2020 Announcements (My Travel Plans, Korea News, Monthly Reviews, Freelance, FDN, Personal Stuff)

LOL what a word salad of a title.

I guess I kind of meant to do this a month ago but got distracted with my trip! However, I have so many fun things coming up this year, and I wanted to share them with you guys before, you know, they all start happening.

I always get asked what the heck I’m doing, and I feel like I always have an essay of an answer which no one actually wants to hear! So this post is for anyone who actually wants that essay.

Travel Plans

Writing this from my hotel room in Stockholm with about 3 hours until I have to catch the Arlanda Express to the airport! 2020 kicked off with TWO new countries and hanging out with old friends in person.

Norway and Sweden have been cold, lovely, and expensive, and I can’t wait to share all I’ve gotten up to here. I have two story highlights on Instagram if you want the condensed version, but I promise I have a bunch of posts drafted to start publishing! And I promise to try to get them all out in a timely manner instead of, you know, two years later *cough*.

Otherwise, this year is kind of set but also still has a lot of wiggle room and freedom, which is how I like it!

ASIA

From about late Feb to late June, I’ll be back in my continental homeland: Asia! Obviously, I’m monitoring the coronavirus situation but I’m pretty sure my 3 destinations are okay.

I’m going to set up shop in Ho Chi Minh City for a month to hang out with the fabulous Frances of So the Adventure Begins, get to know the city better, and maybe do a little traveling in Vietnam again. Can you believe my first trip was 4 years ago?! I have a bunch more places to add to my list, but I’m not sure how feasible it’ll be to do all of them.

Then I’m going to pop over to Penang and see what that area is all about. Everyone I know prefers Penang to Kuala Lumpur, so I’m excited to get to know the area better (and eat all the Malaysian food again!). Might try to swing in a few days in KL, but we’ll see!

Annnd then I’ll be back in Korea for about 2 months (thank goodness for that 90 days visa free agreement we have with them). Getting in my Korea fill because I probably won’t be back for the rest of 2020! I’m going to be doing some blog content stuff (spending more time in Busan, finally going back to Gyeongju, maybe some Gangwondo, plentyyy of Seoul and Jeolla, and maybbbeeee popping down to Jeju), and I’m catsitting for Hallie while she and her family are on vacation!

Plus, you know, a really important reason, which I’ll get into below.

HOME

I was going to go to Europe for June and July, but I actually think I’ll circle back and be home for July. I’m not sure, but now I actually am really considering going back to Norway and Sweden in August to witness midnight sun, so I’d rather go home first, see my family, my dog, my friends, ya know. Sher and I are trying to convince Silvia to hang out after her friend’s wedding in June too!

I’ll also most likely be home for the fall as I want to do a nice East Coast fall foliage road trip from Maine down to South Carolina! And I have my best friend’s wedding in October.

EUROPE

Like I said I might return to Norway and Sweden in the late summer, but there are still so many places in Europe I want to go! Romania, Latvia, about a million places in Italy, back to Spain, Germany… Sher and Silvia and I even threw out doing a Portugal trip haha

Maybe I’ll break my no more winter rule (again) and check out the Christmas markets in December!

Those are the *mostly* set in stone plans for 2020, but who knows? I have too many ideas and random places I’m going to try to go to, so I bet these plans are going to change a bunch.

My Korea Tour!

I mean, lowkey, I’ve been promoting it quite a bit all over this blog and on social media, but I’m SUPER excited to announce it’s officially happening! I’ll have to post a separate post “announcing” the tour, so stay tuned for that :) I’ll dive into how I came up with the idea and what it’s been like getting it off the ground.

In meantime though, check out all the deets here and join us! We’ve still got some spots left ;)

A Korea Ebook

Yup! I’m writing an ebook all about Korea to help you guys with your future trips (and, gosh, you know another excuse to return to my favorite country ;)) Silvia, Sher, and I sat in our hotel room in Lofoten and decided we should each make big goals for ourselves in 2020 and hold each other accountable for getting them done. My big one was writing this book (after like 2 years of thinking about it).

It’s going to be full of my best travel tips and destination guides, maybe even more in depth since it’s book form instead of a blogpost, which kind of has to be snappier.

Monthly Reviews will Be Back, But Differently…

In email form! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve put a little email subscription box below, so if you’d like to get monthly updates from me, you can sign up there! I’ll link all the new blog posts I’ve written that month as well as some personal ramblings and, of course, all the fun things I’ve been reading, listening to, watching, and more.

Freelancing

Surprise, surprise, this blog alone does not pay my bills! And no, I’m not a secret toe model like my sister thinks. I’m continuing freelancing this year, though I know I’m going to have to cut back big time by December. My freelancing is a combination of social media and blog content management.

I’ve finally hired some help, and I’m quite happy with how that’s going so far (shout out to Kelsey!).

Female Digital Nomads

Big stuff in the works for FDN, and I think things are going to look quite different at the end of this year. We’re finally going to get one of our coworkations off the ground; it’s just a matter of figuring out when and how!

Personal Stuff

Lol what personal life? Kidding! But here are some personal things I’m excited about in 2020, including some of my “challenges” for the year:

BEING A BRIDESMAID

First time being a bridesmaid! I wasn’t one for my only female cousin, and Fran got married when I was in Korea, so she didn’t have any bridesmaids besides her sister.

Which means at the ripe ole age of 27, I’m finally going to be one! If the saying goes “always a bridesmaid, never the bride,” what does it mean if you’re “always a wedding guest, never a bridesmaid”? (Being single forever without any of your friends setting you up on a date, apparently).

Anyway, I’m going to be a bridesmaid for my bestie, Corinne, and I’m super excited! Corinne is a mostly chill person, especially when it comes to this bride stuff, so I highly doubt there will be drama or ended friendships like some horror stories I’ve heard.

52 NOVELS CHALLENGE

Trying once more for 52 novels this year! I’m kind of on track for January as I’ve finished three books so far and am going to finish my fourth on this long plane ride back to DC. I also may have started a bookstagram but haven’t had time to start properly posting on it.

ANOTHER HALF MARATHON?

Maybe I’ll question my sanity come September or October, but I’m going to try to do another half marathon! Corinne already said she was in. I need something to get me exercising and in shape, and maybe this is the year I finally get into a proper running habit. Plus I watched Britney Runs a Marathon on New Years, and it was very inspiring.

Also, yes, this means I’ll be in the best shape of the year for Corinne’s wedding. Andddd her color for us is blush pink, which I happen to look quite nice in. Now if only I knew how to flirt with strangers at weddings, hmm…

I think that’s about it on my end! 2020 is going to be SUCH an interesting year, and I’m excited to see where things go by the end. Let me know your plans!

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