2024: A Look Back

It has taken me almost three weeks to write this post because to be honest, I didn't really want to revisit the first part of 2024. It was a very dark time for me as I navigated the loss of my beloved mom and I have a hard time thinking back to that time when it felt like I was barely hanging on by a thread every single day.

There's this idea that you should only look back to see how far you've come, and I decided to adopt this mindset. As a result, I'm proud to say I ended 2024 in a much different place than where I began it. I miss my mom so much and I often wonder if I'll ever experience a joyful moment that isn't tinged with sadness in some way because she isn't here to share it with me. However, over the course of the year, almost imperceptibly, despair slowly stopped being the emotion dominating my life.

Time was certainly a factor, but I really credit travel for lifting my spirits and helping me gain some much needed perspective. It's always fun to recap our travel at the end of each year and we were fortunate to go to some great places in 2024!

We spent 51 nights in a hotel (not including C's trip to the Grand Canyon with my dad and my brother or my trip to NYC with my best friend) and two nights were spent on red-eye flights (LAX-SYD and YYZ-MUC). Not too shabby!

In terms of domestic travel, we took six trips to WDW (January, February, March, April, May, and June), finishing our 11 trips to WDW over the 11 months of the 23-24 school year! We also had one trip to Disneyland in July, a weekend trip to Denver, a stopover in Chicago, and day trips to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Connecticut. Although Canada is technically international, we always consider it part of our domestic travel because it's home for us, and in 2024, we went to Canada several times!

Internationally, we went to Milan and Venice for spring break; we went to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Cairnes (with a layover in Tokyo) over the summer; and then ended the year with a winter break trip to Munich and Vienna.

The biggest family event of the year was the birth of our nephew in October! He is so tiny and perfect and we're incredibly lucky to now have a niece and two nephews to love!

The least fun event of the year was Avalanche getting skunked in February! The stench lingered for months! So gross!

My favorite travel experience of the year was seeing the Little Penguins on Phillip Island in Australia! Truly one of my favorite travel days ever!

Avalanche turned 13 in October and we have been so fortunate that he's had the best people to love and care for him while we travel. He loves his time at his dog hotel, he completely adores his babysitter, and of course, C's mom and dad are amazing and he has the best time when he's at their house for several weeks at a time! We're beyond grateful for them!

I had a tough time narrowing down my very favorite moment of 2024 because there were a lot of great ones to choose from, but the one that filled me with such happiness was going outside with Avalanche at 2:00 am back in February when we had some overnight snow. He and I just ran around the yard together in the middle of the night and it was magical!

We've got some big trips scheduled in 2025 and I'm looking forward to all of the memories we're going to make!

Happy Tails to you!

The Land Down Under: Day 21

We flew from Sydney to Tokyo on ANA, which is one of our favorite airlines! We've always been impressed with the quality of their service and this flight was no exception. It was a nine-hour flight, during which time both of us slept quite a bit, and we arrived in Tokyo at 5:00 am. We've still got quite a way to go between here and home, so it was nice to get some decent rest! We're connecting through here, so we had to take a shuttle from the international terminal where we landed to the international terminal we are leaving from, which took about 20 minutes, and since then, we've just been enjoying the airport!

Had we had more available time to travel this summer, we not only would have gone to New Zealand, but we definitely would have spent some time in Tokyo because we absolutely love Japan! Unfortunately, it's just a five-hour layover, but that was still plenty of time to stop by the 7-Eleven in the terminal before heading to the lounge for a few hours prior to our flight!

bag drop was quick and painless!

the airport lounge in Sydney was
super quiet with really good food

we sat in premium economy to get the
2-3-2 configuration

we will miss Australia, but we have
missed Avalanche so much and we're
beyond excited to see him!

dinner on the flight included pasta primavera,
salad, fruit, a roll, and then ice cream for dessert

the shuttle between terminals
at the Haneda airport

this shuttle is so much better than
the Dulles people mover
LOL
(I still love Dulles as far as airports go!)

there were two other passengers on the shuttle with us
and the four of us had to follow this lady as she
escorted us to the security checkpoint

Japan is wonderful!

the 7-Elevens in Japan are fantastic - 
even the ones in the airport!

you can't buy happiness, but you can
buy egg salad sandwiches from 7-Eleven in Japan
and that's pretty much the same thing!

the ANA lounge at the Haneda airport
is very nice, although quite busy
(you can't really tell in this pic,
but trust me, it was busy!)

