Earlier this summer, I hit a major travel milestone: crossing off my 50th country! Other than a brief pause from work between October 2011-April 2012, when I decided to quit my first corporate job and study abroad in Taiwan, I’ve held a full-time job since graduating in June 2010. I’m amazed at how much of the world I’ve been able to see over the years just by maximizing my time off.
Without a doubt there were five things that helped me travel this much:
doing points and miles over the past 15+ years
keeping rent and food costs low to afford travel and payoff student loans
working for employers that offered 20+ days of paid vacation
taking vacations around at least one federal holiday
country stacking and visiting multiple countries on one trip
While a few of these visits, like Canada and Japan, were done before college, the vast majority of these adventures happened in the years since. For frequent favorites like France and Mexico, choosing just a single picture was incredibly difficult. For others, I only had an extended layover and a few hours to capture the moment. Without further ado, here is a visual timeline of the past 15+ years: one photo and the year of my visits for every country, in chronological order.
01 – Canada – 1999, 2006, 2015, 2016
Admiring the Toronto skyline
02 – Japan – 2004, 2015, 2023
Cherry blossom chasing around Tokyo
03 – United Kingdom – 2008, 2026
Eating some fish and chips in London
04 – China – 2009, 2015
Seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian
05 – Taiwan – 2011
Biking around Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan
06 – Malaysia – 2012
Outside Masjid Jamek, my first visit to a mosque, in Kuala Lumpur
07 – Singapore – 2012
Seeing the merlion in Singapore
08 – Turkey – 2013
Outside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
09 – Greece – 2013, 2024
Visiting Athens for the first time
10 – Switzerland – 2014, 2023
Walking around the beautiful streets of Lucerne, Switzerland
11 – India – 2014
Visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra, India
12 – Australia – 2015
Admiring the beauty of Hobart, Tasmania
13 – United Arab Emirates – 2015
Afternoon tea at the Burj Khalifa
14 – South Korea – 2016, 2023
Hiking around Seoul
15 – Nepal – 2016
Reaching Everest Base Camp in Nepal
16 – Qatar – 2016
Visiting the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha
17 – Chile – 2017, 2024
Gazing at the beauty of Torres del Paine
18 – South Africa – 2017
Admiring the beautiful South African coast in Cape Town
19 – Netherlands – 2017
Wandering around the streets of Amsterdam
20 – Iceland – 2017
Standing inside of a glacier in Iceland
21 – France – 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Wine tasting in Burgundy
22 – Monaco – 2018
Views of Monaco
23 – Belgium – 2018
Waiting for the subway in Brussels
24 – Austria – 2018
Walking around the Schonbrunn in Vienna, Austria
25 – Cambodia – 2018
Visiting Ankor Wat in Cambodia!
26 – Thailand – 2016, 2018
Admiring the skyline in Bangkok!
27 – Colombia – 2019
Trying mangosteen and other fruits at a market in Bogota
28 – Costa Rica – 2021
Sunset over the Pacific Coast in Costa Rica
29 – Mexico – 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Visiting Chichen Itza in the Yucatan
30 – Luxembourg – 2021
Wandering around the hilly streets of Luxembourg
31 – Spain – 2021
Admiring the Islamic Architecture at the Alhambra in Granada
32 – Portugal – 2021
Watching the sunset over Lisbon
33 – Germany – 2021
Checking out the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart
34 – Italy – 2022
Running around the streets of Florence, Italy
35 – Hungary – 2022
View of the Danube from Buda, Hungary
36 – Slovakia – 2022
View of the Danube in Bratislava, Slovakia
37 – Israel – 2023
Admiring the Sea of Galilee
38 – Palestine – 2023
Visiting the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus was born, in Bethlehem.
39 – New Zealand – 2023
Bike riding the Alps2Ocean trail in the South Island
40 – Fiji – 2024
Gazing at the countryside of Viti Levu in Fiji
41 – Peru – 2024
Visiting Macchu Picchu!
42 – Panama – 2024
Checking out the views of the skyline in Panama City
43 – Guatemala – 2024
Wandering around the cobblestone streets of Antigua, Guatemala
44 – Argentina – 2024
Wine tasting in Mendoza
45 – Egypt – 2024
Wandering around the Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza, Egpyt
Hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone!
Without a doubt, by far the biggest highlight this past year has seeing my little one grow up! He is now just over 14 months old, and it’s been such a life changing experience seeing him develop one day at a time.
Travel:
22980 miles flown, 1 New Country Visited, Visited Mexico 3x this year!
