What better way to start 2014 than to look back over our previous year of travels with pleasure and look forward to hopefully another exciting year ahead of us!
2013 really was an exciting year for us beginning with our trip to Australia which ended 2012 and started the new year. Throughout the year we visited a host of new places along with rekindling our experiences with several spots around the world we have seen before. Our love for travel continues and shows no sign of diminishing and we want to share some of our favorite images as we take a look at our 2013 travel review along with some of our favorite pictures!
January
One of our favorite experiences whilst in Australia was visiting the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary seeing these little fellas in action along with host of other Australian native animals. Australia truly was one of our ‘trips of a lifetime’ as we started 2013 with a real bang!
Highlights of our trips this month
- Brisbane on New Year’s Eve
- The GABBA to watch Brisbane Heat cricket
- Gold Coast
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
- Sydney Opera House
February & March
Following our big trip to Australia, February and March were relatively quiet for us on the travel front. Regular trips to Memphis, TN and a trip to Nashville, TN was the highlight during both of these months as we planned our trips for later in the year.
April
I could have selected a whole host of pictures from my trip to Philadelphia (unfortunately I was solo on this trip as it was primarily for work but Heather and I will be visiting here again together in early 2014) including the infamous Rocky statue or Independence Hall where the US Constitution was signed, but this close-up image of the Liberty Bell and the vivid crack that is visible was one of my favorite shots.
Philly is a really great city to visit and there is so much to see and do there!
Highlights of our trips this month
- Independence Hall
- Rocky Statue and steps
- Liberty Bell
- Eagles, 76ers and Phillies Stadiums
May
The Memorial Day weekend saw us take a trip to Dallas & Fort Worth in Texas and this was pretty much a sport-themed trip all the way. After visiting the Crowne Plaza Invitational PGA Tour event in Fort Worth, we experienced the FC Dallas football (or soccer as it is referred to in the States) team play.
Highlights of our trips this month
- Dallas/Fort Worth
June
One of my favorite trips of the year was short and sweet but experiencing Washington DC and the fact that so much of the landmarks and attractions are FREE is a great incentive for anyone wanting to go there in the near future. Spending just a day here did DC no justice at all but it gave us an exciting glimpse of everything that there is to do there. We are ready to go back soon for sure!
Highlights of our trips this month
- Washington DC
July
Our first trip out west to California saw us spend 5 days in the San Francisco area. We spent the first 3 days exploring the Bay area including experiencing the famous ‘old-school’ street cars and then we rented a car and traveled south to Pebble Beach before heading out to Yosemite National Park.
Highlights of our trips this month
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Alcatraz
- Yosemite National Park
- Pebble Beach Golf Links
August
I am sure you can all guess the impressive view above! Yes, Niagara Falls was top of our list of travels in August 2013. For Heather’s birthday we decided to head to Buffalo, NY to visit Niagara along with taking in the PGA Championship at nearby Rochester, NY for a couple of days and also crossing the border into Canada for a day trip to Toronto (and to see Niagara from the Canadian side which is far superior to the American!).
Highlights of our trips this month
- Niagara Falls from both American and Canadian sides.
- CN Tower
- 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Rochester, NY.
- Toronto
September
Another quiet month ensued after several months of traveling. Working 8-5PM daily and trying to fit in all these travels is no easy task as I am sure many of you are aware!
October
October saw us take two trips to St. Louis, MO and Destin, FL. The above picture was taken as we both sampled our very first NFL regular season game as the Rams took on the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Edward Jones Dome. The experience was great and as you can see from the view, our seats were pretty awesome near the touchline.
Highlights of our trips this month
- St. Louis Zoo
- St. Louis Rams vs Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game
- Destin, FL
- Panama City, FL
November
We spent November preparing for our trip to England and France in December.
December
France was a really awesome experience as we spent three action packed days exploring the 5th through 8th Arrondissements. The above picture of the Notre Dame Cathedral was taken during our first day in Paris and we have some many memories as we wandered around the Parisian streets experiencing the local culture.
After 3 days here, we spent 2 weeks in England taking in a host of great days out and celebrating the New Year’s Eve festivities on Waterloo Bridge in the nation’s capital – London!
Highlights of our trips this month
- Champs Elysees
- Eiffel Tower
- Channel Tunnel
- Notre Dame
- York, England
- London
- Haworth
- Gretna Green, Scotland
- Yorkshire Dales
So that brought an end to yet another amazing year of travel! We can look back on 2013 with memories that will live with us forever.
Do we have any regrets? None whatsoever as we look forward to the New Year and all the travels that lie in wait for us!
What are your favorite travel memories from 2013?
Looks like a great year! YOu managed to fit in quite a bit of travel in between working full time. Cheers to an exciting 2014!
I am not going to lie and say it’s easy traveling and working full-time but that is really one of the goals of our site in general is to let folks like us know that it can be done. We were very fortunate to be able to travel to all those places in 2013, I know in comparison to full-time travelers it’s not in the same league, but we are really happy with the amount we get to wander around and explore.
We are looking forward to the New Year ahead and also look forward to following you on your travels in 2014!!
Cheers!
What a great year the both of you had! I have always wanted to go to San Fran, maybe next time we head to Canada we will make a quick trip there!! BTW, I bet Paris was beautiful in December!
San Francisco was really great! One of the best aspects for me was the climate there. We headed to San Fran over the July 4th weekend which is of course the heart of summer. In Arkansas when we left temperatures were nearing 100 degrees but throughout our time in the Bay Area, the temperature were a comfortable 70-75 degrees which was really nice. Another thing I found was that San Fran had a more European style feel to it especially in comparison to many other major US cities which all have a similar feeling.
Of course Paris was well….Paris!! There is not much else you can say about it but it’s just a place you have to experience and to visit there in December was really cool!
wow – what a great year you guys had. Good to see my native Dallas on the list of exotic places you guys hit. I hope your 2014 is even better.
We really enjoyed Dallas actually Greg! That was our first time there for both of us, aside from going through DFW and we are looking forward to going back because we didn’t even have time to explore the downtown area.
We have big plans for 2014 so hopefully it will be even better like you said!
Thanks and Happy New Year!
We travelled to Tromso in Feb (inside the Arctic Circle btw) to see the Auroras and then to Dubai in December. Both trips were awesome!! (more on the blog) 🙂