2024 started off in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur to be exact). The SEA Squad (me, Liz, Jenny and Marie) were still in the middle of our SEA Mini Tour. In fact, we still had 3 countries left to go. I started off 2024 in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea before heading back to Bangkok, Thailand.

Then I got news my grandfather wasn’t doing so well, so I was headed back to the US sooner than expected. I landed back on USA (for the unforeseeable future – and where I’m writing from now) on January 30, 2024. It was a quick farewell tour to say the least. One good thing was that I had just missed the big freeze that Liz had come back to.

Being back in the USA meant a LOT of catching up with friends and family and attending ALL (most) of the functions. I went to funerals, birthdays…

My friend My did come to visit at the end of May (yay!). We spent a quick 3 days together, but it was so much fun to reconnect. I had last seen her when she was in Thailand before she headed back to the states herself.

I went on a few dates and that made for some stories… We’ll leave those for another time. Let’s just say my friends were quite entertained by some of them. I guess I’m here to entertain and to confirm their decisions to not date. 🤣🤣

My big trip of the year was to Seattle (and Camino Island) and Mexico (La Paz, Cabo San Lucas and Socorro Island). It was a pre-trip before the planned trip. I was meeting some of the Neverdry crew in Seattle before heading down to Mexico for the liveaboard. Yeah, finally I get to go diving again and it was AMAZING.

After that, I definitely had that travel itch and I made plans to finally make it to NYC to meet up with my friends. Liz and Rachana met me out there. They also found time to meet up with their friends as well. Overall, it was a great first trip back to NYC in years.

I spent some time discovering Milwaukee over the summer and went to the Wisconsin State Fair to end the summer. It was a good summer. And, at this point, I still hadn’t made it up to Minnesota (where my winter clothes were waiting for me amongst my other things).

After the WI State Fair, my friend, Ed, decided he wanted to do ALL the states fairs in the US… Being a have a flexible schedule, I was up for the adventure and we ended up hitting up The Big E, the North Carolina State Fair, the South Carolina State Fair and the Louisiana State Fair before the year was up. The LA State Fair as in November.

I also made it to Las Vegas and Minnesota (finally) in the fall. My last trip of the year was another trip out to NYC to get some Christmas vibes. It didn’t quite hit as expected, but it was still nice. The weather was beautiful. I had just missed another cold front in Chicago as well (it was reportedly colder than Alaska).

One last thing, it’s been about 3 years, but I was finally home for the holidays (ALL of the holidays). I was around for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Though, I’ll be spending NYE with friends (which is also great to be home for). After 2 Christmas events with my family, I’m not sure my liver wants to be in that situation. 🤣🤣