Quick Overview of this newsletter:

1. ✨ 4 Goals for 2024
2. ☀️ Now is a Great Time to get Summer Permits
3. 📝 Stay Organized - My Trip Planning Template
4. ✈️ My Confirmed 2024 Trips (It’s Not Much)

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4 Goals for 2024

Sure, we’re already a month into the year. But you know what, it’s never a bad time to set goals.

2023 was a relatively very quiet year for me. I still hiked, traveled, and explored, but it was without the restless, near-frenetic self-pressure that I normally feel. Instead, it was a simpler, sweeter year where I tried to appreciate each season (they go so fast!!!). It was a lovely, relaxed mental state. But coming into 2024, I know I lack the super-hustle drive that helped me start my blog.

So, I want to acknowledge where I’m at, set realistic goals, and get things in motion again because I’m in a good place, and the opportunities are endless. While there are many, many things I want to do, here are 2 goals to push me forward and 2 goals to get back to what I enjoy:

1. 5+ Published Articles in Larger Publications

Let’s get my travel writing portfolio fully established, shall we? I’m setting a (hopefully) low goal of five published stories for other publications. With the Matador Network press trip under my belt, I feel more confident and better understand which stories editors are looking for, plus building valuable relationships. The momentum is momentum-ing.

2. Go on Another Press Trip!

This one feels somewhat out of my control, but there are many things I can do to position myself to be selected for future press trips, while also building my portfolio. The Quebec trip was a surprise, but now that I’ve experienced a press trip, I can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet nectar.

3. Newsletter and Blog Post Consistency

In 2023, I fell off the wagon of writing my newsletter and blog posts consistently… which is a bummer because I enjoy both. This year, each time I fall off, I want to be quicker about getting right back on. I have a massive backlog and am lucky to write about it all.

4. Visit 52 Thrift Shops

I visited 3 thrift shops a few weekends ago, and it revitalized my excitement about finding unique pieces for our home. This is my fun goal, where I hope to prioritize dipping into more thrift shops while I travel.

How are you starting off the year? Are you making progress on your goals or resolutions already? Or are you already feeling the fade of the new-year, new-me mentality? Feel free to email me your goals - I’d love to read them.

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Su-su-su-summertime Permits (Lana del Ray Reference)

Now is a phenomenal time to be planning spring and summer trips in general, but especially good to be thinking ahead for:

• Hard-to-get permits (looking at you, Havasupai, Enchantments, and more)
• Lottery style permits - start choosing your best dates now, so you are ready when that lottery widow opens!
• Things that open up on a six-month rolling basis, such as campsites. I’m going to try to get a night at a fire lookout. ✨Manifesting ✨

This is your reminder.

Here’s a handy page on Recreation.gov that lists all of the available permits you can apply for - many of the river permits close on February 1: https://www.recreation.gov/lottery/available

Here is a handy article about maximizing your PTO by strategically taking time off around federal and state holidays. I like that they include some ideas of where to go: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/american-pto-maximize-your-days-budget

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Stay Organized - My Trip Planning Template

If a trip is truly coming together for you (I’m jealous), then feel free to steal my trip planning template to keep yourself organized and on the same page with whoever you’re planning it with. My template is a Google Doc (yes, you must know how to use Google Docs) with the various elements of a trip already built in so that you can share and edit the document simultaneously with your travel partner(s). This is the exact template I use when planning my trips because I find it super helpful to have a place to put all the links and research into one place to review and sort through at any time.

My goal with sharing the template is simply to help you stay organized while planning a trip, not to make a lot of money. With that in mind, I created a blog post with step-by-step instructions for how to make it yourself OR you can shortcut the process and purchase my already built-out template for $5. Yep, it’s less than the cost of an oat milk latte to stay effortlessly organized while you plan a trip. Read more details in the blog post and decide if it’s right for you.

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My Confirmed 2024 Trips (It’s Not Much)

Truly, I don’t have much on the books right now, so adding this section is comical. BUT, looking on the bright side, I have an open schedule for any press trips that come my way… which seem to come together at the last minute anyway. ✨Manifesting ✨

It is also likely I’ll have more guests come and stay with me in Oregon, now that I can actually host people in a HOUSE - revolutionary. So that means even more Oregon posts, and I will not apologize for it. Come to Oregon, it’s beautiful here.

• Spring - Visitors to Oregon, Ireland (wouldn’t that be nice?)
• Summer - Lake Tahoe Family Trip, Solo Road Trip to Montana???
• Fall - Likely France
• Winter - More cross-country skiing, of course

Where are you headed in 2024? Let me know, so I can be appropriately jealous.