Year in Review: 2014

Happy New Year Y'all! 

I can't believe today is the last day of 2014. Where has the time gone?!? Matt and I were so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel a lot this year, and I thought this would be a great time to recap our year. 

At the start of this year I posted a list of travel destinations we wished to go to this year, and I am happy to say we got to a lot of them. 

{2014 Travel List: Kyoto, Japan ~ Osaka, Japan ~ Boseong Tea Fields, Korea ~ Cherry Blossom Festival, Korea ~ Jeju Island, Korea ~ Taipei, Taiwan ~ Philippines ~ Thailand ~ Cambodia ~ Vietnam ~ Tokyo, Japan} 6 out of 11 isn't so bad. We will be hitting up the tea fields, Thailand and hopefully Jeju before we leave in May. Taiwan and The Philippines will just have to wait till we move back to Asia. 

Here is our year in review- 

We started the year out right by traveling to Kyoto and Osaka, Japan in January and February. We fell in love with Kyoto and wish we could make a return trip. We hope to get back to Japan and spend a long time exploring the wonderful country. We loved the food- the city- and the people. 

In February, we spent a weekend up in Seoul and had a fun time exploring some of the famous palaces in the city. 

March we met up with some friends and explored Incheon. We walked along the board walk- explored Chinatown and had a lot of fun. 

April took us down to Busan and Jinhae for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Busan has to be my favorite part of Korea- I loved seeing the ocean and walking in the sand. 

In May we really stepped out of our comfort zone and traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia. While this was on our travel list- it wasn't high on the list. But man am I glad the ticket prices were so low and we chose this place over The Philippines. We fell in love with Cambodia. This is another place I would easily travel to again, and I might even be convinced to live there- that's how much I loved it. 

My dad also visited during May. During his visit we explored Korea a bit more. We went back to the DMZ. Took a trip to the Imperial War Memorial where Matt got to see the name of his Great Uncle Tetsuo who died in the Korean War. 

For my birthday in June- we took a trip to Tokyo, Japan. We visited Tokyo Disneyland and ate our way through the park. It was so much fun. We also spent a little time in the city and enjoyed wandering around. 

A bit of July and August was spent cruising along Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. This was a place that grabbed us as well. We loved it. We took in a performance at the famous Hanoi Opera House. We ate wonderful seafood watching the sunset on Ha Long Bay. And had a wonderful time. 

September we took a trip to the steppes of Mongolia. We slept in a ger- held a hawk- rode a horse- and had a blast. Oh Mongolia- we love you. I could live here as well. 

October, November, and December did not include any international travel, but we did continue to explore Korea. We love Korea more each day. While we are excited to be going home and starting this new chapter of getting our graduate degrees under our belts- we can't wait to return to Korea. {And yes- that's a subtle hint that we are already looking at ways to return.} 

October we took a trip to Sokcho and Seoraksan National Park. We went on a few hikes and took in the Fall colors. November we celebrated our 4th anniversary (which I've yet to talk about) and we visited the Seoul Lantern Festival. 

We celebrated Christmas in our tiny apartment and enjoyed our last Christmas in Korea. 

We especially loved looking at the ornaments we collected throughout our travels. 

And that's basically our year all wrapped up. 

We flew around 27,000 miles this year. 

Our passports are filling up quickly. 

Our wanderlust is completely sparked with no signs of slowing down. 

We had a blast and can't wait to see the adventures of 2105. 

Happy New Year's Eve Y'all!