With the beginning of the new year, I have been reflecting on the traveling our family did in 2023. Let’s just say it was a lot. More than we have ever done before in a single year. I’m excited to share all of the fun places we visited, the amazing memories we made, and some of the great travel deals we found!
This year our family found some great travel deals as we traveled – sometimes together, sometimes separately – to Italy, Alaska, Haiti, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, St. Thomas, France, Monaco, Costa Rica, Panama, Omaha, Oklahoma, Nashville, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Las Vegas, and Florida!
Our year of travel actually started at the end of 2022 when my middle daughter, who was 18 at the time, left on a school trip to Italy two days after Christmas. Their group was gone for 10 days and visited Assisi and Rome, including Vatican City.
It was a wonderful experience for her, and her first time traveling to Europe. One of her favorite parts was seeing the fireworks on New Year’s Eve! This trip wasn’t really a budget trip, but we were able to make payments throughout the year so that was helpful.
Next, my oldest daughter, who was 20, went to Anchorage, Alaska just before New Year’s to visit a friend. None of us had ever been to Alaska before – and I will admit, I don’t like the cold, so it hasn’t really been at the top of my list of places to visit. The pictures that she sent though, were stunning!
One of her favorite things she got to do in Alaska was visit the Alaska State Troopers! She is a HUGE fan of the show, and her friend arranged for her to meet some troopers and get some pics. They even pretended to be arresting her for a picture 😊
Next in line, at the end of January, was our big family vacation that I had been planning for about 6 months. This was a 7-night cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, one of the largest ships in the world – weighing in at over 225,000 gross tons!
On this cruise each of the three girls brought a friend, so there were eight of us total, and we had 3 interior balcony rooms. We visited the Bahamas (Royal Caribbean’s private island, Cococay), Haiti (Labadee – Royal Caribbean’s private part of the island), Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas.
This trip was AMAZING, absolutely perfect, and I got to use one of my favorite travel hacks! I booked the cruise in August and we were traveling in January. Once the cruise was booked, I held off on purchasing any extras including drink packages, Wi-Fi packages, and shore excursions. But…I watched prices the whole time, checking weekly.
Then, I patiently waited for the Black Friday deals to arrive, and they were well worth the wait! We saved a ton of money on all of the packages and shore excursions we bought, as they had some great sales!
I definitely recommend purchasing any travel-related items that you can either on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Travel Tuesday. This is typically when you will find the best prices!
Next up for our year of travel was a somewhat impromptu 8-night spring break trip to France, with a day trip to Italy and Monaco. We had been trying to decide if we were going to go anywhere or not when I came across some decently priced tickets to Paris – which is one of my favorite places in the world <3. So… we discussed for a couple of days, determined who could go and who couldn’t, and booked the tickets 12 days before we left!
It ended up being my youngest daughter Kaylee, her friend Lizzy, Demetris, and me on the trip. We spent 2 nights in Paris, 2 nights in Saint-Nazaire in western France with a friend, 3 nights in Nice on the French Riviera, and our last night back in Paris. It was a phenomenal trip!
While in Paris, we stayed a the Hotel Odessa Montparnasse, which was an excellent hotel. The location was perfect – very close to the metro, and lots of shops and places to eat nearby. The staff was very helpful, and the rooms were clean and modern. They also kept some of our stuff for us when we were away in other parts of France for 5 nights in the middle. I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone that’s looking for a nice, convenient place to stay in Paris!
When we first arrived in Paris, we of course went straight to the Eiffel Tower. I’ve been there many times, but it was pure joy to see the girls experience it for the first time! They had fun taking pictures and making TikToks 🙂 We stayed until it was dark so we could see the Eiffel Tower sparkle – which it does every hour at the top of the hour for 5 minutes from sunset until 11:45pm. It was magical!
The next day we went to Notre Dame, then attempted to go to the Louvre but it was closed unexpectedly. After that, we started walking and saw a TON of protesters since there was a huge strike going on at the time, played in a random park, ate at McDonald’s, did some shopping, took a tour of the Seine on the Bateaux Mouches, went to the Champs-Elysees, saw the Arc de Triomphe, ate some pasta, and walked about 20,000 steps!
After our 2 nights in Paris, we took the TGV train to Saint-Nazaire, where we were welcomed by a family friend. We enjoyed walking along the beautiful coast, collecting shells, checking out a French grocery store, trying escargot!, attending mass at an old Catholic church, having tea/coffee/hot chocolate in a cute little cafe, and visiting with our host’s friends and family.
