2024 isn’t as big of a travel year as years past. This coincides with a small shift in my travel focus. At the end of 2023 I indicated that I wanted to take more trips with friends and family. I have been immensely fortunate to check off bucket list items over the years. For this year I wanted to intentionally focus on sharing experiences with others.
So every trip this year, is with the intention of being with friends or family. There are still solo elements to the trips because I don’t think that part will ever go away. But I think, it’s a new shift in terms how I look to do trip planning in the future.
With that said, here are my 2024 trip memories!
Las Vegas
In April, I have an opportunity to go to Vegas to hang out with a good friend, Lebron! He is in Vegas to attend a conference and has a spare bed in his room. So I figure its a great opportunity to spend some time with Lebron and take advantage of a free place to crash! While Lebron is attending the conference during the day, I wander around eating my way through Vegas. I also get to check out the newly built F1 paddock that’s there. In the evenings, the two of us check out a show at the Sphere and Cirque de Soleil. We may or may not have made a few visits to Secret Pizza as well. The trip is only a few days, but It’s still good to spend some time with Lebron and also in Vegas. Oddly enough going through photos, I didn’t end up getting one of the two of us! So it’s something I’m going to be cognisant of more in the future!
New York and Cruising the East Coast
In May, the immediate Travelling Minion family embarked on a family vacation to the East coast of North America. Our family has always been a close knit one and travel is one of the many things we enjoy doing together. We don’t often get to travel together so these are rare occurrences that we’re all happy and eager for. Starting in New York city for a few days to check off a bucket list item for Mama Minion. We then visit Brooklyn, walk the high line and check out the 9/11 Memorial. From there, we jump on a cruise ship for seven days which sails up the coast, through the Canadian Maritimes and eventually stops in Montreal. While the ports of call are many that we have all visited before. The opportunity to spend time together as a family is the real highlight! When not exploring the ports of call, we spend countless hours on the boat playing cards and laughing together!
To read about that trip click here. To see just the highlights, click here.
Laos, Cambodia and Japan
For my last trip of 2024, I set off to Asia in December. The intention of this trip is to eventually connect with Lebron and Antetokounmpo in Japan. I find a flight that gets me to Singapore and I figure why not use this opportunity to get a small taste of what Laos and Cambodia are like. After spending a quick day in Laos I head to Siem Reap for a few days. Here, I get to explore Angkor Wat, the Apopo Hero Rats organization and a few other points of interest. I then transition to Nagoya, Japan to visit the Suzuka F1 Circuit and a few other attractions. I eventually head to Tokyo where I meet up with my friends. We spend a day at Disney, and share a few meals together over the course of a few days! Overall it’s the biggest trip I take this year. As it happens so late in the year, I will be blogging about this one in the new year.
2025
South East Asia again!
With my new found focus, I already have a few trips on the docket with 2025. While I did have the aspirational booking on Qatar Airway’s Qsuites to South East Asia in 2024. I ultimately cancelled it for a February flight. As the Sister and I will be bringing back our sibling trips! We are looking to visit both Vietnam and Japan in early February. Starting with the fancy flying, then spending a week in each location, there’s a lot to look forward to on this trip.
Europe
The Parental Minions will be celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary this year. The sister and I have been helping them plan a European anniversary trip to celebrate. Originally, I secretly booked flights to surprise join them on the trip. However, due to some planning complexities the cat’s out of the bag now! So it looks like its going to turn into another Minion family trip to celebrate milestone anniversary. This April we’ll be exploring around Germany for a week or two while also celebrating the Parental Minions Nuptials!te spring.
2024 hasn’t been as heavy of a travel year as normal for me. There have been some small career related changes for me at home and my refocus on travelling with others has lead to a lighter travel schedule this year. To be honest, I’m perfectly fine with it. Being able to share some of these experiences with others is something I’m really enjoying and look forward to in the coming months and years.
But as always, I still find that on all my trips, I always have find moments of gratitude pop up wherever, whenever and with whomever. It’s not lost on me how fortunate I am to be able to travel the world and see the awesomeness that this planet has to offer. I continually appreciate having the health and means to be able to travel and look forward to what this upcoming 2025 has in store. While the first half of the year looks pretty set. I’m eager to see what the back half will reveal!
Once again, thank you for joining me on my travels and hopefully you’ll be along for the ride in 2025!
2024 was a fun year for you, & I am glad I was a part of it! I had a lot of fun in our times together as a family!