That was extremely quick! 2016 seems to have come and gone in a flash. It seems like just yesterday l was reflecting on 2015 and our plans for the new year. Here l am again with a wrap-up of our fun and travel filled year. We have enjoyed sharing the year with you and hope to keep on doing that in the new year. By my calculation, the longest we stayed at home in Seville at any one time was three weeks and our longest trip was 33 days! We couldn’t have done it without the absolutely wonderful pet sitters we found through my favorite company, Housesitmatch. I highly recommend them to any homeowner, and nope.. I am not being paid to say that, just a grateful client 🙂 .
Countries Visited in 2016:
Can you believe 12 countries! We started out the year with a trip to the Maldives. A bucket list destination, especially for Federico. It was a honeymoon of sorts at the Villamendhoo Resort. Even though we didn’t do it on the cheap, I am still glad we did it. If you’re planning on visiting and want to save a few bucks, here’s how you can. We also visited:
Dominican Republic (via Fathom cruise)
United States (Miami)
Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto)
Denmark (Copenhagen)
Thailand (Bangkok)
South Africa (Johannesburg and Durban)
Portugal (Lisbon and Lagos)
Sweden (Stockholm)
Nigeria (Lagos and Ibadan).. have yet to write about that.
Italy (Rome and Bologna)
Our Favorites:
While we really enjoyed all the destinations, our most favorites were Italy and Nigeria with Johannesburg a close third. You can probably guess the reason why. We got to spend time with family. Spending time with his mom in Rome is one of the things l always look forward to. She is a warm, loving woman and we always seem to communicate one way or the other (Federico and Google Translate 🙂 ). She also spoils me rotten and l love it!!! This year, we also spent most of December in Nigeria celebrating my mother’s 90th birthday. It was an amazing time, and once again, l was spoiled rotten..and yep!!! Loved it. It was wonderful hanging out with my siblings, nephews, nieces and cousins.
Our Miss:
We had two misses this year. We missed out and lost a crap load of money with our failed trip to Palma de Mallorca. It still stings enough that when Federico suggested attempting it again, I said no..for now. It was salvaged by our side trip to Cordoba, a place we really loved.
The other miss was our failed travel day to Sintra. We’re both still on the fence as to if we want to try it again. Our preference for now would be to skip it and visit Porto instead. We’ll see. The good thing is that Portugal isn’t so far that we can’t attempt it again.
Our Travel Wish List Destinations for 2017:
Because we don’t care about counting new countries and would rather visit places we liked prior, there are some repeats on here, but c’est la vie!
South Africa. We fill we have so much to see and discover.
Namibia. We keep hearing really good things about it and want to experience it for ourselves.
Gambia. One of my cousins keeps raving about her visits. She loves the beach, but so does Federico so l could be persuaded.
Tanzania. A place l have always wanted to visit thanks to stories of my college classmates who were from there.
Italy .. and .
Nigeria. Spend more time with family. At least one month in each place would be nice.
United Kingdom. We never get tired of visiting London, but now would like to add places like Glasgow.
Romania. I have a blogger friend there and l have long wanted to visit because a lot of my favorite B schlocky movies are filmed there 🙂 .
Czech Republic, Prague specifically just to see what all the fuss is about.
Croatia. I just keep hearing wonderful things about it from everybody, so l am curious.
You may notice that quite a few places are in Africa and Eastern Europe. These places have been calling out for us for a while, and now we hope to answer the calls so to speak. Reasons being that they are:
- closer to us
- cheaper for us
The other place we hope to experience more of is Spain! This was on the wish list for last year, but this year we really hope to work on it. We want to train travel around Spain! Our lease is up in March and we have been trying to decide where to head next. It’s not easy..feel free to throw out names.. in Spain..near the sea 🙂 . It totally sucks to be have all these beautiful places nearby and not at check them out! I see we didn’t quite make all the countries on our wish list for last year, but we did make a serious dent, so l am happy.
Our ongoing wish for 2017 and beyond:
World Peace. A big wish l know. We wish it anyway.
In conclusion, I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy and travel filled year ahead. We can’t thank you enough for choosing to read our little ole blog. We hope to keep entertaining you with the trials and tribulations of our travels.
