2015 was a busy year. Overall, I spent about half of the year staying in hotels, hostels, on planes, trains, and automobiles. And that doesn’t include nights I spent with friends or at my parents house. I was gone a lot, and it wasn’t always easy. In fact, I probably pushed my travels just a little bit too hard in 2015, which definitely had a lot to do with my mindset when it was time to plan 2015 travel. In short, that mindset was a little bit (or more) in run away mode.

This year I want to try some things a little differently to see if I can strike more of a balance. I’m definitely still going to travel. In fact, I’m still going to travel a lot! I already have a 2+ month trip planned to Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan and maybe more) and a two-ish week trip to Iran. Those are both going to be HUGE trips and I feel they are going to take my travels and exploration to a whole other level. I can’t wait.

As I said though, I want to find better balance, so those will be two of likely only four or five trips outside of the US compared to this year’s eleven trips outside of the US. I also plan to do a little more exploration of the US namely with spending a couple weeks out west skiing towards the end of the season and an awesome Amtrak trip to Montana following the skiing adventures.

I want to work on expanding the different types of flexible work that I do so I can continue to travel significantly even when I get kicked off my parent’s health insurance in a couple years. I want to write more, in general and on this blog. I want to stay on top of my photo editing. At this point, I’m almost caught up but at one point in 2015 I was about six months behind. I want to get my travel agency off the ground (more on this later!). I want to make some more progress towards finishing my MBA, hopefully at least 12 more credits.

In addition to work, school, and travel, I want to focus more on relationships at home. When I’m gone so much it is nearly impossible to make new friends, at least new friends who “live” in the same area as I “live.” More than that though, it can be tough to maintain older friendships. I’d like to not go more than two months without seeing those people that I consider to be my good friends who live nearby, with the exception of during my extended trip this summer.

It will be exciting to see what 2016 has in store! What are your plans for 2016?