2016: A Travel Year in Review
This year turned out to have quite a bit more travel than I had originally thought I would. I wasn't sure I was going to actually be able to do any personal travel due to some surgery I had done in the end of March.
In February I went off to Melbourne, Florida for some refresher training on a system that we use at work. I spent about 3 glorious days in the city of Melbourne. The weather was definitely nicer than in Minnesota in the winter, but it wasn't actually the greatest for Florida! Still.... it was on the beach and it was about 75-80°, so who am I to complain.
While recovering from my surgery in March/April, I had quite a bit of extra time to surf the internet. While sitting at home one of those days up popped one of the best deals I had seen in a long time. United and Delta were having a price war to Sydney, Australia. Both were offering airfare right around $585 roundtrip out of each others hubs (so if you lived in a Delta hub the fare was valid with United and if you lived in a United hub the fare was valid with Delta). I knew it wouldn't last long but I still wasn't sure that I could do it. The day after it posted I was having breakfast with a friend of mine who convinced me to go. So I ran home, transferred money from savings into checking and booked the ticket. . . . I decided to make it a little more special by scheduling it around my birthday in November.
Fast forward to early July when Icelandair put out a flash week sale to London, Paris or Copenhagen for $480 roundtrip. It was just too much for me to handle. Having been to London several times before I thought about Paris or Copenhagen. Looking at my vacation time I realized I would probably only be able to go for about a week. So I decided on Copenahgen to see a friend of mine.
Fast foward to the end of August. The University of Minnesota Outreach department was looking for a technician with radiology experience to go to the University of Prishtina in Kosovo to help them develop their radiology program. The time commitment would be for two weeks time. Of course, I applied to go because, well, I've worked in radiology for 16 years and I love to travel. It seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.
Copenahgen was of course amazing. I got to spend time with my friend and her dog, Bella. Who is the sweetest chocolate labrador you'll ever meet! We spent a bit of time seeing up the sights around Zealand and Copenahgen city. I also managed to fly over to London for the weekend to see another friend of mine. I decided I would also hit up Wicked for the 15th time and Kinky Boots for the 2nd time... I do love me some musical theater.
Kosovo was an experience like no other. The people are so incredibly friendly and so grateful for the help I was able to provide them. I got to work with the 4th and 5th year veterinary students for only a few minutes but it left a lasting impression. I will definitely want to go back in the future, if the opportunity comes along.
Australia was amazing. A friend of mine from Minnesota had seen me post about the airfare and wanted to come along. I told him it would be OK as long as he knew that a) I wanted to see friends who lived there for a day and b) I have not traveled long term with anyone before, so I wasn't sure how that was going to be. He understood and booked the ticket. We spent the first couple of days in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. I met my friends for a birthday dinner, which was great. From Sydney we rented a car and drove along the coast towards Melbourne, having many great adventures. On our way back inland we stopped in the Yarra Valley and had some wine tasting adventures. It was great. One day while having a lazy, rainy morning I saw that Delta / KLM were having a fare sale to several cities in Europe (KLM will start flying to Minneapolis as the 4th daily flight this upcoming spring 2017, as such they were having a European sale). I was able to book tickets to Bulgaria for just under $450 roundtrip. So, now I know where I'm going next year!
Where else will 2017 take me: I do plan to visit Kosovo for a couple of days while I'm in the Balkans and probably I will drive through Macedonia. Now..... to plan.
View 2016 Flights here
Miles Flown: 45,975
Flight Segments: 26
In February I went off to Melbourne, Florida for some refresher training on a system that we use at work. I spent about 3 glorious days in the city of Melbourne. The weather was definitely nicer than in Minnesota in the winter, but it wasn't actually the greatest for Florida! Still.... it was on the beach and it was about 75-80°, so who am I to complain.
While recovering from my surgery in March/April, I had quite a bit of extra time to surf the internet. While sitting at home one of those days up popped one of the best deals I had seen in a long time. United and Delta were having a price war to Sydney, Australia. Both were offering airfare right around $585 roundtrip out of each others hubs (so if you lived in a Delta hub the fare was valid with United and if you lived in a United hub the fare was valid with Delta). I knew it wouldn't last long but I still wasn't sure that I could do it. The day after it posted I was having breakfast with a friend of mine who convinced me to go. So I ran home, transferred money from savings into checking and booked the ticket. . . . I decided to make it a little more special by scheduling it around my birthday in November.
Fast forward to early July when Icelandair put out a flash week sale to London, Paris or Copenhagen for $480 roundtrip. It was just too much for me to handle. Having been to London several times before I thought about Paris or Copenhagen. Looking at my vacation time I realized I would probably only be able to go for about a week. So I decided on Copenahgen to see a friend of mine.
