If you read my post from earlier this month, you know this year was a big one for us. It’s also one of those years that completely flew by! Though our home base is now in Amsterdam, we spent most of 2017 traveling. Some of the places we visited were completely new to us (Romania, Canary Islands, Dominican Republic), and some we’d been to before (France, Spain and Kauai).

Overall, the year was filled with plenty of new experiences and memories. We also finally feel settled in Amsterdam after this year, despite being gone so often, and we’re lucky enough to have made some good friends in the city. When I look back at 2017 I’m filled with nothing but happiness. I can tell it’s one of those years that I’ll look back on as being fairly significant in my life, since it really solidified our love for living in Europe, and for each other! Here’s a look back at where we visited this past year and some of my favorite photos that didn’t make it in previous posts…

January – The Netherlands

We started the year off in Amsterdam and took day trips to other places around The Netherlands, including a visit to a Dutch castle (Kasteel De Haar). We also experienced snow in Amsterdam for the very first time!

February – Romania & Switzerland

In February we headed to Romania to explore the Transylvania region, an area that’s intrigued me for a long time. I wrote a Complete Romania Travel Guide that covered the cities we visited, including Brașov (which I loved). We also shared our first video!

Next we visited Gstaad, Switzerland for a job and had the best time staying at Huus Gstaad, a boutique hotel nestled in the Swiss Alps. I wrote about our experience here and Jacob cut together a video of our trip.

March – Paris & Tuscany

I started the month off in Paris, France with a good friend of mine visiting from California. Jacob met me after she left and we both unfortunately ended up getting food poisoning! Thankfully we recovered enough to fit in new sights around the city, and I wrote a Complete Paris Travel Guide with our favorite places.

Next we flew to Tuscany, Italy for a job. It was our third time in Tuscany but our first time visiting the Southern region, and it completely blew us away. We stayed at the newly opened Borgo Case Bardi and drove around the countryside. I shared a post here about our experience and we put together a Tuscany video with the natural hot springs we visited!

April – Spain

In April we met Jacob’s family in the northwestern region of Spain for a mini getaway, and visited a number of beautiful Spanish towns including Valladolid and Segovia. We ended the trip with a few days in Barcelona and Madrid, and I wrote a 24 Hour Guide to Barcelona with our must-see spots.

May – Dominican Republic & Canary Islands

In May we flew to the Dominican Republic to produce videos for a hotel chain and fell in love with the Caribbean’s white sand beaches. It was a crazy trip with a fun group, and I shared a recap of it here. The videos are all up on our Youtube channel.

We had a quick 24-hour layover in Amsterdam after the Dominican Republic before we headed to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Tenerife was completely unique, we really enjoyed the small towns on the island and the day trips we did to the volcano and out on the water. Here is where I shared our photos in a post from this trip!

June – Japan, Kauai & California

We started off June in Japan for a conference, which I’d really been looking forward to. Japan was one of my favorite trips of 2017, I couldn’t get enough of Kyoto and Tokyo (both for the food and culture!). I wrote a Complete Tokyo Travel Guide and a 24 Hour Guide to Kyoto from our trip.

From Tokyo we flew straight to Kauai to meet with our wedding planner!

We ended June in California visiting friends and family before flying back to Amsterdam.

July – Amsterdam

In July we stayed home to finalize wedding plans. We had a number of people visit us this month so we enjoyed taking them to some of our favorite spots around Amsterdam! We also hit 100,000 followers on our Instagram this month, which was a huge milestone for us.

August – Kauai

A couple weeks before our wedding weekend we flew into California and then Kauai to get everything ready. This was a crazy couple of weeks as we pulled everything together and started to greet everyone flying in!

September – Kauai, Honolulu, Tahiti & Las Vegas

We got married on September 3rd on the North Shore of Kauai. It was incredible and I’m so grateful to our friends and family who helped make it so amazing. I’ll be sharing photos from our wedding day soon! 🙂

Right after our wedding we jetted off to Honolulu for a few days before continuing on to Tahiti for our Honeymoon.

Just a couple days after our Honeymoon we headed to Las Vegas for a job. I loved this trip because we also got to bring friends with us for photo and video shoots!

October – Palm Springs, Mexico, New York, Washington D.C. & Maryland

For the next couple of weeks we used our family’s home in California as a home base for a couple jobs nearby. First up was Palm Springs – we rented a vintage car for our drive to the desert!

Next we hopped on a plane to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I shared a video from this trip here!

   We ended this month in New York since Jacob had a couple conferences nearby. We also had a wedding this month in Maryland, so we flew in for the weekend to Washington D.C. and visited some picturesque East Coast towns.

November – Amsterdam & Utrecht

We flew back to Amsterdam for November after being away from home for nearly 3 months! We caught up on work, visited friends, and relaxed after a whirlwind Summer. I holed myself up at home this month and worked on our new website and updated content, including our Complete Amsterdam Travel Guide. We also took a couple day trips to other towns in The Netherlands, like Utrecht.

December – Germany, France & Finland

To get in the Christmas spirit, I planned a last minute road trip this month to the Christmas Markets in Germany and France. We had the best time visiting quaint towns during the day and indulging in delicious food at the markets. I wrote a Guide To Europe’s Best Christmas Markets with lots of tips to plan your own winter getaway!

To ring in the New Year, we spent the end of December in Lapland, Finland! Finland has been on my list for a long time, and this trip did not disappoint. Stay tuned as I’ll release a guide from this trip…and maybe a video too. 😉

As another year comes to a close, I can’t help but be even more excited about what’s to come. Some destinations that we’re hoping to visit in 2018 are: Sri Lanka, Norway, Faroe Islands, Estonia and Kenya. But before then, we have a couple more winter trips in Europe coming up….

Cheers to an amazing 2018!

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What’s on your travel bucket list for 2018?