My favorite seat on the airplane is the window seat. From it, I’ve almost seen the whole country.
This year, yes, I’m very late in posting this, but I didn’t really know how I wanted to do it this time. I put this together months ago and wasn’t sure I wanted to share it. But now with my computer dying and mad dash trying to get all my stuff saved on it, I figured it would be a good time to share and look back at last year.
In years past, I’ve told some of my favorite memories. I’ll never forget the time we got pulled over by the German police at 2 AM in the middle of nowhere Bavaria.
I wanted to do something a little different once I realized how many window seat photos I accumulated over 2018.
All of these photos are un-edited and taken straight from my phone.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you where I was headed or on what leg when these were taken on.
I traveled a bunch in 2018.
Looking back, it’s crazy I traveled as much as I did since that was the year I aged out of my pass privileges. Basically, that means when I turned 24 I no longer had access to all the airline stuff I was used to. But that didn’t stop me!
I started the travel year sometime during the spring in Salt Lake City, Utah when my unofficial super part-time job took me there.
I didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do so I ended up driving around and doing a whole lot of nothing. But, I was in the desert (my happy place) and I was happy.
After that I was headed to Memphis, Tennesse on my birthday to learn how to take my blog to the next level at Bloghouse. One hellish day of dealing with flight delays and weather, I managed to snag the last first class seat from MSP to MEM. And I drank all the alcohol they would bring me. So, like, two cocktails.
I learned so much at Bloghouse and it was really the kick in the butt I needed to get things figured out. If you’re a blogger unsure of what to do with your blog to go up to the next level, consider applying!
I also got to stay in my first really expensive hotel room and eat delicious barbeque. I still dream about the food in Memphis!
After Memphis, I did a couple of road trips.
The first through western North Dakota, eastern Montana, a corner of Wyoming, and South Dakota.
The second took me all the way around Lake Superior. It was a wonderful trip until my car broke down 1,000 miles from home in Michigan.
I asked Dad what I should do in regards to leaving my car in Michigan to get fixed or driving home and his exact words were, “I’d drive, but you’re a girl.”
With that, I drove.
And I made it all the way from Houghton, Michigan to Duluth, Minnesota before it started really overheating. I parked it at my sister’s place and flew home. A couple of weeks later I flew back to haul it home on a U-Haul.
After my car breaking down, I was done with road trips for the year.
Next, there was New Orleans and the Gulf states. I hit number 39, 40, and 41 when I touched down in Louisianna and then drove through Mississippi and Alabama.
On the way back from New Orleans I was treated to an incredible show of the northern lights from the window seat. The photo is really crappy, but you get the idea.
I flew to Michigan to go wedding dress shopping with a friend. We hadn’t seen each other in four years! Way too long for being so close geographically compared to a lot of my other close friends. And she found her dress!
Then there was New England where I stayed in my second really expensive hotel room. I’m not even sure how I made it from the airport to the hotel. I was that tired.
The next day I rented a car and drove through Vermont and New Hampshire without a plan, just seeing what I saw as I drove.
Vermont was number 42.
After New England, I took a traveling break for a bit (a month). I had been struggling this whole summer feeling like my life was going in no particular direction.
I was still stuck after Bloghouse, but it wasn’t that I didn’t know how to proceed with the blog that was holding me back. Every day I continued to ask myself if running a blog full-time is what I wanted in the long run.
I came to the conclusion that Chasing Departures is an incredible journey that has and will provide me with some incredible opportunities, but it’s not what I want long term.
In November I flew to Oklahoma City to check out the University of Oklahoma. And Oklahoma was state number 43.
Twenty-eighteen ended with a final road trip to Michigan for bridesmaid dress shopping.
Update: life plans have changed since I first started writing this post at the beginning of the year. I’m not moving to Oklahoma in the next year.
After a few things going wrong these past couple weeks, I’ve decided I want to make my blog work and it will. I have one year to do it.
Please follow along this year! I have some amazing things planned for the next 12 months.
