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slightly astray

an honest look at life on the road

Two years of travel (in photos!)

So wow. Two years. I remember when I was finding pictures and writing my anniversary post last year. Not to be all cliché, but I can’t believe how fast the time goes by.

Looking back on my 2nd year of travel, though I visited a decent number of places (both new and old), this was undisputedly the year of family. If the first year was the year of exploration and finding our groove as nomadic travelers, this year, family definitely took top priority over travel.

The year started off with D and I visiting our families in Taipei and China, respectively. Not too soon after that, we flew to Europe to once again see his family in Poland. We had 3 months in Europe planned but unfortunately, I cut my plans short to fly home to Los Angeles when my sister fell seriously ill. I said “unfortunately”, but really it was one of the best things that happened this past year because as scary as the whole ordeal was, we became closer than ever.

After she was all well and recovered, I resumed my travels, only to make another huge change of plans when my grandfather passed away a few months later, resulting in a spur-of-the-moment trip back to Beijing to be with family.

(On a side note, I swear, I’m going to stop announcing my travel plans because as soon as I do, something happens to derail it :P).

So that was Year Two in a nutshell. Even though a lot of it didn’t end up being how I planned and my family went through some unpleasant events, I don’t regret these changes at all.

In fact, these trips home ended up being my most special moments. I am truly grateful for the amount of time I was able to spend with my sister in LA and my family in Beijing. Travels and countries can all be redone, but absolutely nothing can replace this kind of time.

So in keeping with the tradition I started last year, here is a look at Year Two of travel presented in a massive mosaic! One picture for each week. Hover over each for a caption of the week + location, or click to enlarge!

So yeah. Two years! This is quite a significant milestone for me. Two years was the amount of time my company back in Los Angeles gave me to come back to work. I am thankful for the generous policy, and it is quite a difficult (and perhaps, stupid) decision to choose not to take advantage of it. I’m not going to lie and say that I never feel scared about the future, but I’m sure I will find a way to make this work. Now, I feel truly cast out into this world, no more safety net, no more backup plan. There’s only one way to go from here.

So yikes… here we go into year three! :)

P.S. Head over to A Compass Rose to see my top 10 favorite travel destinations in 2 years of travel!

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Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing your recap! I love your travel updates and envy you all the time! I totally get how it’s hard sometimes though, and giving up your job must have been the most difficult decision ever. But for what it’s worth, these experiences and meeting people from all over the world are some of the most important life lessons that a regular job in the “real world” will never ever be able to teach you. You will have amazing stories for the rest of your life and I hope you never stop exploring! Would love to meet up with you someday. :) xoxo.
    Happy April and happy year number 3! What a great anniversary – it’s my birthday today! No joke! ;)

    • HAPPY BIRTHDAY Amanda!! What a day to have a birthday…. I bet you get a lot of cruel jokes!
      I agree that the experience of learning about new cultures and meeting people can never be replaced! I definitely don’t regret quitting my job and career to do this, but at the same time, I do worry a lot more about the future! Let me know if you ever come travel to Asia. I would love to meet up! xx

    • Yep :). Spending all this time with family was the best part of the year. Everything was a blessing in disguise and I’m so glad I do have this kind of freedom to spend the time with them!

  3. Love all the photos and stories behind each of them!!! Thank you for sharing such beautiful memories, which I could’ve joined you in Beijing!! I’m so grateful you came to LA to spend time with me!!!! And here’s to a great year 3 of more exciting travels!!! Can’t wait to see you again next time you’re in LA!! Or meet up in Bali!! :)

  5. Happy two years! I’m glad you were able to take the time to both be with your family and travel. Not having a “safety net” isn’t the worst thing…. when the time comes again, I’m sure you can pick up somewhere fairly easily :)

    • Thanks Cynthia! I think having a mix of family time and travel is the best way… and I couldn’t be more thrilled that the 2nd year turned out this way! I’m sure I can make it work with something else or another career…. I always know that will be the focus in year three! :)

  7. Two years?! Already? Wow time flies. You have had quite the adventures girl and I’m excited for the ones in your future. Hopefully we will meet up soon. xo

    • I know! I can’t believe it’s been 2 years already! I hope we get to meet too! Let me know where in Asia you’re planning on going later this year and maybe we can make something happen! x

  8. Wow! Why do I feel like you’ve been traveling for so much longer?? (Probably because you’ve done so much with it!) Happy travelversary! You look beautiful in all those photos. Hoping for many more years to come :)

    • Awww thanks Michelle! And seriously…. sometimes I feel like the time went by sooo fast, and sometimes it feels like that it’s been so much longer… like I can barely even remember what life was like before traveling!

  10. I love your year in review in weekly pictures.. You sure did a lot of traveling. Here’s to many more years of travel!

  11. You have some amazing pictures. I especially loved the images from Poland and the tulips in Bejing! I’m sorry your family has been through so much in the past two years, but I’m glad that you are closer to your sister because of it. There is nothing like family!

    • Thank you Mandy! I totally agree… being able to spend so much time with family is the best, and it made me so appreciative of the freedom I have to be able to do that!

  12. I know what you mean; I have this thing where I always want a backup or an exit strategy for peace of mind. But then I tell myself that I don’t need a backup if I just have a new plan I can commit to :) Here’s to year three! Love the mosaic!

  13. you have some amazing pictures (and memories it looks like!) to show for all your travels! one of my favorite things about blogging is being able to look back on it all.

  14. Wow Ana… what a year! And some really awesome photos! Although not always under the best circumstances, you sure got to spend a lot of time with family and that’s amazing! It’s also so cool that you have family in so many parts of the world! Here’s to year 3! I’m on mine as well :D

    • Hehe yay for being on our 3rd years! It’s so weird to think that it’s been that long!! Spending so much time with family was definitely the best part of this year… even better than the travels I did. :)

  16. What a wonderful post! You’ve certainly made the most of the year! :) p.s. I also never share my travel plans because I’m scared I’ll basically jinx myself and something terrible will happen haha

    • Thanks Lily! Yeah seriously… in this past year, both time I shared travel plans, they didn’t really happen!! But all the changes were for the better and I couldn’t be happier to spend the time with family. :)

  17. Awesome recap! I really like how you summarized your year. I am happy to hear you sister is doing good. Yes, plans change but we can decide how we react to those change of plans. Wish you the best in this third year of travel!

    • Thank you Ruth! These changes of plans were seriously some of the best things that happened (despite them being unhappy situations) and made this 2nd year of travel so much more meaningful. And really made me appreciate this kind of freedom I have, and I was glad to be able to use that in a helpful way. :)

  18. This is wonderful. I am glad you are so happy! And yes, even though those changes are monumentally hard, life has a way of turning out okay eventually. Here is for more years of travel!

  19. What a beautiful selection of photographs! I love travel and it’s wonderful to see your two years captured in this wonderful summery here.

    Seeing the world is so important, there are so many beautiful places to see!

    Looking forward to reading more about your future adventures!

    Laura xx

    http://www.shehearts.net

    • Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to comment, Laura. :) The longer I travel, the more grateful I am to have this opportunity to visit so many different places around the world!

  20. Wow two years of travel! Such great pictures. I love hearing about how being nomadic has changed for you! And what’s that John Lennon said…Life is what happens while you’re making other plans? I think that’s even more true with travel! :)

    • I know… I can’t believe it’s two years already! And that’s so true! So many things in life can change in an instant, so it’s all up to us to make the best of it. :)

  21. You have been through some experiences Anna! Amazing how much happens on the road. I’ve thousands of images from m nearly 5 years of globe trotting. Here’s to 20 more years traveling!

    Ryan

    • Hey Ryan! Five years of travel! Hopefully I can go as long as you and Kelli have. :) I have soooo many pictures too, and too bad 99% don’t see the light of day! haha.

  22. Let’s be real: the places you’ve gone to are cool and all, but really, I just love all of your clothes! :D I hope this coming year doesn’t have too many emergencies in it…and can’t wait to see what you put together next!

    • Hahaha! The longer I travel, definitely the better dressed I get. The first year, I wore a lot of those ugly traveler clothes. And finally this 2nd year, I realized that real clothes are so much cuter, especially for pictures!

  23. Hi Anna, there are always ups and downs if you travel or if you stay at home and do your usual business. Good that it turned out well for you. It was surely a colourful two years for you. We wish you more of these and send you greetings from our temporary home in Scotland.

  24. Go you! Two years is an amazing achievement and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading about it. Not the bad things, obviously :) Here’s to many more happy years of travel!