Sounds like a great year! And we would love to got to Nigeria as well (even without family there)! We will see, very unlikely that we will make it next year. I wish you all the best for 2017!
When you eventually make it out there, let me know. You never know, we just might be there. Federico had such a good time this time, he actually suggested us staying for like 3 months at a time..so who knows? 🙂 . I wish you a fantastic year full of travels as well, you guys have been on a tear as well :-).
You have had an awesome year of travel! I love that you had some family travel fun as well. I look forward to seeing where you go next year. Happy New Year and many blessings!
Thanks for reading. It was a great year indeed and spending time with family was priceless :-). Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope it’s a wonderful one.
You had an amazing year this past year and I cant wait to see where (we) go in 2017 as you take us along with you!
We also look forward to taking and sharing many trips with you. Let’s hope it’s as good as the ones from thi year. Thanks for reading.
So much joy & your family is beautiful! Your mom is 90! Such a blessing to be surrounded & celebrated by her loved ones. I’m looking forward to your travels especially Tanzania, a country I’ve been longing to see. I agree there is much to visit in Africa and others on my list are Botswana & Mozambique.
Happy new year in advance & here is to more wonderful adventures!:-)
Thanks Lili! 🙂 . It was fantastic being able to share the day with her, and l am glad we were able to be there. I definitely hope we make it to Tanzania, what a fool l was not to take my class mates up on their offer to visit years ago, same with Kenya. I still don’t know why l was in such a hurry to finish school.. Bah! Oh..Botswana and Mozambique 🙂 . You are so not helping..haha! Have a wonderful New Year 😉 .
It has been great fun to keep up with your travels and thanks for sharing them. Hopefully we will get to meet face to face in the coming year along the way somewhere. Looking forward to hear more about your African trips if you can pull them off. It’s right at the top of our bucket list. We wish you all the best for 2017 and happy travelling. Tim & Anne
I have a feeling it’s just a matter of time before we meet, and l think it will be in 2017! I certainly hope so. I enjoy reading about your travels as well. It seems just yesterday you were still looking forward to the beginning 🙂 . I wish you guys a wonderful and travel filled year as well. Enjoy Lagos :-). See you in Africa!!!!
Congratulations on a full year Kemkem & Federico! Glad to hear South Africa made it on your top 3, we loved our own time there and it’s a place I really want to get back to. Glad also you’ll be seeing some of Central/Eastern Europe in 2017, I think what continuously attracts us to the region is the good value and, for the most part, lower tourism numbers. Having said that, try to avoid Croatia in July and August.
All the best in 2017!
Frank & Lissette
I was really surprised that we both liked S.A that much. Not sure we’ll like the rest of the country, but Johannesburg we definitely did. I am looking forward to Eastern Europe a lot because for us, Asia is not a really, really huge draw and neither one of us wants to go to South America no matter how wonderful everyone thinks it is. I wouldn’t mind an authentic Argentinian steak but not willing to fly that far for one :-). We would never attempt anyplace in the thick of summer anywhere anymore :-). Happy New Year to the both of you.
Ya’ll had such an amazing year even with the travel hits and misses. I found some travel inspiration. I’ll be putting my passport to use once I finish school. Thanks for sharing and many blessings to you and your family.
Thanks for reading! 🙂 . Glad you were able to find some inspiration and look forward to you putting the passport to good use after school. Have a great New Year and l hope 2017 is everything you wish, and more :-).
KemKem what a year you had! But also to end 2016 with such a special celebration and family gathering for your mother’s 90th Birthday must have been the icing on the cake? I hope you will make it to all the places on your 2017 list. We will be visiting Australia in February for 3 weeks. It will also be a year of big changes for us. Happy New Year to you and Frederico.
