2024 Annual Travel Year in Review

If you were to ask me how my travel in 2024 went in one word, I think I’d say “unexpected.”

As a digital nomad who prefers having a home base and traveling whenever while working online with a home and community to come back to, I don’t think I would have guessed I would have lived out of my suitcase for eight months straight in 2024!

I’ll…get to that.

There were also planned trips with friends, including Japan for my birthday (with a major unexpected twist!), Spain for European Summer, and a bunch of shorter trips all over Mexico between my time in the US. Plus, the release of my audiobook version of Infinite Entrepreneur!

Let’s get into the recap.

You can read previous annual review posts here:

2023: the year I launched my book and went to India
2022: the year I went to South America twice and then traveled for six months straight
2021: the year the world started opening back up
2020: the year the world shut down
2019: the year I hit my goal of stepping foot on all six inhabited continents in my 20s, with Morocco in Northern Africa
2018: the year I made it to South America
2017: the year I made it to Southeast Asia, Australia, and got into personal growth and inspirational topics
2016: the year I quit my 8-5 office job and started my digital nomad lifestyle
2015: the year I made it to Asia and did my first blog collaboration (a tour in New York City)
2014: the year I started Go Seek Explore!

As usual, this year’s review is split up into these sections:

Where I Traveled/New Countries Visited
Full Travel Recap
Travel Plans For 2025
Yearly Update
What’s Next

WHERE I TRAVELED IN 2024

New Countries Visited in 2024 (1): Japan

Total Countries Visited in 2024 (4): USA, Mexico, Spain, Japan

Total Countries Visited (All-time): 47 countries/6 continents

Cities Visited in 2024 (22): San Diego, Park City, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Tulum, Scottsdale, New York City, Southampton, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Tokyo, Cabo San Lucas, Austin, Houston, Miami, Mexico City, San Jose del Cabo

FULL TRAVEL RECAP

San Diego, California
Park City, Utah for Sundance Film Festival
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for DJing
Sayulita, Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico
Los Angeles, California
Tulum, Mexico for fun + DJing
Scottsdale, Arizona
New York City, New York
Southampton, New York for a music festival
Barcelona, Spain
Valencia, Spain
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Tijuana, Mexico
Tokyo, Japan, for my birthday
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, also for my birthday (long story haha)
Austin, Texas
Houston, Texas
Mexico City, Mexico
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico
Miami, Florida (the most unexpected turn of events!)

First - did my Travel Predictions for 2024 Happen?

Last year I had already booked my trip to Park City to go to Sundance with some friends but had nothing else booked. I was discussing summer trips with friends for the Mediterranean over the summer and also Japan for my birthday, which did come to fruition.

At the start of 2024, I had the strong feeling that I would move out of San Diego. Because I was having a tough time imagining myself leaving California after thinking I would live there forever, I was considering moving to LA - so Los Angeles visits were in the works too.

With the list of locations I visited above, you can probably tell that last year, while loosely planned, was also completely different than what I expected.

As you might know, I did not end up moving to LA - more on that soon!

Travel Plans and Predictions for 2025

Booked: Nothing was booked at the start of 2025! I moved to my new city at the end of 2024 and have been enjoying getting to know a place I had barely spent any time in prior to moving.

Most Likely to Visit: Seattle for a friend’s wedding, somewhere in Europe during the summer, seeing more of the state of Florida, Mexico City or Cabo for a friend’s birthday, seeing family for the winter holidays, and maybe a trip to the Caribbean.

Potential Ideas: Would love to revisit Mexico City, NYC, Paris, Barcelona, Greece, Bali, or Japan. Checking out more of the Caribbean would be cool. And - after all these years - Cape Town is still on my bucket list, so you never know!

Biggest Life Update: Moving Out of San Diego

Leaving San Diego

*A throwback photo from San Diego, California!*

As mentioned earlier, the biggest change that happened in 2024 was leaving the city I called home for eight years: San Diego.

