As you likely know, 2020 was a transitional year for me.
I took the leap and left my corporate career to chase my dreams of travel.
I’m happy to report that Bill and I were blessed with another year to continue our YOLO travel adventures and meeting new and interesting people along the way!
Similar to last year’s recap, here we got for 2021…
January
We rang in 2021 surrounded by friends in Cabo San Lucas. A wonderful and fun time there for about a week.
Also, while Bill was in Colombia handling some business on importing a 1978 FJ-40, I decided to fly to Minnesota. It was really nice spending time with family and friends up there.
February
I flew to Arizona for a couple weeks to co-live and co-work with a couple friends from Minnesota who were escaping the Minnesota winter. It was great spending time with them and also testing another example of how corporate leaders can effectively travel and work remotely.
March
In early March, we traveled to Playa del Carmen (PDC), Mexico. Our original plan was to just stay there for the month of March to see what it was like for living and working remotely.
April
In early April when our return date to the US was approaching, we decided we weren’t ready to leave PDC yet so we extended our stay to mid-May.
May
In early May, while still in PDC, one of our friends started feeling sick and ended up testing positive for COVID-19. Since I sat next to her at dinner a few nights prior, I took a COVID-19 test right away.
My results were negative…
WHEW – I thought I dodged a bullet!
However, 2 days later, I started feeling crummy. I re-tested, and this time I was positive.
Luckily, we had the flexibility to extend our stay so I could complete my quarantine before returning to the US.
June
We spent a couple weeks in Minnesota before flying to Croatia.
We spent the few days in Split, Croatia working and getting acclimated to the different time zone and spent the rest of the month in Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb.
While in Zagreb, I was featured at the Zagreb’s Digital Nomad Week conference where I shared my story of leaving the corporate world to travel. I also announced the launch of the Executive Remote Worker community.
July
We spent the first part of July living and working in Kotor, Montenegro which is the country just South of Croatia.
SIDE NOTE: it was awesome hiking up to the top of the Kotor Fortress on the morning of my 45th birthday! 😊
Instead of continuing our travels down the coast of Montenegro and into Albania, we decided to take a trip across the Adriatic Sea to Italy.
Because of COVID-19 rules for US citizens, we had to spend 14 days in Croatia before we could enter Italy. Therefore, we spent a couple weeks living and working in Dubrovnik. It certainly didn’t suck spending our lunch hours chilling on the pebble beaches every day!
In late July, we took an overnight ferry to Italy which was an interesting life experience.
Once in Italy, we spent a few days exploring the beautiful region of Puglia (the heel of Italy) before heading North to Rome.
August
From Puglia, we took a high-speed train to Rome where we spent about a week. It was so interesting to see ancient Roman ruins, visit the Vatican, see the Sistine Chapel with my own eyeballs, and learn so much about the history of Rome!
We also ventured up to Florence for a week. The architecture in Florence was beautiful and impressive, and we really enjoyed our daytrip to Cinque Terre.
The food and café culture in Italy was phenomenal. We spent at least the first hour of each day enjoying cappuccinos and delicious, flaky croissants.
After our time in Italy, we returned to Croatia to spend a week sailing along the coast of Croatia. With 6 other people on board, we tried to get our work done first thing in the morning so we could enjoy the rest of the day sailing and swimming. In the late afternoon and evenings, we docked in an island port to explore the town and enjoy the local cuisine for dinner.
After sailing, we met up with some US friends in Split and spent a day driving to Dubrovnik – via Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
September
Bill and I spent the month of September in Hvar Town on the island of Hvar in Croatia. Because September is their ‘shoulder’ season, the town was less busy so it was very relaxing to work from our nice apartment and walk down to the beach to swim over lunch each day!
We also had a friend from Dubrovnik visit us one weekend. He had a nice car so the 3 of us spent some time exploring other towns on the island like Milna, Stari Grad, and Jelsa.
October
We spent about a week in the Eastern part of Croatia, specifically Osijek which is an up-and-coming digital nomad destination. We enjoyed exploring the city and surrounding area which included several beautiful vineyards and wineries and learning more about the history of Croatia and Yugoslavia.
After Osijek, we drove a couple hours North to Budapest. We spent about a week in this beautiful and historic city. I was honestly expecting to be underwhelmed by Budapest but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The architecture, food, and history were incredible!
In late October, we hit the road in Florida and headed for Minnesota. It took us about 2 days to drive there, and we had a great Fall visit with family and friends.
November
In early November, we flew to Mexico. This time… we went to the Pacific side and spent 2 weeks in Sayulita and 1 month in Puerto Vallarta.
We had a great time enjoying the warm beaches, delicious margaritas, and meeting up with other members of the Executive Remote Worker community in Puerto Vallarta.
December
From Puerto Vallarta, we returned to Florida to celebrate Christmas but then hopped back on a plane to fly to Guadalajara. A friend we had met in PDC earlier in the year was there so we met up with him.
Together, we rang in the new year with delicious buffalo wings and shots of tequila.
Interestingly, we rang in 2021 in Mexico (Cabo San Lucas) and rang in 2022 in Mexico too (Guadalajara)!
Conclusion
As you can see, another blessed year for Bill and I!
My wishes for 2022:
- Continued good health and positivity for everyone reading this.
- The pandemic withers away so more people can get back to traveling.
- Seeing more of my corporate friends traveling and living abroad now that remote working is more accessible and acceptable than ever.
- Peace and resolution between in Russia and Eastern Europe and the rest of the world.
All the best,
Kristie