2016: A (Travel) Year In Review
Previous to 2016, I'd been to a total of seven countries in my lifetime, including my home of the USA.
I must have gotten the travel bug this year...
....because in 2016, I traveled to not three, not eight, but a whopping THIRTEEN new countries, totaling to 20 countries that I've visited in my life.
Those are just new countries. I traveled to a total of NINETEEN new cities, two in the USA! (Technically Tashkent and Khiva were in 2015, and I'd already been to Nashville before)
I made dozens of new friends and travel buddies, and already had a reunion with five of them (oh hey there, NYCers Remi, Calvin, Helen, Tan, and Yvonne from the Silk Road trip!).
I went on TWO Monsoon Diaries trips (The Silk Road and started the Transsiberian on Dec. 31st).
And I had immeasurable laughs, excitement, frustration and joy through it all. Here are some of my pictures to summarize the year, places I've visited and people I've met. Click on a photo to enlarge.
I must have gotten the travel bug this year...
....because in 2016, I traveled to not three, not eight, but a whopping THIRTEEN new countries, totaling to 20 countries that I've visited in my life.
- Uzbekistan
- Tajikistan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Kazakhstan
- Denmark
- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
- Latvia
- Estonia
- Romania
- Moldova
- Russia
Those are just new countries. I traveled to a total of NINETEEN new cities, two in the USA! (Technically Tashkent and Khiva were in 2015, and I'd already been to Nashville before)
- Bukhara
- Samarkand
- Khujand
- Istaravshan
- Khoja Obi Garm
- Dushanbe
- Bishkek
- Almaty
- New York City
- Boston
- Copenhagen
- Oslo
- Stockholm
- Helsinki
- Riga
- Tallinn
- Bucharest
- Chisinau
- St. Petersburg
I made dozens of new friends and travel buddies, and already had a reunion with five of them (oh hey there, NYCers Remi, Calvin, Helen, Tan, and Yvonne from the Silk Road trip!).
I went on TWO Monsoon Diaries trips (The Silk Road and started the Transsiberian on Dec. 31st).
And I had immeasurable laughs, excitement, frustration and joy through it all. Here are some of my pictures to summarize the year, places I've visited and people I've met. Click on a photo to enlarge.
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| horseback in the Hissar Fortress near Dushanbe |
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| hopping trains in Tashkent |
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| blue tiles in Khiva |
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| Valentina Romanenko fashions in Samarkand |
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| local boys in Istaravshan |
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| a pit stop in Tajikistan |
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| the Fan Mountains with Anne |
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| thumbs up to painfully hot Tajik spa time! |
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| street market in Khiva |
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| street market in Khiva |
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| the Registan in Samarkand |
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| plaza beside the world's 2nd tallest flagpole, Dushanbe |
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| Yvonne and me in Times Square |
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| dinner with Calvin, Helen and Tan in NYC |
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Remi, me and Calvin at the High Line
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| Harvard Yard, Boston |
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| Alex, Tijs and Bram in the first moments of the 7-hour pub crawl my first night in Copenhagen |
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| Rachel and me in Nyhavn, Copenhagen |
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| Jesper, my Danish dinner date |
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| Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen |
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| relaxing on the ferry to Oslo |
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| The National Archives, where I sought out family history, in Oslo |
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| Akershus fortress, Oslo |
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| planning what became an unplanned night with Marco in Oslo |
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| loving Gamla Stan, Stockholm |
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| the authentic Swedish meatball meal I made in my Stockholm hostel |
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| the signage in Helsinki Airport is impeccable. |
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| Navy Jerry's in Helsinki |
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| free feast of a meal in Riga |
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| Eric, Damien, Jean-Philippe and Jess, new friends in Riga |
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| the streets of Riga |
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| House of Blackheads, Riga |
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| overlooking Tallinn |
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| final night in Tallinn, when I met my new friends Deniz and Tom |
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| world's smallest DJ at the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville |
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| Hatch Show Print, Nashville |
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| Tara got her wallet stolen in Nashville |
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| jumpin' for joy in Nashville |
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| the only gun show i need, Nashville |
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| Johnny Cash museum, Nashville (photo courtesy of Tara) |
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| street market in Bucharest |
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| Trajan and She-Wolf statue (they think it's ugly, too) in Bucharest |
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| me, Sarah, Becca, Megan and Nicky, my new kiwi friends I met in Bucharest |
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| train station art in Bucharest |
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| Sam, Sarah, Becca, me, Nicky and Mitchell in Bucharest |
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| Mikhail, a Moldovan who offered me everything in a time of need in Chisinau |
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| Catedrala Nasterea Domnului, Chisinau |
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| opera in Chisinau |
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| holiday festival in Chisinau |
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| Hermitage, St. Petersburg |
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| Hermitage, St. Petersburg |
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| causing trouble once again with Calvin, St. Petersburg |
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| streets of St. Petersburg |
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| Kazan Cathedral, St Petersburg |
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| "In St. Petersburg, to drink to drink." Thanks, Igor, for the google translate |
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