2016 has come and gone and I am glad that it’s over.  Not a fantastic year as far as I’m concerned but Stephen and I did have some enjoyable trips this past year.  Over the course of the year, we spent a week in Italy visiting Rome and the Amalfi Coast for a week in April, a few days in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Fourth of July weekend, a short trip to Austin, TX to watch our alma mater (University of TX) play Notre Dame, a week in Antigua for Thanksgiving and we finished out the year by spending 5 nights in Sonoma wine country over New Years.

2017 is booked through late April and I am still playing around with a few ideas for the latter half of the year.  Here is what I’ve got so far:

Las Vegas and Chicago in January.  These are work trips so they won’t be too exciting but I should be able to find some time in Vegas to do a few fun things.  Chicago in January isn’t my idea of a good time but we’ll see how it goes.

Miami in February.  Again, another work trip but I would rather go to Miami than Chicago, Boston or New York this time of year. At least it will be warm(er).

Napa Valley in March.  I’m really looking forward to this family trip.  For Christmas, I surprised my mom with a 3 day weekend stay at the fancy-schmancy Auberge du Soleil Hotel in Napa.  We’ll spend a mother-daughter weekend doing wine tastings, eating great food, shopping and visiting the spa. I had lunch at this hotel last year and was blown away by how beautiful it was.

Bucket List Trip – April 2017.  Steve and I are flying to Tahiti in late April to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary.  We’ll be spending 3 nights at the Sofitel on Moorea followed by 4 nights at the St. Regis on Bora Bora in the overwater bungalow.  This is our big trip of the year and we splurged on this one as we celebrate a special occasion.  Can’t wait to jump right off our private deck into that blue lagoon.

July/August 2017.  I’m not 100% sure where we will go in late July but I am batting around a few ideas.  If we stay in the U.S., we will probably either do the Northeast and visit Boston and drive up to Maine or we’ll go Pacific Northwest and visit the Oregon coast, Portland and Willamette Valley or we’ll do Northern California and visit Big Sur, Half Moon Bay and San Francisco.  I’m also tentatively exploring a trip to Europe and that would most likely be Ireland, the U.K. (London, Cotswolds, Bath) or possibly France (Paris and Loire Valley for wine tastings).

November 2017.  Steve and I always take a trip over Thanksgiving.  This one is also still up in the air but we will either go really warm or really cold.  If we go really warm, I’ve narrowed it down to the Riviera Maya in Mexico, Costa Rica or Belize.  If we go cold, then I would look into visiting Austria to see the Christmas markets and would most likely visit Vienna, Salzburg and possibly Innsbruck or Southern Germany (Munich and Neuchwanstein castle).

Lots of options for 2017.  Steve and I are currently saving miles for two round trip business class tickets to Asia for 2018 so I have to plan strategically in 2017 to maximize miles but be cost-effective at the same time.  We are looking forward to more exploring in 2017!