I remember 2018 like it was yesterday. Oh, wait…
It’s a wonderful life and 2018 was a truly memorable year. I feel so fortunate to adventure with friends and family around the world and to have made so many new friends along the way.
I kept the highlights from the year brief(ish) on Instagram, but since I’ve got room to expand here – I’m going to!
2018 was spent:
- Snorkeling between continental plates in glacial water in Iceland
- Petting highland cows with better hair than me in the Faroe Islands
- Flying in a helicopter over the Faroese Islands (my first helicopter ride!)
- Experiencing my first pint de pesche with my friend from college, Ian, in Avignon France where he was teaching English for the year
- White water rafting and canyoning down waterfalls with my dad, uncle, and aunt in Baños, Ecaudor
- Eating one of the best multicourse meals of my life in Cuenca, Ecuador
- Taking a French lesson while in a Spanish speaking country
- Surfing below the equator
- Flying for over 130 hours on 40 flights and visiting 13 countries (featuring 24 flight hours and 36 hours of general travel from Ecuador to Australia with stops in two other countries before reaching the final destination. Not necessarily a highlight, but it was an experience!)
- Setting foot on my sixth continent – Australia
- Becoming a certified scuba diver along the Great Barrier Reef and getting to pet a friendly fish named Frank
- Finding the most perfect fitting pair of jeans I’ve ever owned to date (thank you Billabong)
- Road tripping across the North and South Islands of New Zealand and driving on the opposite side of the road for the first time by myself
- Seeing glow worms while floating down a river in a New Zealand Cave
- Doing a handstand on top of a glacier
- Getting my first facial
- Driving a manual with confidence in two different countries, each time on a different side of the car/road
- Visiting six islands in French Polynesia
- Spending a full ten days living on a boat for the first time in almost a decade (I miss you Shea La Vie)
- Swimming with sharks, sting rays, and manta rays (but of all things, I got bit by a parrot fish) in French Polynesia
- Adding three rings to my collection
- Moving to Ireland for a yearlong working holiday and working at Ard Bia at Nimmo’s in Galway
- Apartment hiunting and nesting in a foreign country
- Biking 42 miles on my 24th birthday in the Scottish Highlands
- Tracing my Scottish roots in the motherland of the Orkney Isles with my cousin Anne
- Discovering a love for Madagascan Vanilla scented candles thanks to Penneys and their endless supply of desirable homegoods
- Becoming a bonafide plant mama
- Completing another journal
- Beginning to work again after seven months of unemployment (due to extensive travel and settling in abroad)
- Speaking Italian, Spanish, and French all in one day at work
- Reading 37 books
