ICYMI – in case you missed it. This is one of the acronyms I often see on the travel blogs I follow. The writer is usually alerting me to a great travel deal or an interesting travel story. It didn’t take long for me to recognize the meaning of the letters.
This is the first time, though, that I’ve used this acronym myself. However, in cased you missed some of my travels this year, I thought I’d give a recap. That’s what people often do at the end of the year, right? Here goes…
January – Cruise
On January 5th, I headed to the airport with a group of friends to go on a Caribbean cruise. I had cruised with the same group in February of 2018 and was pleased that they invited me to cruise again.
The cruise left out of New Orleans. We flew down a day before the cruise so we could explore the city. We had dinner in the French Quarter, explored a bit, and then had beignets for dessert at Cafe du Monde.
We boarded the ship on the 6th. After some time at sea, we arrived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This port was followed by Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and Roatan, Honduras. After another day at sea, we stopped at Harvest Caye, Belize, then Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. All too soon, we were back in New Orleans on our way to the airport.
January – New York City
I was only home for a week and a half before leaving for Vogue Knitting LIVE in New York City. My daughter also took a winter vacation. When she realized she would have a layover in NYC, she decided to extend her vacation and stay for the weekend, so I flew to meet her there.
We spent a day visiting the 9/11 Memorial Museum. While we were in NYC, it was restaurant week, so we ate a couple meals at very nice restaurants for greatly reduced prices.
On Friday, two more of my daughters joined us for the knitting event. Vogue Knitting LIVE was great! I look forward to going back.
March – Roving Indiana Yarn Crawl
In March, a friend and I drove to the Indianapolis area where we participated in Roving Indiana’s Yarn Crawl. I had seen it advertised several times, but this was the first year I was able to participate. This short trip, close to home, was a nice getaway to mark the end of winter.
April – Cruise
One of my daughters realized that her birthday fell on Easter weekend this year. Since she would get an extra day off work for the holiday (Good Friday), she wanted to do something special to celebrate. I agreed to join her – it didn’t take much arm-twisting.
We decided that a weekend cruise in a warm climate would be fun. There was a three-day cruise to the Bahamas that sounded great. It was! We added a day in Miami onto the end of the cruise so we could soak up just a little more sun.
May – Las Vegas, Nevada
At the beginning of May, I spent a weekend in Las Vegas. Although it was technically a business trip, I had a little spare time to enjoy the strip.
Mother’s Day Weekend – Nashville, Tennessee
I spent Mother’s Day weekend visiting my daughter and son-in-law. Nashville is a great city – even better because my daughter lives there.
I also spent a weekend in Nashville in September. I like to try to visit a couple times a year. One of my daughters lives near me and usually accompanies me.
June -Zombie Knitpocalypse
As the last person to be chosen from the waiting list, I just squeaked in to this fantastic knitting event. Held in Rochester, Minnesota, the Zombie Knitpocalypse is much smaller than the Vogue and Stitches events that I had attended in the past.
The benefit of a smaller event, though, is that it is more intimate. I had an opportunity to get to know several designers and yarn dyers throughout the weekend. I’m disappointed that it won’t work out to attend in 2020, but I’m looking forward to 2021.
Fourth of July Weekend – Smoky Mountains
For the Fourth of July this year, our family rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. This was my first trip to the Smokies, except for a quick drive through in 2018.
We spent the long weekend hiking, tubing, knitting, puzzle-making, eating, and hot-tubbing. We had a great time and hope to be able to do it again sometime.
August – Events
On two different weekends in August, I attended events at the Schaumburg Convention Center. On the first weekend of the month, I attended Stitches Midwest. Two weeks later I went to the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo with my sister.
Labor Day Weekend – Washington, DC
I visited another daughter and son-in law over Labor Day weekend. This couple lives in Washington, DC. We visited the African American Museum and the National Zoo. We also spent an afternoon in Baltimore, Maryland.
I usually try to visit my daughter in Washington, DC, a couple of times a year, too, but this year a spring visit didn’t work out.
October – Paris
In October, my daughter and I spent a week in Paris. Our main reason for going was to see the Atelier des Lumières, a digital light show that featured the works of Vincent Van Gogh. The show was so amazing, that we are considering a return trip to Paris in 2020 for the new show.
While we were in Paris, we also visited the catacombs, the Luxembourg Gardens, and Fontainebleau Palace. We shopped at the Galleries de Lafayette and enjoyed eating at some of our favorite restaurants.
We ended our trip with a day and a half in Reims, France, where we learned about and tasted some of the world’s best champagnes.
We arrived back in the States in time to greet my new grandson on the day of his birth (with a couple days to spare).
2019 and into 2020…
I hope you enjoyed the recap for 2019. Click on any of the links for more details.
I have some firm travel plans for 2020, but also a few ideas that haven’t turned into plans yet. In February, my daughter and I are going to San Francisco for Stitches West – the largest Stitches event in the country. I have three cruises planned for the year – Panama and the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Our family had tentative plans to attend the Olympics in Tokyo, but when we were unable to secure tickets for any of the events, we abandoned that plan.
Other possibilities for 2020 include Prague, Munich, and Paris. In addition, there will always be trips to Nashville and Washington, DC. Sometimes opportunities pop up that are too good to ignore and a trip is planned within a shorter timeline.
I enjoyed all the travel this year. I hope you enjoyed reading about it and were inspired to do some traveling of your own.
It’s your turn – tell me about your travels for the year. Leave your comments below.