Our 2019 in a few words

All these months at home and all the crazy things going on over the world got us thinking about how different our lives were up until a few months ago; how all the things that seemed so important weren’t that important after all.

Last year we realized one of our dreams of spending an entire month in a city that we love so much: Los Angeles. We rented an apartment and got to check so many things off our list (spoiler alert: LA is so big and there are so many places to go to, even an entire month wasn’t enough time). The weather wasn’t as good as we expected, California is famous for its sunshine and warm weather all year long, but what we got were two weeks of rain and cool weather, a sinus infection, an almost broken wrist and, when the sun finally came out, a major sunburnt.
All things considered, looking back we are still grateful for the time we got to spend there and hope we’ll be able to go back soon; but “when” is a big question mark. 

After spending the entire month of March in the City of Angels, it was time for our long planned road trip. Two weeks of long drives (up to 8 hours per day) and never more than two nights in the same hotel… we had the chance to visit so many beautiful places in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. From the crazy heat in Palm Springs to the frigid cold in the Bryce Canyon, we can say we did it all.

We headed back to Milan the second week of April, and I remember we were so sad to leave the US but also excited for the rest of the year and all the things to come.
At the beginning of May we went to Oman and we LOVED it. We love visiting the Middle East and Oman is definitely a place we recommend. May is not the best time to visit (42 degrees C are unbearable for anybody not used to it) but the country is a must see. From its gorgeous mosque, the wadis, the beautiful sea and the amazing landscapes in the mountains, Oman has it all.

A few other highlights of the first half of 2019 were two short work trips at the end of July: Sardinia and Provence.

In August we spent two weeks in Thailand, another place we’d been dreaming of visiting for such a long time! We went to Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. The weather was pretty bad for the most part, and we know August is supposed to be rainy season, BUT we technically visited the areas which shouldn’t be hit by the monsoons at that time of the year, but clearly bad weather follows us… 

At the end of the month we went to Paris for a couple days for Ariana Grande’s concert, which was a bit disappointing, but a great excuse to go back to one of our absolute favorite cities in the world!

In the Fall we embarked on a cruise in the Nordic Sea and spent time in Germany, Denmark and Norway and we also went back to one of our favorite hotels in the world in Switzerland: 7132 Hotel.

Our last trip of 2019 was our yearly Christmas trip to Zurich in the middle of December which is definitely a must if you love Christmas markets and Christmas lights. In all honesty, not many cities do Christmas the way Zurich does. 

Just looking back at some of the trips we did last year, we can’t help but feel grateful to have visited so many wonderful places in such a short window of time, but also sad because nobody knows when we’ll be able to start traveling again. We had so many trips planned for 2020 which obviously didn’t happen and definitely won’t happen until the end of the year, so fingers crossed 2021 will see us hitting the road and traveling places again!