I intuitively knew it was time to leave San Diego, but had no clarity on where I wanted to move to…I packed two suitcases, a duffel bag, and put the rest of my stuff in storage, and was determined to figure it out. I don’t like to make big life decisions unless my inner knowing is crystal clear. So when everything felt incredibly foggy and confusing, I knew I had to follow that feeling and trust that the path would be clear the farther I walked along it.

The only other time I did this - put all my belongings in storage and traveled without an end-date in sight - was when I spent six months between Bali, Europe, California, and Mexico in 2022. I had returned to San Diego at the end of 2022 ready to sign a 15-month lease in the apartment building I was previously in, excited and refreshed to continue my life there and enjoy the solid community, friendships, and lifestyle I cherished so much.

Why Leave?

*Quick trip to Oaxaca, Mexico after I moved out of my apartment*

Here’s the thing: nothing was “wrong” with San Diego. I love all my friends there - these are friends who feel like family to me. I also have some family living in Orange County, which is less than a two-hour drive away. Every single weekend was filled with birthday parties, music festivals, wellness activities, and endless social events. My connections with music continued to grow, and I was DJing at venues I had only dreamed of when I learned how to DJ a year prior.

So why leave “America’s Finest City”? Why leave all my friends and family when relationships are something I cherish most in life? Why leave when nothing is wrong on the surface?

When I came back home to San Diego from India and the Caribbean in August 2023, something felt off. I chalked it up to reverse culture shock after almost a month away in two regions of the world that are entirely opposite from one another.

The feeling didn’t go away. It developed into a deep inner knowing as autumn turned to winter, and the end date of my March 2024 lease grew closer.

Spring 2024 was one of the most emotional periods of my life. Choosing to let the foundation of my entire life crumble beneath my feet was the most difficult decision I have ever made, but I knew I had to do it. I had to take my own advice and follow my “inner compass.” I couldn’t tell which direction it was pointing me to, but it was very clear it was away from San Diego.

First Stop: Los Angeles

*Quick trip back to San Diego after LA to DJ at Hard Rock*

So I went to LA. Close enough to San Diego, but a bigger city. I was ready for a larger city and a new change of pace. I was touring apartments in LA, planning to move before May or June 2024, and…again, it felt so off. Not that I don’t like LA. There are plenty of aspects I really like about LA and I often have a great time visiting.

I just realized how much I appreciate living in a walkable neighborhood. Safety is a concern in much of LA, too. Yes, the west side, West Hollywood, and neighborhoods in between have gotten sketchier over the years. Even parts of Santa Monica where I felt totally fine years ago have me looking over my shoulder more often than not.

This was also when I was staying in a house on a nice street in Venice and got gas poisoning due to a few large gas leaks in the house. Luckily, it was natural gas and not carbon monoxide (I actually travel with a portable carbon monoxide detector since it can be deadly), but natural gas is also super unsafe and can cause massive explosions. I left the house and stayed in a hotel in Marina del Rey for a few days to regroup, then got an Airbnb in Santa Monica, but was coughing and had brain fog for two weeks straight. This felt like a major sign to reconsider my LA move and check out some other cities first!

After LA, I went to Tulum for a quick trip with a friend. When I was in Tulum, I met a group of people from New York who said I would love NYC and should move there - but if weather was a concern, then to check out Miami.

Miami wasn’t on my radar for some reason, though I added it to the place of must-sees before locking in my move.

Summer in New York and Spain

Next on the calendar was New York City, one of my favorite cities! Between LA and NYC, I was in Tulum, and a friend invited me to stay in a 2-bedroom apartment for a few weeks. It was an immediate “yes.” I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the city, and felt like the east coast was pulling me to stay. Maybe not New York City exactly - not sure how I would handle true winters again - but something was refreshing about being somewhere so different.

I also realized that I had done so much international travel post-pandemic, and hadn’t visited other parts of the US in between since I was either home in California or visiting friends and family out west. This trip reminded me that while I will always love California, there is a lot more to the US.

