Looking Ahead at 2013

• By Connvoyage
• January 5, 2013
• 12 Comments

Happy New Year from Vietnam!

Ringing in the New Year with friends in Nha Trang, Vietnam

Okay, so I’m almost a week behind, but cut me some slack. I was partying on the beach in Nha Trang on New Year’s Eve, and unfortunately, caught a bit of a cold, and I think my Vietnamese iced coffee-induced insomnia is finally catching up with me.

My last post from 2012 talked about my achievements, and to kick off the start of a brand new year, I want to talk about what’s coming up for me in 2013.

Photo from when I went diving in Egypt’s Red Sea

First up, I’ll be traveling to Indonesia this week to start a month long diving excursion! I’ll be hopping around the islands, getting in as much diving as I possibly can. Of course, I’ll also be sampling all the local cuisine I can manage. This will be my first time to Indonesia, and although I really wanted to go to the more remote areas like Sumatra and Borneo, I decided to save that for another trip and just focus on the beach and water sports this time around. Plus, my cousin, David, is planning on meeting me in Bali so I’ve got a time and location constraint to adhere to, which is the first time for me, and to be honest, really weird to not have an open-ended itinerary!

San Diego besties!

From Indonesia, I’ll fly to the Philippines to meet my best friend from San Diego to do more diving. It’ll be the first time either one of us has traveled to the Philippines and the first time we’ve traveled anywhere international together so we’re both pretty excited. Some more of my cousins (my extended family is huge) may also be traveling to the Philippines at the end of February so if the timing works out, I’ll get to see them too!

Ellora, India in 2010

My ultimate goal after my trip to the Philippines is to return to India in March, just in time for the Holi festival. I missed it the last time I was in India and I’m making it a travel priority this year. In fact, when I first came back out to Asia, the only destinations I knew for certain were volunteering at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai and spending Holi in India. Now that March is just around the corner, I’m getting really excited, as well as a bit nervous (I didn’t always have the best time in India if you remember), about my return to India.

And after Holi in India? Well… Who knows? I’m not usually one to plan my travels and the fact that I have an itinerary this well-planned out for the next few months is impressive enough. True, the fact that I have people meeting me in different places makes it necessary to plan, but to be honest, I’m not a fan of this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy that my friends and family are finally coming out to travel with me; it’s just that I much prefer a more random and leisurely travel style.

It’s 2013, are you ready for it?

As you can see, my 2013 is already shaping up to be quite an amazing one. I’m looking forward to this year and sharing more of my (mis)adventures with you!

Oh, did I also mention that I recently bought a GoPro? Expect some fun videos in 2013 as well!

Happy 2013!