2020 Travel Wishlist

Every family has different holiday traditions. For us, the first week of January is a time to sit down, bust out the 2020 calendar, and embark on one of our all-time favorite activities… planning (our!) travel for the year ahead.  Ever since we left our jobs and started this semi-unconventional, experience-focused life five (!) years ago, this has become our ritual - remembering trips from last year, dreaming up adventures for the year to come, and figuring out how to transform our travel dreams into a reality. 

2017 Travel Wishlist

2018 Travel Wishlist

2019 Travel Wishlist

The 2019 recap

​Although we had some amazing travel moments in 2019, it honestly wasn’t our most adventurous year. We (happily) broke one of our travel mantras - don’t keep going back to the same places - to meet up with family and friends and search for the perfect little Italian house. We visited nine countries, many of which were repeat contenders, including the U.S., England, Scotland, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Italy, Italy, and more Italy. Our only new country in 2019 was a pre-holiday trip to Slovenia, which was beautiful and long overdue. The lack of exploration trade-off was some seriously amazing memories with friends in England, Scotland, Spain and the Netherlands and a week in Mallorca jumping off cliffs with our crazy nephews. Well worth the repeats!

2020 travel 

​Now that we’re semi-settled in our new (old) house, we’re aching for adventure. Our trusty backpacks that we lived out of for nine months in 2015 are getting dusty and we’re feeling annoyingly old and adulty with our new found homeownership. So, we’re kicking off the year with an epic adventure to Malaysia, Vietnam (with new destinations) and Sri Lanka. We’ll bum around SE Asia for five lovely weeks, making local contacts for future clients, doing some long term planning for Cohica, stuffing our faces with pho, searching for wild leopards, and tapping into our former backpacker adventurous selves (with slightly higher standards). We absolutely can. not. wait. 

When we return home to Italy, it’ll nearly be springtime, so the rest of the year may include:

The U.S.A. 
We haven’t been back to the states since last winter and after spending some QT with our families in Europe this year, we want more. We’ll definitely make it to Colorado - it’s been far too long - and the Bay Area. The only question now is when. (If anyone wants to hang out in Italy with our pup Mac while we go to the states for a couple weeks, holla!).

Mexico
We eat a ridiculous amount of Mexican food and have been dying to learn how to prepare authentic Mexican cuisine and make homemade tortillas. We’re hoping we can find the perfect cooking school for an immersive multi-day experience, followed by a day or two at the beach, naturally.

Sardinia
We didn’t get to Italy’s second largest island last year, but now that we’re a short ferry ride away, we think this will be the year. Why? Towering cliffs, some of the country’s most beautiful beaches, and crystal clear Mediterranean sea. Donezos.

Greece
Our goal is to visit Greece with plenty of time (at least a week, hopefully two) to explore some of the lesser known islands in depth. Now comes the decision between the Ionian Islands, Cyclades, or further east, to Rhodes.

Poland
Poland has been tempting us both for years now, and after planning a trip to both Krakow and Warsaw, we’re all about it. It’s inexpensive, packed with history, and has interesting art, market and food scenes. All of the makings of a great long weekend getaway.

More of Eastern Europe 
We’ve explored a lot of central Europe over the past few years and are excited to expand our adventures to Eastern Europe. With interesting food, new cultures, inexpensive accommodations, mind-blowing natural scenery and beautiful bustling cities, it’s a region that is begging to be explored. A few destinations that are catching our eye: North Macedonia, Serbia, Estonia and Romania.

England
We’re lucky to have wonderful British friends (and with Brexit we’re not sure if they’ll be able to come to mainland Europe anymore, ha) and are very interested in exploring jolly 'ol England outside of London. We want to sip tea on the rocky coastline and fall asleep in a quaint little B&B above a pub somewhere (I mean honestly, who doesn't?).

Africa - 2021
We’re already thinking ahead to our big trip in 2021, and an African safari will be on the books. We definitely want to go to Cape Town and on a semi-independent safari (possibly in Tanzania or South Africa), and potentially hit up the amazing beaches of Zanzibar. Although we’ve already planned safari trips for clients, it’s high time we gather some personal insight for future Cohica Africa safaris.

With new travel experiences come new Cohica Designed Trips, and new contacts to make our Custom Designed Trips even more culturally-rich and locally-inspired. 

So here's to a wonderful year of exploration! Happy New Year, and happy travels to you.