After 2 nights in Saint-Nazaire, we took a small plane to Nice, which was about a 90 minute flight. In Nice, we stayed at the Jay Hotel by Happy Culture. We had a one bedroom suite, which is a rare find in France! The room was extremely spacious with a small balcony, a large bathroom, and a little kitchenette. We loved it there!
While we were in Nice we explored the town, climbed all the way up Castle Hill (well worth the trek!), saw some beautiful waterfalls, took a picture of the girls in front of the #ILOVENICE sign, and walked down the Promenade des Anglais, which was great for people watching! The French Riviera is truly beautiful, and we loved it there.
The next day we took the train to Monaco, and we loved it there. We walked through the town – up and down many hills – and admired the beauty and grandeur of everything. We eventually made our way to Palace Square in time for the changing of the guard ceremony at 11:55 a.m. We then took an audio guided tour of the palace, bought a few souvenirs, and made our way back to the train station.
Next, we headed to Ventimiglia, Italy. There we walked a lot, took pictures, browsed in some stores, and of course ate Italian Pizza and gelato! On the train ride back to Nice, everyone slept.
The next day, we took the train back to Paris and finally got to go inside the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa, among many other amazing works of art. After that we took the Telepherique up the hill, walked around Monmartre, went to the Sacre-Coeur basilica, went to the Moulin Rouge for pictures, and then headed back to the Eiffel Tower one last time before saying goodbye to Paris.
Once we landed in Chicago, our year of travel continued by going straight to Milwaukee for a basketball tournament. We stayed there for 2 nights before finally heading home! While we were away, my middle daughter Taylor also enjoyed a weekend trip to Nebraska with a carload of friends, to go visit another friend who had moved away. It was a great roadtrip for them!
Next up – a 4-night mother/daughter trip to Nashville with Taylor at the end of April! I am not a huge country fan and had never thought of going to Nashville before, but Taylor picked the destination, and I am so glad she did! I would easily recommend a trip to Nashville for ANYONE. It was so much fun!! We flew roundtrip on Sun Country and got our airfare for under $200 each by booking about 2 months in advance.
Nashville is a busy place. People everywhere, always something going on. Nonstop party buses full of people going up and down Broadway at all times of the day. Bar after bar with windows open onto Broadway so you can hear the live music. We walked up and down Broadway a lot, enjoying all of the activity. We sat for a while in Luke’s 32 Bridge (Luke Bryan’s bar) and loved the music!
We also checked out the Donut Distillery, ate at Biscuit Love, took a sightseeing bus tour, saw the Hard Rock cafe, and went to Opryland. Overall, visiting Nashville was a wonderful experience, and I hope I get to go back again in the future!
Next on the list was a school trip for Kaylee to Costa Rica and Panama in early June. This was not a bargain trip, but again we were able to make monthly payments for almost a year, so that made it feel more affordable. She went with a group of about 20 students and chaperones, and although she was a little tired of eating rice and beans by the end of the trip, it was an unforgettable experience for her!
In early July, we went to Chicago for another basketball tournament, the Nike Tournament of Champions. We got to see The Bean and we visited Navy Pier. We also had some delicious Chicago-style pizza at Giordano’s!
At the end of July, we took our annual trip to the Beep Baseball World series, which was held in Norman, Oklahoma in 2023. If you’ve never heard of beep baseball, you should definitely check it out! We didn’t really get to do much sightseeing in Oklahoma, but we did have a lot of fun watching (or playing) our favorite sport, and seeing lots of friends and family that we don’t see nearly enough of!
We celebrated Maddie’s 21st birthday in September by heading off to Vegas for a 4-night stay! We stayed at the Excalibur hotel on the south end of the strip. This trip was super cheap for us because we had airline credits to use up, so we didn’t pay anything additional for airfare, and we used all credit card points to pay for our hotel room. We had a blast! We lounged by the pool, went up in the Eiffel Tower, enjoyed the fountains at the Bellagio, walked up and down the strip and people-watched, went down to Fremont Street, and got to meet some of the Thunder from Down Under!
Last but not least, Kaylee was lucky enough to get invited on a trip to Florida with her 3 best friends (and one mom) over fall break in October! They spent four wonderful days playing in the ocean, eating fabulous meals, and enjoying the Florida coast!
I think it’s unlikely that our family as a whole will ever travel this much in one year again, but the memories we made both together and apart were amazing. We feel truly blessed to have had all of these experiences! And this is why I do what I do… constantly search for great travel deals, so we can keep making memories!
