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It feels so cliché to say I can’t believe 2017 is coming to a close, but it’s so true! I literally just sat down to write my 2016 travel recap and yeah, here it is a year later!
Despite a crazy, three-week long sickness, and working my tail off in the later part of this year, 2017 has been very good to me. Especially travel-wise. Which is definitely not coincidental. I have been on a mission to create the life I want to live – doing things I enjoy both personally and professionally. Which certainly includes the flexibility to be on the go!
Work-wise I continued to grow my math tutoring business, I worked all summer at camp and had the best time! Writing and creating this site has taught me so much, and I hope to really expand Momma To Go in 2018. My plan is to set some goals and get myself in a better working schedule balancing writing, social sharing and updating old posts. I’ve been learning more and more about SEO and hope to do some writing outside of Momma To Go!
Last year, at this same time, I recapped my 2016 travel year. A year, which brought a three-week trip to Hawaii, was hard to top, but we tried! So here is my 2017 Travel Year in Review!
2017 Travel Recap:
January – In late January baby girl and I took a five-day trip to Orlando. This trip was awesome! We visited with our cousins and did so much! We went to Chef Mickey Brunch, Legoland Florida, to the pool and out to eat at some of our Orlando favorites!
February – February was a big travel month for us. We spent two weeks in Florida. Mostly in SW Florida, but I took the kids for a few days back up to Orlando to revisit Legoland and our family. This trip was really fun, and the long stay in Florida allowed us to really relax and visit some of our local favorites. Here I ran my third half marathon, the Paradise Coast Naples Half!
The last weekend in February I went with my sister and lots of extended family to North Carolina for grandpa’s 105th birthday! We had a great party at Macaroni Grill in Cary, NC. The only bummer was that my kids had already missed 5 days of school to go to Florida, so they stayed home.
March – I turned 40 on March 21, and in lieu of a big party my sister, aunt, uncle and I flew to Italy for a week. We stayed with my cousin and other aunt and had such an amazing time. We packed in so much sightseeing, eating and family togetherness. We visited Verona, Milan, did a cooking class, went wine tasting, drove up to Switzerland and had so many great meals… and wine, and grappa, and coffee and pastries. I missed my husband and kids so much, but that trip was a great reminder that family means so much more than my spouse and kids. I love that I have aunts and sisters and cousins who I am so close to! This was a very special experience.
May – April and May were fairly quiet months. Little man made his first communion at the beginning of May, and at the end of May hubby and I snuck away for a night to the North Fork of Long Island. We stayed in the town of Greenport and visited a few local wineries. It was very relaxing!
June – The first weekend in June baby girl and I headed back to North Carolina to see our family. I cannot believe that I have no NC posts published! I have a few drafts on my computer that I plan to publish in 2018!
July – Eight weeks of our summer was consumed by camp. I worked at the local day camp that my kids attend. It was super fun, but exhausting as you can imagine! In July we did manage to sneak away to Atlantic City for Fourth of July weekend and one Saturday we took a day trip to Fire Island.
August – After camp ended, we had almost two weeks before school started to take our big family trip. We flew to San Francisco and drove down the coast ultimately making it to Anaheim, spending my daughter’s September 1st birthday at Disneyland. After a few days in San Francisco, we stopped in Santa Cruz for a night, and Santa Ynez as well. We had planned to make it to San Diego, but never did as I fell ill in Anaheim. This was definitely the low point of our year, me coming down with vestibular neuritis in California and us getting stuck there an extra 4 days, including having the kids miss the first two days of school. But we took care of each other and soldiered on. By October, I was finally feeling better.
November – By the beginning of November, I was ready to get back to my travel lifestyle! Baby girl and I went to Orlando for a few days. On this trip we visited family, went to the Ocoee Founders Festival, visited the Crayola Experience and spent a day at Aquatica! It was another awesome Orlando trip in the books!
December – In December, I took both kids back to North Carolina to visit with family (including grandpa who is 105.75 years old) and have a pre-Christmas visit. We always visit at this time, and spend a whole day making a huge batch of Christmas cookies. It’s a secret family recipe and is a multi-generational experience. Very special.
At the end of December, between Christmas and New year’s the four of us took a road trip down to Atlantic City, which despite being super cold was a lot of fun!
Looking back at last year’s travel goals, we did almost everything I had planned. Florida, NC, and a Cali road trip were already in the hopper last January and they all came to fruition! Hubby and I did not make it to Dubai, or anywhere alone and that is something we need to fix in 2018!