January – Day trip to Portland
Visiting the Japanese Garden in Portland
February – Day Trip to Pasadena
Visiting the Gamble House in Pasadena
June – Long weekend in Puerto Vallarta & Long weekend in Ireland
First trip after little one was born! Visiting Hyatt’s Dreams Resort in Puerto Vallarta! Dining in Belfast! Hiking along the Irish Sea around Dublin City
August – Long weekend to Mexico City, and 2-night work trip to NYC
Meeting up with friends while traveling for work in NYC!Visiting Casa Luis Barragan (famous Mexican Architect) in CDMX!
October – Long weekend visit to Cabo San Lucas
Weekend escape to Cabo San Lucas
November – Thanksgiving week in Los Angeles
Hanging in the common space at Google Spruce Goose office in Playa Vista
December – Southern California (Palm Springs, San Diego)
Checking out the murals at the Thompson Palm SpringsWalking along Mission Beach Promenade in San Diego
Parenting:
Surviving the first full year as a parent !!
Mason in daycare
Mason’s first road trip
Catering from Jolibee for our little one’s first birthday!
Health:
Lowered my A1c from 6.1 to 5.8
Ran three half marathons, two of which were sub 2 hours.
First half marathon of the year in February, and it completely rained out! First half marathon where I finally ran a sub-2 hour time! The SF Half Marathon!Final half marathon of the year in October in San Jose!
Career
View of Downtown New York from the Google NYC’s St John Terminal Office
Working on web projects instead of email-related projects
Building agentic solutions for marketers
Getting shoutouts at work
Spiritual:
Continued going to Grace Cathedral
Attended events through Temple Emanu-El
Sunday mornings are for services at Grace Cathedral (parenting schedule permitting!)
Language Learning:
Completed 20+ hours of French classes via Babbel Live, though stopped after I returned from parental leave in April 2025
My 2025 youtube recap! Many of the travel vlogs and exploring cities are French-speaking YouTuber channels!
Reading
Read / listened to five books this year:
Reading all about zoning in Ellickson’s America’s Frozen Neighborhoods
High, Erika Fartland (January)
America’s Frozen Neighborhoods, Robert Ellickson (February)
Wounded Tigris, Leon McCarron (March)
White Rural Rage, Paul Waldman (October)
Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (December)
2026 Goals
Life has certainly changed especially now that I’m a parent. I’ve continued to reduce my travel aspirations and instead focus more on what I can do closer to home. Here’s what I’m hoping to do in the new year!
Visit all the SF Public Libraries (28 total) with little one
Visit a new country
Bring down my A1C from to 5.6
Bring down my cholesterol from 133 back to 108
Continue my running / strength training routines
Continue going to Grace Cathedral and Temple Emanu-El
Run another half marathon, maybe complete a triathlon
Towards the end of last year, through the miracle of modern science and our wonderful surrogate, my husband and I welcomed our first child into this world. Becoming a parent has always been something that I’ve wanted to experience, and the last six months have been certainly the most life-changing chapter of my life.
I had exactly 167 days of leave, which was the longest period I’ve ever had without being in an office/work environment since finishing college in 2010. I’ll preface everything by saying that I had no idea what to expect besides sleep deprivation, and doing anything as a new parent would not have been possible without the following:
working for a company that offered 18 weeks of paid leave
taking an additional 4 weeks off work without pay
starting daycare when our son was 15 weeks old
having my mom and mom-in-law available to help with child care
being intentional about how I wanted to spend my time
What I would recommend for those thinking about what to do while on paternity leave:
Be realistic about what you can feasibly do. As a first time parent, I had no idea what to expect, other than sleep deprivation.
Create structure in your day. Without having a job to go to, I found myself feeling untethered, which felt problematic. For me, French classes and my workout schedule helped ground me.
Take it easy. This time is for bonding and for figuring out all things parenting. Anything else is truly extra.
For privacy sake, I’ll spare the photos of my little one.