You said it right. It was the icing on the cake celebrating my mom’s birthday with family. I had been feeling a bit guilty as we had been to Rome twice already in the year to visit his family, so it was lovely. My immediate concern is o find our next place after our lease is up in March. I’m curious to see how many places we end up visiting too. I would hazard a guess and say you will love Australia. I’ve only been to Sydney and it was beautiful, Federico says the same about Melbourne but l can’t wait to get your take and see what 2017 has in store for you. Have a wonderful New Year! Thank you for always being there 🙂
What a year 2016 was, of incredible highs and disappointing lows both and I’m so glad we finally had a chance to meet. Love the photos of you and your family – I almost missed you but spied the tell-tale dimples. 😀 We’re planning on a lot more travel in Spain as well as more exploring in our own backyard but also hoping to venture into Eastern Europe this year, too. Here’s hoping our paths somewhere and hopefully sooner rather that later! (I still have your gift from Mexico, too!) Happy 2017! Anita
Me too! I am really happy we finally met you guys. I hope our paths will cross again soon. I’m sure it will, it’s bound to :-). Between the backyards and the Eastern Europe exploration, l’m sure it will happen. Haha! I am thankful for the gift and look forward to collecting it soon :-). You guys have been having so much fun in Lagos and Seville and Cordoba. I wish we had been here while you were, but next time :-). Happy New Year!!!
Hi Kemkem!
What a great list of accomplishments this year. Those family photos are fantastic! Isn’t it great to get together with everyone? So glad you were able to do that. And respect to Federico for taking one for the team and wearing a girls shirt for that family picture!! What a guy!
I hope you have an amazing year of travelling and exploring in 2017! I look forward to reading all about it.
All the best,
Carrick
Hi Carrick! Awwh..thanks for the compliment. It was fantastic being with everyone. Haha! He was the very last one to change and l totally cracked up when l saw him, not that anyone else really noticed. At home, we’re used to seeing everything, important to have something to wear as opposed to for men/women :-). Still, l was happy he was game to wear it. I thank you for reading and will do the same. I wish you and the family a wonderful 2017 and look forward to following your adventures as well 🙂 .
Congrats on an epic year. You and hubby went to a lot of really dope places. Cheers to 2017.
Same to you! Congrats on a wonderful 2016! Hope we have more adventures to share 🙂
What a lovely family you have! And your traveling is quite impressive. Cheers to a new year and I hope you cross many more countries off your list this year.
Thanks Latoya for the compliment. We’re lucky to have them. I too hope we get to cross more countries off the list, even though it seems to grow more than decrease 😉 .
Shoutout to you for having a great year, so many didn’t! lol And kudos to you for all the traveling your did.
Very true what you said. So many didn’t and don’t for various reasons so we do know how lucky we are. Happy new Year to you :-).
I’m kicking off 2017 with a trip to San Juan PR with a group of bloggers, and I’m so excited about it. I look forward to what places I’ll get to visit this year.
Nice! You will love Old San Juan! Beautiful place. Loved everything but the tostones.. the hard plantain that they eat there. I love ripe ones 🙂 . Have a great time and l look forward to reading all about it 🙂
What an AWESOME year of travel! This is inspiring!
Thanks. It was indeed an awesome and fun year. Wondering if we can top ourselves 🙂
You had a wonderful year of travels. That baby is so beautiful! I want her. We are going to London in April. I am not even sure where.
I have to go back and read your Mallorca fail story.
The baby was smiling all the time, and the best part was she let everyone hold her which was great. She finally relented and let me hold her later on in the evening and she smiled all the time. If they could only be like that always..haha. The Mallorca was a painful and expensive fail. I still cringe when l think of it. It was salvaged, but l’m not gonna lie, it still hurts ;-).
This is a terrific year indeed! You’ve inspired me to add more travel to my plans for the year ahead.
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. Travel is very much fun, and it doesn’t even have to be to far off places as long as you enjoy it :-). Here’s to a wonderful travel filled 2017 for you!
You have a great family! I loved all of your travel post this year. Very inspiring. I’ve got to step up my travel game this year.
Thanks so much for reading. Travel is so addictive. I hope we get to do more of it this year. Glad to inspire and l wish you lots of travel. Happy New Year!
Your 2016 was really full and not only that you visited so many amazing places, but you also got to spend some time with your amazing family… I loved looking at those photos with all the generations and general happiness!
And it seems that 2017 will be an year of amazing adventures as well! If you really make it to Romania this year, please let me know as I’d love to meet you and Federico! But, as I always said – expect it to be just like the movies we both enjoy so much: a “B” destination 🙂
I wish you a great 2017, KemKem and may all your wishes come true!
