The New Year is upon us! 2023 has been a pretty good year travel-wise (and overall). I started this blog right on January 1^st and have been sharing all of my travels. My goal of doing 4 trips in a year was accomplished! And I even got to do two cruises in one year, something I hadn’t done before.

I wanted to take this last blog post of 2023 to re-visit my trips and experiences this year.

Birthday New Orleans Trip/Cruise to Mexico

For my birthday I was able to visit New Orleans for the first time, a city that had been on my travel bucket list ever since 8^th grade. I also took my friends on their first cruise in this same trip and we all had a great time!

I originally just wanted to go to New Orleans. Then, I realized I hadn’t been on a cruise in so long and really wanted to go on one. Once I found a cruise that was leaving out of New Orleans, I thought it was the best of both worlds!

If you want to read about the trip, check out these posts:

Quick Trip to LA

It’ll be six months before my next trip, which was Los Angeles. In between the New Orleans cruise and this trip, I’d been practically craving on going on another vacation. I guess you could say I had vacation blues. I almost didn’t go on because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to afford it.

I’d just bought concert tickets for SZA which would be in Chicago (we’ll get into that later) so I had to make sure I funds for the flight and hotel.

Luckily, all I had to pay for the LA trip was my flight (which was discounted) and food. Originally, my dad and step-mom said I had to pay part of the Airbnb too (along with my sister) but I guess they changed their minds.

This trip was mainly for my little sister but my other sister and I were invited to tag along.

Read the post for this trip here:

Chicago Trip to See SZA

There was a little less time between LA and the trip to Chicago (plus it was filled with concerts). Outside of when I lived there for college, I’ve been to Chicago 7 times. I absolutely love that city, cold, wind, and all.

When I was able to get SZA tickets in the concert, I was excited to show my sister around the city (she never visited me in college because she was also in college). This is also around the time I started the Overthinker Guide YouTube channel!

See all of our Chicago sister trip posts:

Cruise to Labadee, Haiti

The last trip of the year was just one month from the Chicago Trip. I don’t think I want to do a turn around that quick again, haha. Unfortunately, I stressed so much about getting things done in time for the cruise that it caused my stomach inflammation to flare up extremely. I was in pain before, during, and after the trip. That being said, my mom really enjoyed herself.

This trip was for my mom. She hadn’t been on vacation in a few years (mostly because of her kidney transplant and the pandemic). I wanted her to have a chance to relax and not worry so I planned everything and just told her when to send money.

Check out our first time in Haiti: