Honestly as I write that title that we visited so many places while working full-time it blows even my mind. I’ll tell you first off that Ben probably wasn’t pleased for the majority of them. Not because he doesn’t like to see new places. More because we had such a large list in a short amount of time.
This was the year that I needed to complete my 30 by 30 bucket list goal. As you may have guessed by the aggressive itinerary, I managed to do it. I still can’t believe it though. Ben jokes that I’m not allowed to plan any more of our trips because he actually wants to stay in a country and see places. I’m totally okay with that.
Let me start off by saying only 3 of the cities I traveled to this year were for work. They were also all within Canada. The rest were using our limited vacation days and being really creative with our planning.
Want to see how we did it?
Where we traveled to
Canada | Kelowna, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal, Mont Tremblant, Ottawa Valley, Collingwood, Coburg, Niagara-on-the-Lake
France | Strasbourg, Colmar
England | London, Heybridge Basin
Ireland | Dublin
Austria | Salzburg, Vienna, Hallstatt,Kitzbuhel
Luxembourg | Luxembourg City
Liechtenstein | Vaduz
Switzerland | Laufenburg, Basel, Sargans
United States | New York
Northern Ireland | Newry
Malta | Valletta, Mdina, Comino, Gozo
How we did it
I’ve talked about it before, the reason we work full-time is to be able to afford to travel. Well also to afford basic life necessities and I love my job but you know, those are just details.
Calculate your days
In the job I have now I get a few more days then Ben for vacation (lucky me!). However, since I’d really rather not travel alone we try and make sure all of our vacations fit within his 15 day allowance. He also accrues days on occasion so this past year I believe we were working with around 17 days. Not bad for North America eh?
In
Pick the right places
One of the goals for this year was obviously visiting as many places as possible. Having gone back to visit Ben’s family and friends in England we made it a point to visit new countries as well.
Europe is one of the best places to travel quickly, efficiently and to numerous countries in a short amount of time. I don’t think we would have been able to do this anywhere else really.
This is especially true when travelling to small countries like Liechtenstein or Luxembourg. It’s ‘enough’ to spend one day in the country and feel like you’ve seen a lot of it. I use that term loosely though because I don’t really thing there is such a thing as enough time in a destination.
Be prepared to spend money
The one key point I will make though is that travelling while working full-time can be expensive. You also have to be super organized. Seeing as we were often taking flights during a holiday, we had little choice in flight options.
This also meant that all of our flights had to be direct. Take for example our trip to Malta. We had to fly from Dublin on a specific day which cost us about $200CAD for an open jaw (Dublin > Valletta > London). That amount for a flight within Europe is considered high.
Often times we also had to spend more money to rent a car. While trains in Europe are fantastic, you are held to their schedule. If you can’t take the trip in the time you need to you’ve got to find other options.
Be strategic
Obviously planning things out in advance is going to help you in the long run. I’m always one for having a bit of freedom when you travel but if you have a goal to achieve you must plan.
Red-eye flights can also be your best friend. They may not be ideal and you’ll probably be tired as hell arriving at your destination but think about the time you’ve saved. I honestly think now we take red-eyes wherever we can. This might sound funny but I find not sleeping on the plane during a red-eye flight is one of the key ways I overcome Jet Lag quickly.
You should also make a list of the top things to see in each destination. Do some research on Instagram or Pinterest as well, I find those great places for finding the best photo spots.
What’s next?
I have a feeling 2019 will be a year of much slower travel for us. While we do have some exciting trips planned, I’ve achieved my goal so we’re no longer rushed. We’re also hoping to explore outside of North America and Europe so that will be good as well.
Either way we’re back to 0 with vacations days used and that always gets me excited to start planning!
