My Top Ten 2017 Destinations

10. O’ahu, Hawai’i (USA)

My family used to live in O’ahu and that’s also where I was married, so returning always brings back good memories. This trip we went to a luau, toured the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, snorkeled (as I wasn’t able to Scuba sadly) and saw all kinds of marine life, took a movie tour at Kualoa Ranch, and spent plenty of time sunbathing around the Ko’Olina Lagoons. This was my first trip taken while pregnant, otherwise known as a “babymoon”!

9. Prague & Beyond, Czech Republic

Prague was number one last year, and this trip we spent a short time in Prague (while making sure to eat red cabbage, dumplings and trdelnik) and drove to Fortress Josefov for a four day music festival. For those unfamiliar with this area, it was on the other side of the country near the border with Poland- pretty much the middle of nowhere. It was cool to be camping on the site of a fortress, although it was very remote and interesting to find very “Soviet style” cafeterias to eat at. We also took a day trip to the Bone Church in Kutna Hora, a super cute town an hour drive from Prague.

Read more about my last Prague visit

8. Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, also known by some as “the Paris of the East” has been high on my list of places to visit for a while. I spent 3.5 days here so just enough time to see many sights, but this city has tons to offer and I could have spent a couple more days here and still had plenty to do. Some highlights of my visit was: Parliament Tour, House of Terror, Memento Park, ruin pubs, Buda Castle, Hospital in the Rock, strolls through the city, and the Hungarian National Museum.

Article on Budapest coming February 21! 

7. Pacific Coast Highway, California

I’ve taken this route quite a few times in my life but this was my first drive as an adult planning stops along the way. Unfortunately when we took this route the Big Sur area of Highway 1 was closed due to mud slides, so we had to go around that part of the PCH but we started in San Diego taking the highway most of the way to Napa. We rented a Mustang for our drive (highly recommended) so we were able to drive mostly with the top down! Some highlights were: staying at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, Monterey area (13 mile drive, Cannery Row, Monterey Bay Aquarium), Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and Half Moon Bay. We made it up to Napa Valley for my birthday and took the wine train to Castello di Amorosa.

6. Bergen & Oslo, Norway

We spent a week in Norway, starting in Bergen for four days and ending with three in Oslo. In between the cities we spent a day on the “Norway in a Nutshell” train and boat tour, which was one of our 2017 highlights! Since we weren’t able to see Milford Sound in New Zealand, we were extra excited about our boat ride through Aurlandsfjord. There’s so much nature in Norway, we’ll have to take a return trip and I highly recommend for anyone taking Norway in a Nutshell to split it up between two days as you’ll likely miss a couple hours of terrain when the sun goes down. Oslo was a fun city and very easy to navigate walking and biking.

Article on Norway coming soon!

5. Berlin, Germany

My friend and I met up in Berlin to start our two week Europe adventure in September. Berlin was so different compared to Munich and the Bavaria region of Germany it almost felt like they are in different countries! My favorite activities were viewing the East Side Gallery (Berlin Wall), getting our passports stamped at Checkpoint Charlie, visiting the Topography of Terror, and going on the rooftop of the Reichstag at night. We spent our last night out at one of the notorious late night techno clubs which was a once in a lifetime experience.

Article on Berlin coming soon!

4. Copenhagen, Denmark

Visiting Copenhagen gave me an impression of why it is sometimes billed “the happiest city in the world,” and I can clearly say it was the most bike friendly and cleanest city I’ve ever visited. Highlights of Copenhagen were Freetown Christiania, Rosenborg Palace, Nyhavn, the Little Mermaid Statue, and just biking around the city.

More on Copenhagen

3. Gent & Brugge, Belgium

So far in my travels I have found Belgium to be the most underrated country in Europe! It’s easy to miss being in between London, Paris, and Amsterdam which all get more foot traffic, but well worthwhile to visit. We enjoyed the best chocolates ever, leige waffles, frites (fries)- which are eaten with mayo, beef stew, and some of the best beer we’ve ever had. Ghent is a beautiful Medieval town with castles and canals and more locals than tourists. We also spent half a day in Brugge strolling around the old town and spent a couple hours at the Beer Museum which is ends with a very generous amount of beer sampling.

2. Krakow, Poland

Krakow (pronounced Krak-ov) is my new favorite European city and I’m determined to explore more of Poland in the future! Krakow was extremely fascinating for me because within a mile of each other you can find the ancient mounds, castles, churches, medieval squares, and remnants of Krakow’s darker side- remains of the Ghetto wall, old cemeteries, and ruins of a concentration camp. I’m extremely interested in World War 2 and Cold War/Communist history so it was a great learning experience for me. Besides just history, Krakow had very friendly locals and some of the best cuisine- I now have a pierogi craving! Some highlights included the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz), Schindlers Factory, Wawel Castle, Auschwitz Memorial Museum, and the Rynek Underground.

Article on Krakow coming March 3!

1. New Zealand

Ok, I’ll admit this last one is kind of cheating…but if I picked each part of New Zealand we visited during our brief two week trip half our list would be full!  Some of the highlights of our visit were: Hobbiton, Waitomo Glowworm Caves, the Canyon Swing in Queenstown, wine tasting on Waiheke Island, and zorbing in Rotorua. I had so much fun on this trip and will hopefully be returning to explore the Bay of Islands and more of the South Island that we didn’t have time to see.

More on New Zealand