Travel by Number: My Year Off in Review
Me on my first day of my first trip of the year.
This post will publish on my first day back at work in fourteen months. Thinking about the fact that I’m scheduling posts for that day kind of makes me want to curl up and die–or at least curl up and sleep for a while, as I know I won’t be sleeping much for the next ten months while back in the classroom.
I’m really sad that this year has come to an end. Not just because I don’t want to go back to the job I left–though that’s probably the main part–but because it was such a great year. I need to keep reminding myself of all the things I did that I could not have done had I not taken this year off. Truth be told, I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t get more done this year. And by ‘get more done’ I mean ‘publish a book and find a new job, like those from an rpo talent acquisition, and lose eighty pounds’. Seriously. Those were my goals for my year off.
But even though I kind of sort of gave up on my book, and even though I didn’t find a new job and even though I’m still fat (damn you, 32-year-old metabolism) I did have a pretty great year. Especially when you look at the data.
Me on the last day of my last trip of the year.
Number of trips taken: 12
Destinations visited: 24 (ish)
Number of travel days: 106.
Number of flights: only 9, and this includes connecting flights.
Days at sea: 21
Miles driven: around 6,500, but I’m pretty sure that’s a low estimate.
Blog posts written: 144. That’s gross. Ha ha–get it? No seriously–144 blog posts.
Photos taken: 13,481. And that’s only counting actual photos. I have over two thousand on my iPhone, too.
Dollars spent: And now, for the final number. I’m sure the world wants to know how much I spent on this year off. Well, to begin with, please know that I saved up for an entire year to cover regular life expenses, and that those expenses always included travel. And also please know that I have two credit cards that I use for regular credit card things–car inspections and dog vet visits and, very infrequently, boots I just have to have. So first–all of my savings are gone, and I literally have $18 to spend for the rest of this week. Additionally, both of those credit cards are maxed out. Because I pay way more than the minimum balance every month and because I downright refuse to sit down and look at the actual numbers and figure out how much of that maxed-out-ness came from travel, I have no number. Let’s just say that it is less than you are imagining but way more than I intended to spend, and leave it at that.
Well, there you have it. My year in review. Sure, I didn’t get to visit everywhere on my must-visit list, but there was no humanly possible (or financially possible) way to do that. And there’s always next year. Or next summer. Or my next year off. Because there will be another. As soon as humanly–and financially–possible. Of this I am certain.
Good luck back at school! I’d say 106 travel days in the past 14 months is pretty impressive!
Think of it this way – if you hadn’t taken the time off, you would have never met Linda & me.
Oh I know! That is actually something I think about frequently! Seriously looking into joining you two in May in Barcelona and on that Med. cruise. If you’ll have me. I think I can swing it.