Without further ado, my leave by the numbers…
Hikes: 15
Wine Tastings: 7
Architecture Tours: 5
Trains/Planes/Ferries Taken: 9
Books Read: 7
Classes Taken: 2(ish)
Museums Visited: 21
Races Ran: 1
Hiking Adventures (15 hikes)
Bayview Trail (Treasure Island)American River Trail (Sacramento)Wildcat Canyon Park (El Cerrito)Mt Wanda Trail (Martinez)UC Davis Arboretum Trail (Davis)Robert Dollar Drive Trail (San Rafael)Tennessee Valley Trail (Mill Valley)Lake Chabot Loop (Castro Valley)Pedro Point Loop (Pacifica)Coyote Hills Bayview Loop (Fremont)Stevens Creek Trail (Mountain View) Cabrillo Point Bayview Trail (San Diego)West Cliff Drive & Natural Bridges Trail (Santa Cruz)Nimitz Way (Berkeley) Muir Woods to Mt Tam (Mill Valley)
Wine Tasting (7 tastings)
Novelty Hill (Woodinville)Hall Wineries (St Helena)Quivira Vineyards (Healdsburg)Opus One Winery (Oakville)Chateau Montelena (Calistoga)Donum Estate (Carneros)Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (Napa)
Architecture Tours (5 buildings)
San Francisco City HallFrank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center (San Rafael)Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (Pasadena)
Trains, Planes & Ferries (9 journeys)
SF Ferry rides to 1/ Vallejo, 2/ Sausalito, 3/ Richmond, 4/ Angel IslandAmtrak California to SacramentoDay trip to PasadenaDay trip to PortlandDay trip to San DiegoWeeklong visit to Puerto Vallarta with my in-laws!
Books Read (7):
Reading about U.S. zoning laws on my commute to San Jose
Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman (October)
The Deepest South of All, Richard Grant (November)
The Amur River, Colin Thubron (November)
Sovietistan, Erika Fartland (December)
High, Erika Fartland (January)
America’s Frozen Neighborhoods, Robert Ellickson (February)
Wounded Tigris, Leon McCarron (March)
Classes Taken (2)
I’m considering a potential career change into urban planning, and enrolled in a 15 week on-site course as an open university student at San Jose State. I’m halfway through the semester and have learned a ton!
Real Estate Finance class during Spring 2025 semester at San Jose State
In addition to urban planning studies, I continued to work on my French. My goal with French is to be able to communicate at a basic level, especially at wineries and restaurants, while in France or other Francophone countries. I took about 60+ hours of classes between Nov ’24 – Feb ’25.
My most recent babbel classes.
Museums Visited (21)
Around the Bay Area and beyond I visited 21 different museums, I’ll spare the photos for all of them, but the top highlights were the three NPS sites located nearby:
Angel Island Immigration Museum
Rosie the Riveter National Historic Site
Fort Point National Historic Site
view of the Golden Gate atop Fort Point
Races Ran (1)
I completed the San Francisco Half-Marathon back in February. This was the first time I’ve ever ran a race in the rain. I absolutely never do another race in the rain ever agin. Despite the heavy rains, I set a new PR: 2 hours, 1min and 30 seconds!
At the finish line!!
Reflection
I still can’t believe I spent nearly the last six months being out of office. It truly was a memorable experience and am forever grateful for this time. That being said, I am eagerly looking forward to getting back to work and seeing what this next stage of my life will look like, as a working parent!
This year has been such a whirlwind of a year. Without a doubt the highlight of the year was becoming a parent. We welcomed our little one in October! We are definitely still very early in this next chapter of our lives, but it’s been the most meaningful experience of my life. Without a doubt the top three highlights this year for me were:
welcoming our baby to the world
paragliding in Queenstown NZ
seeing Machu Picchu
Before our little one arrived however, I made sure to make use of any holiday or work-from-anywhere weeks to visit new places. Let’s go!
Travel:
70,240 miles flown, 11 countries visited (5 new to me!)
My flight map for 2024!
January – New Zealand / Fiji
Paragliding down Coronet Peak on New Years Day 2024, the beginning of an incredible year! Coffee tasting at Bula Coffee in Sigatoka, Fiji
February – San Diego / Lake Tahoe
Snowshoeing for the first time at Lake Tahoe!
March – Puerto Vallarta
Chocolate tour and tasting in Puerto Vallarta!
April – Mexico City
Visiting the Frida Kahlo house before our friend’s wedding in Mexico City!
May – Lima / Cusco / Panama City
Checking out the restaurant scene in Lima, Peru!Exploring Machu Picchu!! Wandering around Panama City’s Casco Viejo neighborhood
June – Guatemala
Exploring the colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala
July – Boston / New York / Seattle / Santiago / Mendoza
Friend’s wedding in Boston! Remote working in the Hudson Valley, New York Kayaking around Puget Sound near Gig Harbor Experiencing Santiago de Chile’s dining scene at restaurant Borrago!! Sipping Malbec and discovering Argentina’s Wine Region around Mendoza
August – Cairo / Luxor
Wandering around the Pyramids of Giza!! Learning all about Ancient Egypt in Luxor
September – Athens / Cannes / Barcelona
Exploring the ruins around the Acropolis in Athens! Celebrating my dear friend’s wedding in the Cote d’Azur!! Walked around the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
October – Seattle
Leaving the Residence Inn after our 10-night stay, following the birth of our kid via surrogacy!
