This post may contain affiliate links. When you purchase something through these links, I receive a small commission that helps me create this blog’s content. There’s no extra cost to you. Read my privacy policy to learn more.
Published: 12/29/2022
My 2022 Travel Year in Review
Congratulations! We did it! Another successful trip around the sun as a society.
Travel was a true highlight in my year and I’m so grateful to have experienced so many varied and beautiful parts of America. But while I’m choosing to focus on one of the year’s biggest positives in this post, please don’t think I had a picture postcard perfect year. It was truly an episodic year of high highs and low lows. Often it felt like my household was just ricocheting from illness to family health crises to the death of my last grandparent and other challenges and stresses. If your 2022 felt a little wonky, you’re not alone.
On January 1st, I had no inkling of what my 2022 travel year recap would look like. I’d literally just cancelled a long-anticipated trip to Puerto Rico and was still recovering from my (first) COVID booster shot. After nearly two years of travel disappointments, it felt ill-advised to be too optimistic. But now that 2022 is basically in the rearview, I’m pleased to report that 2022 proved an excellent travel year. What a pleasant surprise!
2022 Travel by the Numbers
Countries visited: 1
Lifetime countries visited: 9
States visited: 11
New states visited: 5
Lifetime states visited: 50!
Rental cars: 3
Train rides: 2
Boat ride: 1
Streetcar: 1
Entire lobsters eaten: 1
Margaritas drunk in a 48 hour period: 5
Hikes: 22
A Month by Month Summary of 2022 Travels
January
I didn’t travel far from home in January, but was able to connect with lots of friends at various points around Minnesota. We had our first “crafting weekend” in a couple years in west Duluth near Jay Cooke State Park. I also did a “turn and burn” trip down to Minneapolis to the Lighthouse Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. While the exhibit was a bit of a racket, a sushi lunch with two friends afterwards made the whole trip worth it. I also took advantage of the month’s decent weather to get a couple great winter hikes in.
February
I’m a big proponent of the saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing,” but I think it’s safe to say that bad weather plagued February. I’d set a goal of doing 22 hikes in 2022 and we usually do a fair amount of ice fishing this time of year. However consistently brutal winter weather kept us mostly inside. It wasn’t the best for our mental health, but at least we were busy booking Boundary Waters trips for the upcoming summer.
March
A friend and I turned our cancelled Puerto Rico trip into a week in New Mexico. Although we did find plenty of sand on this trip, we also got a fair amount of snow in Santa Fe. Maybe not the best beach vacation alternative, but we really enjoyed ourselves, especially on the Santa Fe Margarita Trail! Since New Mexico was the 46th state I’d visited, this trip lit the fire under me to get to those final four states before the end of the year.
April
I did a “two-fer” trip in early April. Since I live so far away from the nearest airport, it really makes sense for me to piggyback my travels. Back in 2018, my friend Betsy (you know Betsy) had been commissioned by the Cincinnati History Museum to create a bodice to display in the dress shop of a historical street scene exhibit. We’d been hoping to pop over to Cincinnati to see it, but that weekend trip didn’t fit into our 2019 schedule and then, well, you know, suddenly it was 2022 and we still hadn’t gone.
Meanwhile, back in March 2020, I’d planned to reunite in Jackson Hole with one of my London housemates who now lives in rural Wyoming. That trip got mandatory canceled in the early days of the pandemic.
But somehow, miraculously, the stars aligned and I made both of these trips happen in the first week of April. While I loved exploring Wyoming, Utah, and Cincinnati, the real gift of these trips was reconnecting with friends after so much isolation.
Back in Minnesota, more bad weather riddled the rest of the month. All that time indoors pushed me over the edge and I booked both a late autumn New England trip and an early December trip to Hawaii. No regrets!
May – September
As a seasonal business owner, my time is not my own during these months. I went for a grand total of two hikes, but got to briefly check out a couple new local businesses, including the Gunflint Trail’s first-ever coffee shop. And while I don’t do much exploring this time of year, I did help thousands of people head out on Boundary Waters trips, including this super fun girls trip with Expedition Kristen! I also finally got COVID in May . . . along with seemingly everyone else who’d avoided it for 26 months. Luckily I had a pretty mild case.
October
Nothing beats the feeling of freedom that comes when we lock up the outfitting building for the season on September 30. I enjoyed fantastic fall colors all over northern Minnesota, including a gondola ride and hike at Lutsen Mountains. I also got my second COVID booster, as well as a flu shot.
At the end of the month, my parents accompanied me on a whirlwind tour of three of the four United States I hadn’t yet visited. We flew into Boston, then embarked on a true “trains, planes, and automobile” adventure through New England. This was a really fantastic trip and I’m not sure what my favorite part was: the train ride from Boston to Portland, ME, eating an entire lobster at Street & Co., driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains, or taking a class at King Arthur Flour in Vermont.