Happy Tails to you!

Our Top Ten Disney Hotels

This week, it's our Top Ten Disney Hotels! Decided to include the four parks we've been to so far, and since there are so many at WDW, we decided to rank our choices for the three levels (deluxe, moderate, and value). These are the ones we've loved staying at and the ones we visit even when we're not staying at them! It was challenging to only choose ten, although it was very easy to identify our number one pick!

Again, these are just our opinions, based on our experiences – there are definitely ones we love that did not make the list because there are so many good ones! I tried to choose a variety of photos so that they weren't all just exterior shots of the main building!

Worth noting is the honorable mention / sentimental favorite...

Yacht Club

Walt Disney World

we got married at the Yacht Club Gazebo!

L & C's Top Ten Disney Hotels

Disneyland Hotel

Tokyo Disneyland

the no-contest WINNER - absolutely spectacular!

Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland Paris

beautiful and unbelievable proximity to the parks!

Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland Resort

historic and gorgeous!

Grand Californian

Disneyland Resort

the lobby alone is incredible!

Beach Club

Walt Disney World

best pool in all of WDW!
Beaches and Cream!

Polynesian

Walt Disney World

on the monorail loop with a tropical island feel!
Dole Whip!

Port Orleans French Quarter

Walt Disney World

always serene and lovely!

Coronado Springs

Walt Disney World

a new favorite that is absolutely phenomenal!

Pop Century

Walt Disney World

definite step up from the All Stars!
access to SkyLiner!
great food court!

Art of Animation

Walt Disney World

theming is amazing throughout the entire resort!

Happy Tails to you!

Asian Adventure 2020: Day 1

Just as I did when we went to Tokyo in 2017, I'm going to write short blog post each day because it will be more manageable than trying to write about the whole trip when we get home, which I usually what I do!

This is an adventure we'd been planning for a year! C found a sale on airline tickets last winter and since we'd never been to Thailand or Singapore, we decided to book a trip! I wasn't working at the time – I was home with my mom – so my schedule wasn't an issue, and we figured if we were going to travel so far, we'd go for two weeks.

Fast forward to June, when the Reading Specialist job became available. Although I really, really, really wanted the job, before I applied, I emailed my principal and told her I had a trip planned for the first two weeks of February that could not be changed or cancelled. I knew it might be a deal breaker, but I was more than willing to take the time unpaid, and since that position does not require a substitute in the case of absences, my principal graciously agreed and the rest is history! I'm so fortunate that things worked out as they did!

On Friday morning, January 31, went left our house at 8:00 am and my mom kindly drove us to the airport. Our flight left at 11:00 am and landed 13 hours and 40 minutes later in Tokyo. We had a 3 hour layover, and then a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. Fortunately, the first flight was a 2-4-3 plane, so we had a pair of seats to ourselves, and then we lucked out with an empty middle seat between us on the second flight, which was awesome. We flew on ANA, which is the airline we flew on when we went to Tokyo, and I really can't say a bad word about them. Their flight attendants are wonderful and the customer service is top notch. The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was that on our first flight, the temperature in the cabin was ridiculous stifling, and yet people wore coats and hats and slept under blankets, so maybe it was just us? We do both like it to be cold and I guess we are in the minority because clearly no one was complaining about how hot the plane was!

The flights were otherwise fantastic, the layover in Tokyo was relaxing (there was a 7-Eleven in the airport and the 7-Elevens in Tokyo have amazing sandwiches and snacks, so we were super excited!), and even passport control in Bangkok, while busy, was perfectly fine. We are staying at a hotel near the airport for one night, just because it was convenient after such a long day of travel and arriving so late at night (after 1:00 am).

We are very tired, and the change in time zones has already messed us up a bit, but these are small prices to pay for the privilege of traveling!

My beloved work wife sent me the most adorable crocheted rainbow Dachshund for Christmas, and I brought it along on this trip since we can't bring our actual dogs when we travel! I decided I'm going to take pictures of it throughout the trip in different places we visit because I like to do weird, adorable things like that!

we were on flight #1

we flew over my hometown!

Japan's coastline

exhausted but happy!

I need to get some rest because the exploring begins tomorrow!

Happy Tails to you!