Our focus is definitely going to be on these destinations and if we get a good deal, you better believe we will be there. I’ve heard contrasting stories of Romania and l want to see it for myself. Having you there is icing on the cake and l fully expect a B destination! I wouldn’t have it any other way :-). It was incredible having so many generations there, made me feel old.. Imagine that was about 60% of the clan as we are spread out all over and some couldn’t make it, but it was really nice. I hope 2017 turns out as well adventure wise. Happy New Year to you and the family :-).
You’ve had a marvellous year KemKem. Thanks for sharing it with us. I love your travel style, and the fact that the most important thing to both you and Federico, is your family. .)
I can’t believe how far and well you’ve travelled. I’ve very much enjoyed reading about your visits to Thailand and South Africa. We’re going to Croatia in 2017 too, so if you get there before us, I want to hear all about it. I used to live in Prague, so feel free to ask any questions.
I’ll be interested to read aout your visits to the Gambia. It’s not a popular destination by any means, but I know that many Brits go there for a bit of exotic sun and beach, as it’s quite near, and safe.
p.s. Absolutely love the family photographs. xxx
Thanks Victoria! I know you had a travel filled year as well with so many more destinations. I will be re-reading your Eastern Europe posts as we travel this year as l realy do want to hit those places specifically and l remember you lived in Prague. Gambia l would say is a 60-70% chance as we have to coordinate with my cousin (in the red dress) who does quite a bit of traveling herself but would kill us if we go without her 🙂 . It’s going to be a good year l hope for all of us! :-).
Can I pleaseeeeeeeeeee go with you this year! I love your posts and your pictures. I feel like I am right there. I’m glad you guys had a great year!
Come along for the ride! There’s always room for one more! There is an old Roman saying “In a poor person’s house, there’s always food”. I will switch it up and say in a poor person’s house, there’s always room! 🙂 . I wish you and the family a wonderful and happy 2017!
Amazing lists.! I’m looking forward to visiting Africa..would love to do Morocco, Nigeria and so forth, and as well a few Asian countries this year I’m not so bold as to lay out my travel itinerary, as my past habits have included a good number of cancellations! I’m hoping this year no cancellations! I will be off to Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Czech Republic with my daughter during her April to May two week break! At least I have a ticket for Budapest, and we’ll book accomodation soon!
Budapest is one of my favorite cities and l would go back in a minute. I had a relative who worked in Vienna for a couple of years and never took her up on the offer to visit the idiot that l was. I like to dream of destinations and if it happens..great. If it doesn’t, there’s always the next year l say. We stayed about a 5 minute walk from the Parliament the first time we visited at an AirBnB and it was fantastic. The second time was a home exchange. Hopefully, you’ll get to cross them all off your list. Let me know if you need the listing link. Happy New Year!
Happy 2017!!! Sounds like you have grand plans and I hope you achieve them all 🙂 And maybe our paths will cross this year in our travels.
Happy New Year! I feverishly hope we do too. 2016 went by so fast it seems. I definitely hope our paths cross, it would be fun! 🙂
I’m sure 2017 will have many blessings in store for you. I hope you are pleasantly surprised by all the triumphs you experience this year.
Thank you so much. I wish the same for you! I enjoy reading your stuff, and look forward to more in 2017! :-).
Wow! You you definitely had a great yrc
Looking back, we certainly did! Happy 2017!
I think of all of those destinations Bangkok would remain my favourite
Aha! I wouldn’t blame you. It was very good and well priced :-).
Love reading about your travel Adventures!! Loved loved loved the Nigerian pictures. The family is so big and getting bigger! Can’t believe i keep missing you on your travels!!! ( ps train to glasgwo from london passes through Sheffield!!!) Can’t wait to read about your adventures this year especially Gambia and Tanzania ( which is on my bucket list!). Love to Uncle Fredde
ps. i think you and kid no 4 are in joint first place!!!
Haha!!! I see what you did there. Very diplomatic of you, but l will forgive you in light of your relationship to number 4! 🙂 ;-). We so enjoyed the trip to Naija and yeah..it sucks that we keep missing each other. Hope you are all well. The baby looks so cute :-). We must come by Sheffield one of these days to hang out. I see the beauty. Need to check how far to Glasgow it is..a day trip maybe? as we might be over that way? I am definitely hoping to do Gambia or Namibia this year. Time to scratch them off the list. Thanks for the comment, my favorite niece!!! 🙂 🙂 ;-).