You’ll be happy to know that at the ripe age of 34, I’ve finally accepted that my best plans and intentions for the new year often go out the window around mid-February.
I had a vision of how 2015 would turn out, and my word, did it go off the rails! Between crazy, varied work projects and the nightmare that was wedding planning, I stayed closer to Angie Away Base Camp than ever before. For the first time since 2008, I didn’t leave my own continent! Instead, I spent all my time exploring the Caribbean, Canada and parts of the U.S.
Here’s a quick photographic recap of my year in adventures.
- Miles flown in 2015: 26,023
- Flights taken: 40 planes; 1 seaplane
- Countries visited: Canada, The Bahamas, Aruba, Bonaire
- New countries:3
- States visited: Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Nevada, Texas, New York
- Husband acquired: 1
January
Alex in Wanderland came to visit me in Florida. We spent a little time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, explored the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and froze our butts off at Angie Away Base Camp.
Then I drove up to St. Simons Island for a couple days of exploring on assignment.
February
We popped up to Amelia Island and he popped the question. Let the wedding planning begin!
March
We traveled to Treasure Cay in The Bahamas to research wedding venues, and after a gorgeous visit and lots of research, we chose Bahama Beach Club.
I flew to Dallas for a speaking engagement and was scheduled to stay the weekend with BFF Lauren, but I was called back to Jacksonville at the last minute to cover the red carpet at the annual Tim Tebow Foundation Gala. It was so much fun!
After a crazy month, we celebrated Mom’s birthday with a group photo in St. Augustine.
April
I popped up to Knoxville, Tenn., for a few days to explore the Smoky Mountains.
I went whitewater rafting with a reality TV celebrity.
I loved the mountains so much, the next week I flew to Vancouver and hopped onboard the Rocky Mountaineer for an epic train trek through Canada.
I almost didn’t make it back from Canada in time for our engagement party… but after some cancelled flights, tears and one tornado, I was home in the nick of time!
I started hanging around on The Chat.
May
In May, we had our annual family campout at Ginnie Springs and explored some of its famous underwater caves.
Next, I flew to Puerto Rico with my little sister for a Jockey media experience at El Conquistador Resort. We hiked in El Yunque, did yoga on a picturesque hillside and kayaked around a private island. Not a bad weekend.
Chatting it up again.
June
I popped up to NYC for 24 hours for a press conference. It wasn’t enough time in the city, but it was a bit like coming up for air.
The next week, my husband-to-be got baptized, a very emotional moment! Then we took a week off of work to participate in a local mission trip with our church. We painted, built, landscaped and spent some quality time with a couple of veterans in a Jacksonville neighborhood.
After that, I made my way to Orlando to film for a Destination America behind-the-scenes special about Universal Orlando Resort.
After that, more Chat.
Up next, my first shark experience of the year during Shark Week.
June
In July, I traveled to Virginia Beach. I ate everything.
I talked about solo travel on The Chat…
Wedding invitations went out…
And the trip I’d been planning with Alex in Wanderland and Camels and Chocolate for months finally began – Bonaire!
We laughed our heads off in between seven dives, eating all the delicious cuisine on the island. and exploring above the water.
And they threw me the most epic shark-themed bachelorette party on our last night!
August
After that late night, we were up early to fly to Aruba for a relaxing couple of days at the Divi Tamarijn Aruba.
Up next, yet another girls’ only adventure, this time with Jamie and Lauren in Atlanta. We didn’t do anything but eat, and I was really, really ok with that.
Um, another girls’ weekend/bachelorette party – this time with my Maid of Honor in Las Vegas. What can I say? I enjoyed this part of the engagement process!
Cosmopolitan and Redbook featured my article 15 Lessons I Learned from Traveling Around the World. Woohoo!
September
Wedding crunch time. Everything’s a blur. I half remember coordinating a press trip to Universal Orlando this month… here’s the one photo I took!
And I did wind up on The Chat to talk about our scuba adventures on Bonaire…
October
Wedding month arrived and everything was chaotic. Packing, planning, a million phone calls and drama with the resort. We hoped it would be a relaxing week once we finally arrived in The Bahamas, but you know how that went...
We did have some memorable and happy moments though…
Just before I walked down the aisle – hysteria with my maid of honor!
My superhero husband | Photo courtesy of The Lilypad Agency
And when it was all over, we honeymooned on Exuma…
And spent a night exploring Miami on the way back.
November
And then my new husband moved in with me. We opened all our sweet wedding gifts and started the hilarious process of living together.
We celebrated a very low-key birthday.
A few more trips to Universal Orlando…
Thanksgiving with this hunk… (p.s. I really got into Snapchat this year. I’m AngieAway over there if you’d like to connect!)
December
One more visit to The Chat to talk about our wedding disaster and some of my favorite romantic destinations…
One last trip to Orlando…
We might need a bigger tree…
Christmas came and went SO FAST and now here we are at the end of the year – a year I thought would be “pretty mellow” and involve a smooth, easy destination wedding and maybe a couple simple trips in Florida. Life is wild, isn’t it?
Where to next? Check out my 25th edition of Reflections from the Road for an update!
My most memorable adventure this year was getting married! Tell me: what was your most memorable adventure of 2015?
