Tag: new england

325 days, 13 countries, 65,000+ miles

On By amyirish1In africa, Australia, Botswana, Euro Travel, New Zealand, road trip, Southern Africa, US TravelLeave a comment

My first retirement is over.

325 days ago I left a great job to spend time exploring the world. What I thought would be between 3 and 6 months turned into almost a full year – and an experience of a lifetime. Now, I have found a new career with Energy Circle – creating digital marketing plans for companies & organizations that work to build and outfit efficient and healthy buildings. It’s a bittersweet ending to an incredible year – as I would love to keep traveling (and will continue to some extent), but like all things, traveling costs money so I need to pay the bills…until my next retirement 🙂

So now, a full wrap-up, reflections and thoughts about this past year:

  • 325 days (June 17, 2016 – May 7, 2017)
  • 4 continents (North America, Europe, Oceania (Australia), Africa)
  • 13 countries (US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, UK)
  • 28 states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland.)
  • 14,000+ miles of road trips (doesn’t include every day driving while home)
  • 65,000+ miles of total travel (estimate including air travel)
  • 9,500+ photos (some better than others)
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My Instagram feed of photos since I began traveling back in June 2016

Favorites:

  • Country: New Zealand. When someone asks what my favorite place has been there is no question, and no hesitation when I answer, New Zealand. From the people to the geological features, New Zealand was absolutely incredible. Africa would also go on my favorites list, but it still doesn’t come close to how much I loved New Zealand.
  • State: Utah – I would have loved to spend more time in Utah – specifically the Moab area!
  • Activity: Bungee Jumping. Such a rush (and surprise! I did it in New Zealand) as well as hiking all over!
  • Airport: Heathrow, London. This may be just because there were clean showers that were welcome between 10+ hour flights!
  • Border Crossing/Immigration: Dobe border crossing from Botswana into Namibia. We had to track down officials for both countries to get our passports stamped! The border was so remote that they only get one car every 2-3 days!

Least Favorites:

  • Country:  None. There was something amazing about every country I visited – and I would revisit every single one!
  • State: Again, I don’t know if I have a least favorite state!
  • Activity: Going to drug stores in Australia. Unfortunately I was sick through my entire travels in Australia so frequented the drug store to get medicine! They don’t sell over-the-counter cold medicine so I had to speak to a pharmacist every single time. Plus, they only provide around 4 days worth at a time, so I was going every 4 days!
  • Airport: LA. I didn’t have to go far within the airport, but it was crowded and my terminal didn’t have many options for grabbing a bite to eat!
  • Border Crossing/Immigration: Boston/Logan airport. I don’t think I spent less than an hour in this line in any of my travels this past year – and at one point the line was so long people couldn’t even get off the plane!

I learned so much during this time,  and if I were to share anything with you it would be that if you need a break, take it. Time away from the office, a desk, or your home can be extremely refreshing and give you greater perspective and a better idea of who you are. I hope that in another 5-6 years, I may be able to retire again for another year. My advice to everyone is to take risks, get outside your comfort zone and never stop traveling. Whether it’s across the globe or across your town – there is something new and exciting around every corner!

For a split second I thought I was going over the falls

On By amyirish1In US TravelLeave a comment

We’ll get to that in a minute… (Scroll to the waterfall pics to read about it if you don’t want to read about the rest of my explorations).

The day after Thanksgiving I headed south in my car to Long Island to spend the weekend with my college roommate. We explored around her town as well as go back to campus. I did my undergrad at Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus. They have since re-branded and changed the name to LIU Post. It was a little scary how much I didn’t remember about campus – like where my classes were and which roads led where. It was also neat to see that people were actually attending a football game! When I was there, there was very little school spirit. And in full Long Island fashion, someone decided to bring a Hummer limo to tailgate.

Post is notorious for its mansions on campus
The view from the main classroom building

My roommate, Jessie, happens to be a huge Jets fan – and her and her husband invited me to the game on Sunday. I was a little hesitant, as I’m not a HUGE football fan and I wanted to get to the mountains at a reasonable hour that night, but when I looked and found out they were playing the Pats, I had to haha. It was a blast. We had great seats (row 4 end zone). I left a little before the end of the nail-biter game just so I could get on the road before traffic got to crazy!

Surrounded by 90% Jets fans
Our seats! Row 4 end zone!

From the game I drove a couple hours north to an AirBnB I booked in the Catskills. The following day I got up early to head to Mount Tremper and Overlook Mountain. It was a short, easy hike (my Airbnb host told me to give it 4-5 hours… I did it in less than 2), but it was beautiful at the top. I had 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. Part way up there are the ruins of the old Overlook Hotel which was fun to explore as well!

Overlook Hotel Ruins
Views from the summit

After that hike I drove a little ways to another hike at Kaaterskill Falls. I walked the short distance to the viewing platform – where they happened to be filming a section for the news. They were saying they get around 70,000 visitors to the falls each year (mostly in the summer). It’s a two-tier falls that cascades over 250 feet total.

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News crew filming!

From there I did another short but more intense hike to the lower section of the falls. This is where it got interesting. The ground wasn’t frozen and there wasn’t any snow, so I didn’t have my spikes on my boots (but they were in my pack). As I got to the bottom of the top tier of the falls, the path was clay and I followed that to get a view at the base of the falls. What I didn’t see, was black ice as I rounded the corner. I immediately fell and was sliding on my hands and boots (with really good tread) down about 4 feet until I was about a foot from the top of the second tier of the falls. I starfished and my feet found a couple small rocks to grip (literally 4 inches wide by about an inch high). I thought for sure I was going to go in. I have never really been scared that I was going to get hurt or have a major mishap when traveling – this was a first for me!

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From the base of the top tier – where I almost went in. Worth it!

From there I hiked down even further to get a view of the entire falls. A guy was down there and had seen my slip and told me that he thought for sure I was going in!

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The full Kaaterskill Falls – it was gorgeous! The ledge the slants down to the left in the middle is what I slid down.

After grabbing lunch, I headed to a mountain drive that I heard was good for sunsets. It was a seasonal road, so I said what the hell, I have a Jeep, I can give it a shot. There was some snow on the road, but you could see where another car or two had passed previously so I headed up the road. I get near the top and I happen upon a young couple with their Subaru Impreza stuck in the ditch. The had slid off about 50 feet up and had worked their car down the ditch trying to get it out. I offered my assistance – pushed, drove the girl to the store to get some kitty litter (helps on ice!) but it was just too stuck. We were able to find a place with cell service (service in the Catskills is slim to none) and she called AAA. I figured I probably shouldn’t push my luck after nearly falling into the water earlier, so I headed back for a relaxing night at my AirBnB.

Unfortunately, the next few days were all rain so I took my time working my way through Vermont and back home. Now, I’m up at Sugarloaf crossing my fingers that we get a lot of snow in the storm tonight!

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Sunset we caught on Long Island