After a trip to Spain - Barcelona, Valencia, and Mallorca - I spent another week in New York before going back west for some family time, friends’ birthdays, and normal life things like going to the dentist and all that.

Audiobook Launch

This is also when my audiobook launched for Infinite Entrepreneur! That project was a labor of love since I recorded it myself (yes, without AI), and I am proud of how it turned out. Since each chapter opens with a memoir-style story from my personal travels before transitioning into the related business steps, I included 5-15 seconds of immersive travel sounds at the start of Chapters 1-10. Check it out on Spotify or Audible.

Japan and Cabo San Lucas

The two destinations above could not be more opposite, and I visited both within the same week.

Long story short, after a few whirlwind days in Tokyo, an intense typhoon was coming, so my friends and I decided to cut the trip early. This was a tough decision because we had all been looking forward to our Japan trip all year. However, before we even left Tokyo, my flight to one of the islands was canceled five days in advance, and there was a rumor the ever-reliant Shinkansen train would have delays or cancellations due to the heavy rain (which did happen right after we left).

We all flew back to San Diego, and one of my friends suggested we go to Cabo for my birthday, which was the next day. After one night back in San Diego, a friend and I booked morning flights from Tijuana to Cabo and stayed at a beachfront resort. We got a fantastic last-minute deal on the flights and hotel and it made sense. It was honestly such a fun trip! I also made a connection at Taboo Beach Club and was invited to DJ a short opening set when I was there.

While I would have loved to have had the Japan trip play out fully as planned, given the circumstances, it turned out pretty well!

On the same thread, I can’t wait to go back to Tokyo and see more of Japan at some point. The quick glimpse was nothing short of incredible, and I am itching to return!

Texas, Miami, and Mexico

Another unexpected combination of locations! After my birthday trip, I had been looking for a sublease in Miami for at least one month, but ideally 2-3 months total. I had only spent one night of my life in Miami, so I wanted to check it out for longer before deciding if I wanted to move there. This was tougher than I thought, since I didn’t know anyone out there and wasn’t sure if I trusted random people on the internet asking for $2-3k Venmo deposits plus the monthly rent to sublease, haha.

On a whim, I booked a flight to Austin, Texas, since I found a good deal on an Outsite. While there, I was determined to figure out a sublease for Miami, but still had no luck. I popped over to nearby Houston to visit some family who had just moved there for a few days and booked a one-way flight to Miami at the end of September.

Hurricane Helene had different plans, so I rebooked the flight for the following week. Though with Hurricane Milton on its way to Florida, I decided to cut the trip to just three nights and booked a flight to Mexico City at the end of the weekend.

However, within 24 hours of being in Miami, despite the overcast weather and getting caught in heavy rain multiple times, I knew it would be the city I would move to next. They say “when you know you know,” and I just did. It was clear.

My inner compass was pointing right at Miami.

Clarity is Key

Since Mexico City was an easy flight, I spent a couple of weeks there while I figured out my moving plans and applied to the apartment building I liked the most.

As the weather turned a bit colder in Mexico City, I flew over to Los Cabos again (on the San Jose side this time) and then back to the US to see family for Thanksgiving.

That weekend, I shipped my car to Miami, packed my bags one final time, and flew out east to my new home in December 2024.

I never imagined I would ever live in the state of Florida, but for some reason, I knew it was right. I was excited and sure of my decision.

The moment I walked up to my apartment building, I was filled with joy, anticipation, and contentment. My new home!

WRAPPING UP & WHAT’S NEXT

If you made it this far, you are a rockstar haha! When I get to the end of writing these every year, I think, wow! It feels nice to reflect on how much happened and how many surprises came up.

This year, I’d like to see more of Miami and the state of Florida, and do some trips in between. I’ve been focusing a lot more on electronic music and DJing, as you might know, so that is a larger priority right now, along with the remote marketing work that I do.

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading! Cheers to 2025! Find updates throughout the year on my Instagram and TikTok.

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