A Decade in Review
The end of 2020 was the end of a decade. I turned 30 this year, which, typing it out now, sounds strange. Not long ago I had turned 19, trying to decide what I really wanted to major in in college and dealing with housemate/roommate drama. Suddenly, I was 25, navigating work after college and learning about who I was and who I wanted to be.
And then, it’s like I got sucked into some portal that spit me out in the year 2020. Crazy. What the hell, where did all the years go?
If you told my 20-year-old self who I’d be and where I’d be when I turned 30, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I’m so far off from where my trajectory was. I thought I was going to be a nurse… or a psychologist! Naive old me thought I could survive a year on a 35K/year salary. Ha!
I read back on some old blog/journal entries I wrote earlier this decade, which listed some goals I wanted to achieve. Some I actually ended up completing, such as:
Go to Iceland
Go to Japan with one of my college buds
Start backpacking
Getting into hiking more
Going to more national parks
Improving my photography
And then there were quite a few adventures that weren’t on my to-do that I had the chance to go on, such as going to Hawaii (for the first time), going to Disneyworld, and traveling to other states for my job (like Maryland!)
In 2010, I went to Japan for the first time. I spent 4 weeks there with my aunt, and that’s the trip that ignited my love for travel and Japan!
In 2011, I spent winter vacation in Taiwan, where I spent 3 weeks with a couple of college friends and we attended the New Year’s Eve party/countdown in Taiwan city hall. It was in such a huge crowd and we stood there for 4 hours to see the countdown. I can’t imagine doing that now at this age, covid or not.
In 2012, I studied abroad in Japan for 10 weeks and had the time of my life. The trip helped me get out of my introverted shell and helped me learn how to talk to people and be more present. Also, this was before tourism got huge in Japan — just look at how empty Arashiyama Bamboo Forest was back in 2012!
In 2013, I was at a low point—nothing else to be said. But I did start rock climbing!
In 2014, I made a ton of friends rock climbing. My college buddy and I went to Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia together. In Taiwan, we went to Taipei and Kenting, and in Malaysia, we went to Kuala Lumpur and Penang. This was back when neither of us had wifi when we went abroad, and to this day, we always look back and remember that trip fondly and feel so proud that we did all of that somehow without cellular data 24/7.
This was around the time I really started to document my travels — you’ll find a lot of posts about this trip from my earlier entries here!
In 2015, I went on a ton of climbing trips and did a lot of soul searching with my friends. Many impromptu weekend trips, hikes, day trips, and nighttime adventures. This was taken in 2016, but I wanted a picture without everyone’s faces. I miss everyone.
In 2016, I went on a 10 day-long road trip to 4/5 National Parks in Utah. The landscape was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I had many adventures there. I also did my first backpacking trip, and went to Chicago for the first time!
In 2017, I went on more backpacking trips and national parks trips. I also went to Japan with my college buddy and we rented a car and drove all over Hokkaido!
In 2018, I went to Hawaii (Maui) and drove Road to Hana. I also went to Disneyworld for the first time.
In 2019, I spent 10 days in a campervan in Iceland, driving around the entire island. I got to see the northern lights, I went hiking on a glacier, I ice climbed, and went to an ice cave. Back on the home front, I adopted a dog!
In 2020, I got laid off for the first time, unexpectedly. Covid happened and changed everyone’s plans for 2020, myself included. I was supposed to go on a 3 week trip to Japan for my 30th birthday (obviously that didn’t happen). Instead, I was collecting unemployment, and canceled my flight. I took a couple of months off to think about my career, finances, what I wanted out of life, and how to best improve myself. I spent a couple more months soul searching and job searching… but ultimately ended up landing a job I didn’t at all expect to get. And so far I’ve been really enjoying it!
Anyway, the past 10 years passed by in a flash! I won’t bore you all with any sort of inspirational rhetoric — the past year alone has been tough on everyone, so I won’t pretend that I’m harboring the utmost positive outlook on life right now. But, things are slowly looking up. Hopefully the vaccinations roll out quickly and we’re back to some sort of normalcy within a year.
I’m looking forward to new experiences and new memories in the next decade!