December – Puerto Vallarta
Exploring the Riviera Nayarit around Puerto Vallarta
Intellectual Curiosity:
Books:
I read 8 books this year that spanned my interests in real estate, becoming a parent and travel. Hope to read more on all these topics in the coming year!
Fragile Neighborhoods by Seth Kaplan (Jan)
Arbitrary Lines by Nolan Gray (Jan)
Containing big tech by Tom Kemp (June)
Crib Sheet by Emily Oster (September)
Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman (October)
The Deepest South of All, Richard Grant (November)
The Amur River, Colin Thubron (November)
Sovietistan, Erika Fartland (December)
Reading about the consequences of how technology impacts our lives, at the Starbucks in Antigua Guatemala!
Languages:
48 – hours of French group classes taken
Over the past few years I’ve taken language classes for fun, primarily French and German through the Global Language Network in DC.
I’ve wanted to become at least conversationally fluent in French for years, primarily for future travel throughout France and it’s former colonies (Senegal, Madagascar, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, the Maghreb countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). This year, I’ve taken almost 50 hours, and hope to continue this habit and do more in the new year!
View from an old fort in Antibes from earlier this summer. This was my 5th trip to France!
Wineries:
13 – wineries visited
Most of my wineries visited happened during my trip down to Chile/Argentina earlier this year. Now that I’m a parent, I’m aiming to hopefully check out more wineries primarily in California in the new year.
Hammerling Wines, Berkeley CA (March)
Wente Vineyards, Livermore CA (June)
DeLille Vineyards, Woodinville WA (June)
Whitecliff Winery, Gardiner NY (July)
Concha Y Toro, Maipo Valley CL (July)
Vina Santa Rita, Maipo Valley CL (July)
Bodega Norton, Lujan de Cuyo AR (July)
Bodega Chandon, Lujan de Cuyo AR (July)
Catena Zapata, Lujan de Cuyo AR (July)
Bodega Andeluna, Valle de Uco AR (July)
Bodega Salentein, Valle de Uco AR (July)
Bodega Zuccardi, Maipu Valley AR (July)
Novelty Hill, Woodinville WA (October)
Hall Wines, Rutherford CA (November)
Quick day trip to Livermore earlier this summer to check out Wente!
Health & Fitness
In 2024, I diversified my fitness routine by doing more group classes, such as those offered at my work, or doing Barry’s classes with friends. In particular, after my annual physical indicated that I was prediabetic given my A1C levels, despite feeling healthy and trying to live an active lifestyle, I need to do more (such as focus on my diet) to maintain good health.
518.5 – miles jogged, walked, hiked or ran
140 – running sessions completed
127 – strength training sessions completed
6 – yoga classes completed
26 – Barry’s classes completed
12 – cycling classes completed
15 – trails hiked totaling 57.4 miles
6.1 – my A1C level, which indicates I’m prediabetic (!)
Starting my birthday with a morning class at Barry’s FiDi SF!
Spirituality & Religion
The highlight for me this year was starting to attend services at Grace Cathedral, an Episcopalian Church, in San Francisco. I made the decision to start exploring other denominations after the birth of my child — I couldn’t in good conscience feel comfortable with raising my kid around doctrine that wasn’t supportive of who I am as a person. It’s been such a welcoming community and I plan to continue in the new year!
At the same time, early on my partner and I decided that we would raise our kid Jewish. It’s been an ongoing process figuring out what it means to be an interfaith family, and my favorite highlight would be lighting Shabbat candles on Fridays. In the new year, we will continue to figure out what being an interfaith family actually looks like and what it means!
17 – visits to Sunday mass/services
2 – kol nidre & pride shabbat
First time attending Grace Cathedral for Sunday services, in early November! My first time ever attending a non-Catholic mass/service
2025 Goals:
As a new parent, for 2025 I am definitely resetting my expectations in terms of what’s achievable, especially when it comes to travelling. In many ways, my life priorities have shifted. I’d much rather be at home figuring out how to be a parent, with all the conveniences and community of friends we have in the Bay Area, rather than trying to figure it out on the road. Here’s to another year around the sun!
