Oh, the places we went in 2014:

• February – We took a road trip to Ottawa and enjoyed beaver tails and hot chocolate during Winterlude. It was freaking cold. The kid went tobogganing for the first time in what he thought was a boat.
• March/April – Daniel traveled to and from Houston a lot for work. He sampled some of the best southern food he’s ever had. His geeky side was tickled fancy when he had the opportunity to visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center, touring the historic mission control and catching a glimpse of the Orion capsule which will one day take us to Mars.
• May – I went to Vegas for a bachelorette party and was introduced to bottle service, celebrity DJs, and clubbing till the wee hours of the night; it was quite a cultural experience. While Vegas was not high on my list of places to travel to, I had so much fun that I can’t wait to go back!
• June – Ah, the World Cup, hang gliding and beaches… sans le bebe. Brazil was our big international trip of the year and though it cost us more than we normally spend on a vacation, it was well worth it.
• July – Daniel was in California for a couple weeks on business. On the company’s dime, he dined in Michelin star restaurants in the Bay area. On weekends, he would explore San Francisco, visiting big tourist attractions like Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.
• August – After a hectic chaotic first eight months of the year, we took some time to unwind at “the cottage” in Prince Edward County. It was a blissful trip of family, food, and relaxing, and helped us refresh and renew for an even busier quarter.
• November – Daniel went back to the Bay Area for a couple weeks. He enjoyed warm weather, while eating very well on restaurant patios while I had to endure snow storms. Oh, the fairness of it all.
• December – Already sick of the cold, I convinced Daniel that we needed a family vacation to a warm and sunny locale. After some careful planning, we went on a Western-Caribbean cruise to get a tan.

Travel Plans for 2015

With the baby #2 coming this year, we’re limiting our travelling this year. Nonetheless, we do have a couple of vacations planned already.

Korea

Back last spring, while desperately trying meet a critical deadlines at work, I received a message from my globe trotting friend Nancy. She informed me of pricing errors for flights to Seoul with Delta Airline; flights to Seoul were as cheap as $500 a person! I thanked her for the information, but because Daniel was travelling that day, and there was no means to reach him to discuss potential travel to Korea, and simply because I was swamped at work, I decided against jumping down the rabbit hole of looking into the deal.

A couple hours later, my curiosity got the best of me, and I searched for potential travel dates. In between personal travel, business travel, and other commitments, dates for a trip to Korea in 2014 was limited. I started searching 2015 travel dates. Lo and behold, price error rates were available!

I messaged Nancy back: Found seats for Feb 2015 for under $500/ticket! But Daniel travelling. Not going to book trip without him. Going back to work.

As fate would have it, shortly after I messaged her, Daniel called unexpectedly.

“Hey,” he says, “Flight arrived early. I’m heading home”.

I couldn’t believe my luck! Excitedly I told him about my find, “Do you want to go to Korea next year? It’s a long way from now, but tickets are really really really cheap!”

Daniel, used to my travel proposals, laughed. “Sure… how much?”

“$470 a person! That’s less than $1500 for all three of us to go!”

Who can turn down such a deal?! That’s usually the price of a single ticket! With Daniel’s concurrence, I spent another half an hour to book the tickets for a trip to be taken more than nine months later.

And in case you were wondering, I ended up having to work late that evening to meet my deadline. Worth it.

So now you have it, the story of why we’re going to Korea. We leave for our trip on Wednesday and will be gone for two weeks. I’m very excited for kimchi and rice cakes!

The Cottage

Similar to the last two summers, we’ll spend a week in a rented home a during the summer. There are no definite plans as of yet.

Babymoon (maybe?)

A babymoon is defined as a relaxing family vacation taken to connect with each other before the arrival of a new bundle of joy. When I was pregnant with our son, Daniel and I took a small road trip to Kingston, Ontario, the city of our alma mater. We spent a few days at a charming BnB, visiting our old haunts and going to the spa. It was lovely and simple, and I want a similar trip during this pregnancy (Daniel is completely oblivious of this and will probably find out about it once he reads this over).

Daniel says the cruise was our babymoon, seeing I was pregnant at the time, but, as usual, I’m going to try to convince him that another trip is in order, especially to satisfy by crazy hormonal wanderlust cravings. There are no definite plans at the moment.

Last Word

We’ll have the luxury of going on an international trip this year, in addition to at least one more local trips. However, I’ve been spoiled and, in the last few years, have enjoyed 2 international trips on top of a handful of smaller ones on an annual basis. Now whatever am I going to do to satisfy my wanderlust?!

Where do you wish/plan to go this year?