Most of this year was taken up with immigrating to Canada and then writing a book about the process. With both of us working full time, it’s been a busy year!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLzH81_DZyt/?taken-by=sheepdontswim
It doesn’t feel like we’ve traveled much this year, but we still made it to 28 cities in 6 countries. Unless you’re willing to count airport layovers in China and London. July was the only month we managed to stay in Ontario.
We’ll be doing better next year, though. Our early 2017 plans include time in:
- London
- Brussels
- Rotterdam
- Sophia
- Cologne
- Zagreb
- Berlin
We’re also excited to explore Canada with a road trip to the east coast in the spring. We’ll be spending time in Halifax and stopping in Montreal. We’ll see where else we end up exploring in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Maine.
We’re past due for a visit to London, ON and Kingston, ON. I’m sure those will both happen in 2017.
January
We started the year by flying to Pearson Airport and declaring landing as permanent residents in Canada. That was followed by flying our cats to Toronto.
We spent a week in Ocean Grove, NJ. Summer resorts in the winter are the best.
As soon as we were back in Toronto, I flew to Vancouver for a multi-day client meeting.
February
Casey returned to Brooklyn for a few days to finish packing. She coordinated the process of moving our things across the border.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCYbD0EwRW3/?taken-by=sheepdontswim
In February I spent some time in Thailand with my family. We reunited with a former exchange student and her family in Bangkok for a few days before visiting Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Rai, and Chiang Mai.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKf4g6lggxU/?taken-by=onefivemiles
March
I flew from Bangkok to New York and Casey met me there for a few days in the Upper East Side.
Once we were back in Toronto, we focused on getting settled in Toronto and getting to know the history of our neighborhood, the Garden District.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEAJKTDQRVR/?taken-by=sheepdontswim
April
We spent a long weekend in Niagara Falls and explored both sides of the border. We ended up back there the next weekend for our NEXUS interview.
I had a conference to attend in San Antonio, so we turned it into a Texas road trip and drove out to Houston.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE2jMTFQRSi/?taken-by=sheepdontswim
May
On our way through Texas we stumbled upon WInkelmann, a fake and abandoned ghost town. It was my first time in Austin, so Casey got to show me around.
Later in May we took the train to Montreal to meet up with friends.
June
We flew to Zagreb to meet up with Tomislav and start our mini-Balkans road trip. We drove out to Plitvica Jezera NP before turning north to see Senj, Pula, Divigrad, Trieste, Ljubljana, and Samobor.
July
We spent most of July getting to know Toronto, but we took a day trip to Oshawa, ON.
August
We spent an afternoon in Clarington, ON to see Camp 30. It was a bust.
I explored the areas near Toronto, visiting Hamilton, ON, Buffalo, NY, and Ottawa, ON.
September
We found ourselves back in New York, along with trips to Baltimore and Asbury Park, NJ.
November
Casey and I flew to New York and made a detour to Red Bank, NJ.
December
I started the month with a conference in Chicago. Casey met me afterward for a snowy weekend and got to catch up with some old friends in the Windy City.
We also took a day trip to Hamilton, ON to enjoy some unseasonably warm weather and catch up with my CouchSurfing hosts from the summer.
Couchsurfers we hosted
Our couch was pretty full of friends visiting. Toronto is such a quick flight from New York City, it’s been easy to talk people into visiting. We still managed to find time for a few CouchSurfers this year.
- Steffi, Germany
- Cameron, USA
- Cloe, France
- Iva, Croatia
- Arya, USA
- Minka, Finland
- Erica, USA
Couchsurfers who hosted us
Thanks again to the amazing CouchSurfers who hosted me in 2016!
- Kathryn & John, Hamilton, ON
- Sharon, Buffalo, NY
- Charlie, Ottawa, ON
- Victor & Felicia, Chicago, IL
Wow, amazing list of places and splendid pictures. Looks like you had a blast last year 🙂 Wishing you more travels and happiness in 2017 :)If you have ideas to visit India, check out our top suggestions for you!
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What a year you had.. My sis also moved to Toronto for work. Hopefully you will be able to visit a lot of places next year, wishing you a great year ahead.
Wow — what a year! How impressive that you even wrote a book! It looks like a lot of great travel, too. Here’s to an amazing 2017!
Seems like you had a year filled with fun, adventure, & exploring! Very inspiring and I wish you an even better 2017!
Hello neighbour – I live in Montreal! 🙂 It’s great that you visit so many places in your own (new) province. Enjoy living in Canada and happy travels in 2017.
Moving to a new country always makes for an exciting year. 28 cities is pretty significant. I always like to really get to know a place instead of just hopping around to check off boxes on a checklist. Cheers to a wonderful 2017.
Sounds like a pretty big year! Merry Christmas, & here’s to an even bigger and better 2017! XX
What a travelful year! I actually just published my 2016 year in review as well. it’s so nice to look back and see all you’ve accomplished and be grateful for the opportunity to travel. Cheers for another year of travel!
What a year! I hope you’ve settled in nicely in Canada – with the cats 🙂 All the best for 2017, happy travels!
Loved reading this! First of all – super awesome that you’ve written a book on such a useful topic! I really like that you included the Couchsurfing bit. I still have yet to try it (I know, I know), but will prob be doing it next spring as I’ll be headed off to Europe.