman (Muscat)
• France (Paris)

29 flights taken, a few buses, trains, cars and a boat (over 40,000 miles traveled!).

1.  DTW-AMS
2. AMS-FCO
3. FCO-PHL
4. PHL-MIA
5. MIA-PHL
6. PHL-FCO
7. FCO-LGW
8. LGW-FCO
9. FCO-BAH
10. BAH-MUS
11. MUS-BAH
12. BHR-FCO
13.  FCO-AMS
14. AMS-DTW
15.  DTW-LGA
16. LGA-DTW
17. DTW-MCO
18. MCO-DTW
19. DTW-SFO
20. SFO-DTW
21. DTW-LGA
22.  LGA-DTW
23. DTW-CDG
24.  CDG-FCO
25. FCO-CDG
26. CDG-FCO
27. FCO-AMS
28. AMS-DTW
29. DTW-LAX

I wish you all the best in 2013. Keep traveling and try to catch me!