Updated June 1, 2020.

At this weird time when we’ve been unable to travel, I’ve had to find things to look forward to. I can’t dwell on the fact that my trips over the last couple of months have been cancelled; I need to be excited about planning to rebook them! I need to come up with contingency plans about how to use the travel credits that I’ve accrued through various means during this COVID-19 extravaganza. I’ve also found reminiscing about past trips to be fun and soothing, with the added bonus of appreciating all the amazing things I’ve been able to do over my last 14 years of travel. Check out my top 10 list of my favorite travel moments!

10. Turning 30 with Giant Tortoises

Thirty is a pretty special birthday, and I wanted to go somewhere truly unique. I picked the Galapagos, and it remains one of our most memorable trips ever! Between posing with tortoises, watching flamingoes fly, visiting blue-footed boobies, and swimming with penguins, it was all once-in-a-lifetime material! But the tortoises were my favorite. No matter how old I get, some of them will always be older and slower!

Read on: 10 Reasons to Visit the Galapagos

9. Dancing with Steve at a Luau

My husband does not like to be the center of attention. When we visited the Big Island for our third anniversary, I knew we wanted to do a luau because we hadn’t done one on previous trips. When the emcee got up and asked people who were celebrating honeymoons or anniversaries to dance to a romantic Hawaiian song, I didn’t ask or expect Steve to dance with me. We show each other love in other ways! But when he stood up and said, “Okay, let’s do it!” I could tell he didn’t really want to do it himself, but he wanted to do it for me! So we danced!

Read on: What to Eat at a Luau

8. Getting a Surprise Upgrade for a 14-hour flight

After a less than stellar trip to Bali, tummy troubles on the three-hour ride to the Bali airport, a long wait at the airport, a long layover in Bangkok, and a rude security guard who didn’t want me to make my connection, I was dreading the 14-hour flight from Bangkok to Vienna in economy, and then the 8-hour flight from Vienna to Washington, D.C. It was late, my boarding pass made the machine beep and flash red, and the gate agent asked Steve and me to step aside and wait for a moment. It was not my night.

And then God smiled at me and gave me the little miracle I needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other: a FREE upgrade to business class on Austrian Air for our 14-hour flight! It was glorious! We got served amazing Austrian food by a chef in a chef’s coat and hat, we watched The Sound of Music, and we slept! Not only did we sleep, but we slept well! That moment when we found out about the upgrade and every moment after will always be one of my very top travel memories EVER!

Get the whole story! Marathon Flying from Bali to D.C.
and What to Eat in Austrian Air Business Class

7. Spending Valentine’s Day in Verona, Italy

I’m a hopeless romantic, what can I say? The thought of visiting Verona, the hometown of the legendary Romeo and Juliet, had captivated me for a while. When I realized we could actually stay in an accommodation that shares the courtyard with Juliet’s house, I knew we had to do it! Steve kindly obliged, and we had one of the most special Valentine’s weekends ever!

Keep reading: Why You Should Spend Valentine’s Day in Verona

6. Salzburg Restoring My Travel Confidence

After basically everything went wrong on our trip to Morocco last year, I thought I’d lost my touch. I had zero confidence in my travel planning abilities, and I was dreading all the upcoming travel we still had planned. But then we went to Salzburg. We took a Sound of Music tour, ate Sacher Torte, stayed at a fancy hotel, people were kind to us, we went hiking, we saw all the history, we went for runs along the river… it was perfect, and it gave me back my love of travel when I thought I had actually lost it.

Why was it so awesome? Check out my Austria Page and see!

5. Steve Surprising Me with Business Class to Singapore

Steve and I frequently fly in business class for long-haul flights by using airline miles or loyalty upgrades. We only very rarely pay extra to fly in business class. For our Valentine’s trip to Singapore a few years ago, however, upgrades were not available; the only way to get into business with those wonderful lay-flat seats was to pay for it. And Steve surprised me by doing so! As someone who can’t sleep sitting up, this was one surprise gift I’ll never forget!

Is it worth the long flight? Check out my Singapore Page to find out!

4. Seeing the Na’Pali Coast from the Air

Kauai is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, and I can’t wait to go back one day. We visited the island for our second anniversary, and we decided to take a scenic flight around the island. The island is mostly protected land, and there are some places that can only be seen from the air. When we rounded the island and came in sight of the unparalleled Na’Pali Coast, the word “majestic” was all that could come to mind, and my eyes filled with tears because it was just that gorgeous. I will never forget that.

Is it really that beautiful? Find out in 10 Reasons to Visit Kauai!

3. Attending an Opera at the Sydney Opera House

I’d wanted to do this since I was a little girl, and my Love made it happen for my 28th birthday! He flew us to Sydney, bought our tickets to La Traviatta, and dressed up just to make my dream come true!

Our entire Australian adventure was epic, so read about it on my Australia Page!

2. Taking a Helicopter Ride with Long-lost Friends

This will forever be one of my favorite moments in life. My husband Steve and I were spending our fourth anniversary on Maui, and as a special treat, we had booked a helicopter tour over Maui and Molokai on the day of our anniversary.

It just so happened that our friends Ron and Jane, who did our pre-marital counseling before moving back to Kansas City, were also on Maui. I randomly saw on Facebook that they were there.

The day before our helicopter tour, the company called to say that we had to cancel or reschedule because we were the only two people scheduled for the flight. So I called Ron and Jane, and they came with us! We hadn’t seen each other in four years, and that was an epic way to reconnect!

Get all the details: Our Maui and Molokai Helicopter Tour

1. Living and Working in Japan

Okay, so this is not an actual moment but many moments over a long period of time. And that’s okay–my list, my rules! This experience was the single most life-changing experience of my life. My faith grew, my confidence grew, my life’s trajectory changed, and I wouldn’t change the good or the bad. Well, I might change the bad if I had the chance, but overall, the good more than made up for it, and every experience contributed to making me who I’ve become today!

What am I talking about? Check out my Japan Page for the whole story!

What are you favorite travel moments? Comment and let us all know below!

Want more inspiring travel experiences? Check out all my travel bucket lists on my Travel Tips Page!

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