The more I travel, the more I realize how much I get out of each opportunity. For me, travel means learning, going on adventures, trying new things, pushing beyond my comfort zone, and having fun. On vacation (or stay-cation) I can let loose and forget about the stresses in my life – at least for a short time. This year was an incredible year of travels, being an at home tourist and spending quality time with family and friends. Here’s a video of my 2019 travel highlights, and each trip is detailed below.
2019 Travel Highlights
January – Ocean Riviera Paradise, Mexico
We kicked off the year with a relaxing all-inclusive vacation. This one was a tad different though, because my whole family went with us! On this family vacation we had a few plus ones. My husband, my brother-in-law, and my nephew. The last time our family went on vacation was over 10 years ago so it was definitely a different experience. The resort was really modern, lots of pools and always chairs to be found.
Check out some of my Ocean Riviera Paradise videos to learn more about the resort and amenities: Ocean Riviera Paradise Resort Tour, Ocean Riviera Paradise Junior Suite Tour, Ocean Riviera Paradise Master Suite Tour, Top 5 Likes: Ocean Riviera Paradise, Top 5 Dislikes: Ocean Riviera Paradise.
April – San Juan, Puerto Rico & Southern Caribbean Cruise
We like to go away in April to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and this year we decided to book a Southern Caribbean Cruise with Royal Caribbean. It left from San Juan, Puerto Rico which meant we had 24-hour to explore Old San Juan. There is a lot of history here, and some really interesting things to do if you’re looking for a quick weekend escape. You can check out my 24-hours in Old San Juan itinerary for more details.
If you’re thinking about a Southern Caribbean Cruise, I’d highly recommend it. Here are some of my posts and videos from this part of the vacation: Freedom of the Seas Review & Ship Tour, 1-Day in Aruba, 1-Day in Bonaire, 1-Day in Curacao.
May – Toronto, Canada
In May I was asked to stay at the Westin Harbour Castle for a weekend. It was a great staycation and I got to play at-home-tourist in the city I work in every day. Normally I take the train into the office each day and don’t get to spend any time in the city, so we made the most of our 2-night stay. First we hit up some breweries in the city, then we went to take photos at some of the top photo spots in Toronto.
You can take a look at my 1-day Toronto Itinerary if you have less time, or want to cram as much into a day as possible.
June – Chicago, USA & Niagara Falls, Canada
In June I got to meet one of my travel blogger friends in Chicago. It was my first time in Chicago and also my first time meeting Marisa in person! We had a great weekend exploring the city, finding murals, trying out some popular Chicago restaurants and taking the architecture river cruise. Check out my 48-hours in Chicago, Illinois itinerary for complete details!
Later in the month we also spent a weekend in Niagara Falls, Canada doing what I love best: wine tasting! My husband and I went with some friends and sampled our way through the region. We went to 10 different wineries and 3 breweries! Here is my complete guide to our winery weekend. And, I’d highly recommend The Winery Guys Tours (not sponsored, but hey – feel free to sponsor me!) for your tour. They picked us up from our hotel and drove us (and 4 others) around. Their itinerary was pretty interesting too because it included wineries, a brewery and some food pairings.
July/August – Las Vegas, USA
For our vacation in July/August we leveraged the long weekend to take an extra long weekend to Las Vegas. My husband was at the EVO video game tournament for his YouTube channel (Mr. Sujano) and I tagged along. I basically explored the city by myself for 3 days while he was at the tournament, but we did venture to Fremont Street, Red Rock Canyon and the 7 Magic Mountains together. It was an interesting vacation!
Check out my 11 Free Things to do in Las Vegas post, my Mandalay Bay room tour, and 14 Things to do other than gambling post. No matter what you’re looking for, Vegas is sure to have it.
November – New York, USA & Bermuda Cruise
My last trip of the year was a Bermuda Cruise that left from New York. I had never been to NYC or Bermuda, so this sounded like a perfect combination. In New York we toured around Manhattan to see as many tourist attractions as possible. We were able to cover a lot in a short time and you can take a look at my 2-Day New York Itinerary for complete details.
Bermuda was just as lovely as everyone said it would be! This island is very expensive to live on and visit. Since everything needs to be shipped to the island, even basic items can cost more than double the regular cost (but usually more). We had approximately 2 days to see the island and I shared our 2-day Bermuda Itinerary and Bermuda Travel Tips to help others plan their time. You could easily visit Bermuda for a weekend or spread out your activities over a longer stay.
2019 Travel Highlights Summary
I had a fantastic travel year in 2019 and look forward to sharing even more of the tips, itineraries and reviews from my travels in 2020.
4 comments
You seem to have enjoyed 2019 a lot! I envy you for the amazing plans you have made! I have been to San Fransisco state but not to the city of Las Vegas so that is one blog post that i’ll like to check out! Thanks for increasing my bucket list!
Thanks! I hope you get to Vegas – it’s such an interesting and active city. Always something to see and do.
You visited some pretty awesome places in 2019. Glad to see you came to the US. In my younger days, I traveled outside the US a lot. Nowadays, I have a passion to see the US and travel slowly by RV. Every now and then, I see a year like yours and think it might be nice to get away once in a while.
I’m trying to get outside of Canada and the US as much as I can now, so that when I retire I can do a cross Canada/cross US trip with a camper van or RV. Sadly I don’t have the time off from work to be able to travel slowly.