A tradition of mine is to write out my travel goals for the upcoming year, both to help manifest those trips into reality and to remind me of all the places that I want to go.
Back when I started writing this blog, I would only book travel out a few months in advance (my business was just getting off the ground and I wasn’t sure if I’d still be running it more than 3-4 months down the line). Now, I’m luckily able to book travel a bit further in advance, which means some of the trips below are already booked.
That said, without further ado, my goals for 2020 are below:
Laos
Southeast Asia is a favorite destination of mine, having visited (almost) annually for the past decade. Although I regularly return to Bali and the Philippines, I’m hoping that this year I’ll get outside of my comfort zone and visit Laos, where I’m particularly interested in visiting the mountain town Vang Vieng.
Taipei
I’ve wanted to go to Taipei for years, but can generally only go to Asia once or twice each year due to time zones (my clients are mostly in California) and so have generally been using that time to go to Hong Kong and/or Southeast Asia. That said, with the help from a friend who had a United upgrade to spare, I’ll be traveling to Taipei in March on Polaris business class and flying back in business on China Airlines.
Although I’m very excited about the flights, I’m more excited for the views and the food and can’t wait to visit.
Dubai
My best travel deal of 2019, and perhaps ever, was landing a $18,425 First Class ticket on Emirates for 85,000 Chase points. I’ll be flying from JFK to Dubai to Milan and will have about 10 hours to spend in Dubai, which I’m very excited about.
While I know that there are ethical issues about traveling to this part of the world, I really loved my time in Doha and am looking forward to exploring.
Alaska
This has been on my dream destination list since I first started publishing these annual posts. Truth be told, Alaska might actually be my most cancelled destination, as I’ve had 3 trips planned there in the last 3 years that I’ve canceled either last minute or within the 24-hour cancellation period that airlines allow (I just had a trip to Alaska purchased in February to see the Northern Lights, but chickened out because of the weather).
With increased non-stop service from San Francisco to both Anchorage and Fairbanks this year, I’m hoping I can finally make this a reality.
Costa Rica
I’ve been to Costa Rica once before and it was a magical experience where I fell in love with the people, the scenery, and the weather. A dream of mine is to head back there for 5-7 days of surf camp, which I feel would be very good for my soul and body.
Where are you hoping to visit in 2020? Let me know in the comments!
3 comments
Great ideas!
Happy 2020!