2018 Travel Goals
So as 2018 is upon us, and with the start of winter really settling in, we have some warm weather trips planned. I caught an awesome Jet Blue sale and am heading to SW Florida, SOLO to see my parents in January. It was my Christmas present and honestly all I really wanted. I just hope the late January weather is good for the beach and pool. if you listened to my Vacation Mavens podcast interview, I did talk about how December and January tend to be iffy on the hot weather.
But hopefully the heat will be on by February. That is when we are heading back to SW Florida with the entire family. This time we are driving from NY! Its only 22 hours… I’m equally excited and nervous for this adventure! I love driving, but it’s a long trip. Although given that our school break is a week before our family gathering in NC for grandpa’s 106th birthday, it would be too much to buy 4 round trip tickets to Florida and then the next week all fly to NC, plus rental car, etc! So we are making one big two-week trip out of it! Still planning the stops on the way down, please leave me you suggestions in the comments!
After February, we don’t have much planned. I would like to visit an indoor water park this year. We have never been! I’d like to do, and write about more local day trips and staycation ideas.
As for a big trip, we have been talking about going to Italy as a family. However, the two weeks we have off in between camp and the start of school might not be good (our Italian family might be coming then to the US!). So I am still trying to figure that out.
My husband has been talking about wanting to go back to Hawaii. I want to go to Aulani before our kids get too big. Hawaii is a big trip, and its far so if that does not pan out for 2018 I would like to do something else beach-y resort-y maybe in the Caribbean or Mexico. But not sure when!
2018 Blog/Other Goals
As for other goals, I hope to continue to grow this site. I am learning more about SEO and now that I am about 85 posts in, have a better idea of what readers are interested in. In 2018 I will continue to grow my math tutoring business, I am very fortunate to have such nice students that I am currently working with. I loved working with the Vacation Mavens on their podcast, and exploring more of this media is definitely on my 2018 radar screen!
MY TOP 5 POSTS OF 2017
Traffic Light Halloween Costume
In the moment, I am just trying to think of 2018 as a fresh start, hoping to make it through another New York winter, and create awesome experiences for my family – both on the road and close to home! I truly thank you for reading this site and I look forward to more adventures in 2018!
What are your travel, or personal/professional goals for the New Year?
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Great job Harmony! 🙂 so much travel and a warm trip solo sounds awesome. Good luck with your blog next year! We should definitely collaborate on a euro trip some year! We are headed to Kenya and hosting some friends here which will mean being a tourist in our own country (always fun). I am hoping to try skiing with kids or go to the Czech Republic.
Kenya- wow! That sounds amazing!
I love that you and your family took a trip down the California coast! Would love to do this with my family! Sorry you fell ill though! Yikes!
What a 2017 here’s to a great 2018
Wow you really love to travel and had some year. Continue success on all of your adventures and life in general.
All your travel excursions sound like such fun. I’ll be looking forward to seeing the reports of your future adventures!
Wow! It sounds like you had a fabulous 2017. Can’t wait to see what your up to in 2018.
You guys had such a fun travel year!! All the best with new adventures in 2018!
Found your blog through Helenes link up! So many awesome places you traveled to this year! I’m super jealous!
thanks for stopping by! I love her site!
What a fun year! We’re visiting Orlando (from Oregon) in February – any good restaurants I should visit? We’re major foodies! I hope your 2018 brings many more great memories! 🙂
im going to send you an email!
Sounds like a busy, fabulous year! Italy for your 40th birthday is a great idea…I’m a couple of years past my 40th, so maybe I’ll have to try it for my 50th instead 🙂
do it! for me, trips for birthdays are the best! Plus I got a plane ticket for xmas! I dont need stuff, just travel <3
Wow! It looks like you had many great adventures in 2018! I’d love to visit Milan myself. We travel a lot, but it’s usually to see family. The future will hold opportunities for more adventures for us!
Wow you did a ton of traveling this year! Sounds like it was a really great year for you. I heart Italy. ❤️
3 weeks in Hawaii?! Sounds like heaven to me! We don’t travel much now that we have 2 young kiddos, but I look forward to going on adventures with (and without haha) them.
IT sounds like you have a really interesting 2018 ahead of you already!
What a fabulous year of travel!! I really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful adventures you went on last year. Looking forward to seeing where 2018 takes you.
Definitely quite the travel year! You are a girl after my own heart! I would opt for the trip to Italy over a big party any day (or year haha) of the week!! And your sweet grandpa! 105?! Impressive; and so great you got to spend so much time with him!
I know I am going back to NC next week! Special to still have so much family!
Wow, you look like you had lots of great holidays 🙂 They sound great. I would love to travel more but our dog is a bit mad and we can not find anyone who can handle her near cars ( she does a mad spinning thing as she tries to round the cars up!) I wish we could travel more though. Thanks for sharing at The Weekend Blog Hop.
that is so crazy, Claire!