November
My New England trip wrapped up in November and I returned home just in time to spend two nights in my own bed before heading to Grand View Lodge in Nisswa for my annual girls weekend. The rest of the month slowed down quite a bit. I got a lot of blogging done, hosted Thanksgiving, and started prepping for December travels.
December
In early December, Andy and I took off on my longest trip in years: a 10-night trip to Hawaii, my 50th state! Believe it or not, we hadn’t traveled together since we went to Washington D.C. in February 2018. Although the 25-hour travel day to reach Hawaii certainly tested our endurance, we had the best time in Honolulu and Kauai.
The “Best” of my 2022 Travel Year
Drive: Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire
Travel surprise: Tied between Antelope Island State Park and Cincinnati
Sledding: White Sands National Park
Drink: The Black Dragon Margarita at The Dragon Room, Santa Fe
Dessert: Comparing cannoli in Boston’s North End
View: Hanalei Bay, Kauai from the Okolehao Trail
Possible celeb watching: Jackson Hole
Travel experience: Boat tour of Kauai’s Na Pali Coast
Hike: Kadunce River in winter
Pastry I ever made: Savory French Tarts class at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, VT
Coffee: Cardamon latte at Timber Coffee Company
2022 Blog Highlights
This little side hustle of mine didn’t exactly seem poised for success when I started it. Launching a travel blog in late 2019 proved . . . unfortunate. But happily, we’ve all become a lot more mobile in the last year and that means the blog saw its first meaningful growth since its infancy.
I’m never sure if I blog to travel or travel to blog. The need to create new content keeps me booking trips, while blogging allows me to slow down and actually process everything I’ve experienced.
My favorite 2022 blog accomplishments
- Receiving my first ever “paycheck” from the blog! I’ve always wanted the blog to make enough money to cover both the website’s admin costs and supplement my travel budget. This year I finally had enough traffic to join a new ad network. While I’m still not making anywhere close to my income goal, the blog paid for itself this year . . . as well as that lobster dinner in Maine!
- With this post, I’ve officially published as many posts in 2022 as were already up on the blog at the start of the year. That’s right, this year I hammered out as many posts as it took me from 2019 – 2021 to publish . . . . I’m feeling pretty chuffed to have doubled the blog’s content this year. My web traffic certainly reflects the effort, which is very gratifying.
- I also launched a monthly newsletter. Are you subscribed yet?
The Most Popular “Beyond the Yellow Brick Road” Posts
Lifetime post: The Dos and Don’ts of Attending the Kentucky Derby
2022 post: The Ultimate One Day Savannah, GA Itinerary
2023 Travel Year Preview
After 2020, I’m a little gun shy about making bold travel plan declarations. However, I do have lots of travel hopes for the year to come. If the weather gods cooperate (deep winter travel is such a crapshoot in northern Minnesota) I plan to finally visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter next month. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. I can’t wait to buy a wildly overpriced wand and get that first butterbeer!
Now that I have all 50 states notched on my travel belt AND the world has mostly returned to its pre-pandemic movements, I’m actually planning some international travels. I haven’t actually had my passport stamped since 2018 when I made a rather rushed trip over the pond to Ireland.
I’m hoping to make two trips across the Atlantic this year. First, a shorter trip to the Azores and then hopefully a multi-week trip to the continent in late fall. I’d like to finally see Copenhagen – during Christmas market season would be ideal – but we’ll see what actually materializes.
In the truly dreaming side of travel plans, I recently realized I’ve never stepped foot in Central America and it might be high time I visit Mexico or Belize. On the flip side of that, maybe this is the year for that late winter ice fishing trip to Manitoba . . .
For a travel blogger, I don’t really travel very much, but by my standards, 2022 was a busy, busy travel year and I’m not sure it’s sustainable. Part of what made 2022’s travels possible was a three-year build-up of discretionary spending money, credit card points, and airline miles. All those coffers definitely need refills!
Next travel challenge?
Since 2017, I’ve based most of my travel decisions around trying to get to all 50 states asap. Now that I’ve accomplished this goal – I’m still in shock, sorry if I keep banging on about that – I’m not sure what travel goal I want to tackle next.
And yes, I realize life/travel isn’t meant to be dictated by a checklist. However, as someone prone to “analysis paralysis,” having the entire globe to choose from often keeps me from making any travel decisions at all. I’ve always found limited options freeing and these little challenges keep me moving.
Right now, I’m contemplating a few travel challenge options. I’d like to make it to all seven continents (yep, especially you Antarctica!) and I’m also tempted to see the seven wonders of the modern world. I’m wondering if I can do these two challenges in conjunction, especially since I’ve already been to two of the seven wonders: Machu Picchu and the Colosseum. I’d also like to make it to 30 countries by the time I turn 50, but let’s be honest, I’m not getting any younger . . . this might be setting a bit of a breakneck pace!