Fast foward to the end of August. The University of Minnesota Outreach department was looking for a technician with radiology experience to go to the University of Prishtina in Kosovo to help them develop their radiology program. The time commitment would be for two weeks time. Of course, I applied to go because, well, I've worked in radiology for 16 years and I love to travel. It seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.
Copenahgen was of course amazing. I got to spend time with my friend and her dog, Bella. Who is the sweetest chocolate labrador you'll ever meet! We spent a bit of time seeing up the sights around Zealand and Copenahgen city. I also managed to fly over to London for the weekend to see another friend of mine. I decided I would also hit up Wicked for the 15th time and Kinky Boots for the 2nd time... I do love me some musical theater.
Kosovo was an experience like no other. The people are so incredibly friendly and so grateful for the help I was able to provide them. I got to work with the 4th and 5th year veterinary students for only a few minutes but it left a lasting impression. I will definitely want to go back in the future, if the opportunity comes along.
Australia was amazing. A friend of mine from Minnesota had seen me post about the airfare and wanted to come along. I told him it would be OK as long as he knew that a) I wanted to see friends who lived there for a day and b) I have not traveled long term with anyone before, so I wasn't sure how that was going to be. He understood and booked the ticket. We spent the first couple of days in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. I met my friends for a birthday dinner, which was great. From Sydney we rented a car and drove along the coast towards Melbourne, having many great adventures. On our way back inland we stopped in the Yarra Valley and had some wine tasting adventures. It was great. One day while having a lazy, rainy morning I saw that Delta / KLM were having a fare sale to several cities in Europe (KLM will start flying to Minneapolis as the 4th daily flight this upcoming spring 2017, as such they were having a European sale). I was able to book tickets to Bulgaria for just under $450 roundtrip. So, now I know where I'm going next year!
Where else will 2017 take me: I do plan to visit Kosovo for a couple of days while I'm in the Balkans and probably I will drive through Macedonia. Now..... to plan.
View 2016 Flights here
Miles Flown: 45,975
Flight Segments: 26
Airlines Flown: | ||
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Aircraft Flown: |
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Airbus A319-100 |
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Airbus A330-300 |
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Boeing 737-800 |
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Boeing 757-200 |
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Boeing 757-300 |
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Boeing 767-300 |
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Boeing 767-400 |
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Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
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Embraer ERJ-170-100 |
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Fokker 70 |
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McDonnell Douglas MD-88 |
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Countries Visited / Entered / Exited: |
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 Albania |
 Australia |
 Denmark |
 England |
 Kosovo |
 Macedonia |
 United States |
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Airports: |
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| ATL | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA, USA | |
| AMS | Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands | |
| CNS** | Cairns Airport, Cairns, Australia | |
| CPH** | Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| DTW | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit, MI, USA | |
| FRA | Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany | |
| KEF | Keflavik International Airport, Keflavik, Iceland | |
| LAX | Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, CA, USA | |
| LGW | Gatwick International Airport, London, England | |
| LTN*** | Luton Airport, Luton, England | |
| MLB | Melbourne International Airport, Melbourne, FL, U.S.A. | |
| MSP | Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minneapolis, MN, USA | |
| PRN** | Pristina International Airport, Pristina, Kosovo | |
| SYD | Kingsford Smith International Airport, Sydney, Australia | |
| ** new airports for 2016 | ||
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| Nyhaven panorama gone wrong! Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Nyhaven, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Holger Dansk waiting to protect the people from the next invading army! Denmark |
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| Christiania (a.k.a. Hippieville), Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Look at those jewels! Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Enjoying some very tasty smørrebrød (wrong, of course! It should generally be drank with beer or schnapps, but for me it was coffee, mostly because I was cold); Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Lekker smørrebrød (Copenhagen, Denmark) |
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| Hanging out with my friend Julie in Denmark |
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| A very moody sky looms over Buckingham Palace (London, England) |
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| Near Buckingham Palace, London, England |
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| My 15th time seeing Wicked: London, England |
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| Sketching at the British Museum, London, England |
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| National Library, Prishtina, Kosovo |
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| Newborn: The sign that represents the rebirth of the country of Kosovo |
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| Working with the students in Radiology at the University of Prishtina. |
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| Scenes from a daytrip to Prizren, Kosovo - such a beautiful city! |
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| Scenes from a daytrip to Skopje, Macedonia
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| Hanging out with new friends, Prishtina, Kosovo |
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| Traveling to Australia. It was almost fortuitous that the napkin I was given on the United flight from Minneapolis to LAX was of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia. |
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| A beautiful view of the Sydney Harbour while preparing to land at Sydney Airport. |
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| Spending a great birthday with friends in Sydney! (Daniël, Sarah, CJ, Tony & Luther) |
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| I'm pretty sure this kangaroo's leg is bigger than my arm! |
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| Hanging with the locals |
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| Scenes from the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| We have so much in common. We're both cute & cuddly and we would both rip your eyes out given the first chance of annoyance |
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