2022: A Recap of our Year of Travels

by Lauren Klingman
2022: A Recap of our Year of Travels

Until we decided to think back to all of the wonderful places we went in 2022 we didn’t realize how much we’d traveled. The three of us all work full-time non-remote jobs, so these trips were snuck into full work schedules. From weekend trips within California (we’re based in San Francisco), road trips, and overseas adventures, we squeezed in quite a bit. We visited some really amazing places and to wrap up 2022 we’d like to share our favorites!

Places we went:

  • California
    • Lake Tahoe and Kirkwood
    • Mendocino
    • Paso Robles and Cambria
    • Santa Barbara
    • Joshua Tree
    • Death Valley
    • Mammoth and Ansel Adams Wilderness
    • Yosemite
    • Napa and Sonoma
    • Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea
    • Oceanside and San Diego
  • New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Big Island and Oahu, Hawaii
  • Key West, Florida
  • Washington, DC
  • New York City, NY
  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Netherlands
  • Peru
  • Germany
  • Slovakia
  • Austria
  • Hungary
  • Czech Republic

This Year’s Best…

Meal: Mil

This absolutely incredible restaurant sits just above the Inca ruins in Moray and takes its inspiration of experimenting with and expanding use of local Andean products from the ruins below (Moray was basically an Incan agricultural lab). The 8 course meal is quite a splurge but well worth it – one of the best meals we’ve had anywhere. De Kas in Amsterdam was a close second for our favorite restaurant.

Bar: Szimpla Kert Ruin Bar

Budapest’s ruin bar scene is so much fun. Some bar owners took over abandoned buildings in Budapest’s historic center and re-purposed them into extremely cool bars. Szimpla Kert is probably the most iconic. Once in, it’s sensory overload so with drink in hand spend your time exploring each and every cranny.

Hotel: Hotel Luc

Hotel Luc in Berlin wins as our favorite for the year but we stayed in some pretty amazing places. In Peru, Colca Lodge Spa and Hot Springs and Andenia Hotel Boutique Valle Sagrado were exceptional. In Death Valley enjoy old world elegance at The Inn at Death Valley.

Museum: The Historic Green Vault or The Pergamon

We couldn’t agree on a winner so we’re listing both. The Historic Green Vault in Dresden houses a glittering Baroque treasury collection and the largest collection of jewels in Europe. The Pergamon in Berlin has two incredibly impressive and worthwhile artifacts:  the Pergamon Altar and the Babylonian Processional Way and Ishtar Gate. Other notable museums of the year include Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, Vienna’s Albertina Museum and Belvedere Palace, and Washington D.C.’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Quirky Museum: Museo Larco

Hands down this goes to Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. It’s actually a lovely museum but there’s also a whole exhibit of historic phalluses and erotic art…why? That is unclear.

Historical Site: Machu Picchu

It’s impossible not to pick this as the winner. It’s truly more incredible in person than you can imagine.

Palace: Schonbrunn Palace

We went to a lot of palaces. Many palaces. Schonbrunn in Vienna wins in part because of its sweeping grounds. Other contenders were Linderhof and Neuschwanstein in Bavaria and Sanssouci in Potsdam.

Walking Tour: Berlin Walking Tour with Discover Berlin

Original Berlin Walks – Discover Berlin has been exceptional both times we have done it. You’ll get a fantastic overview led by a very knowledgeable guide of the entire city and 900 years of history in about 3.5 hours. If you only do one thing in Berlin it should be this. This wins for affordability, ease, and length, but we also have to highly recommend Hernan Hermoza Gamarra (Peru), Adrienn Barte-Rhomberg (Vienna) and Larae Malooly (Amsterdam) as excellent for their tours as well.

Natural Spot: The Minarets

We love hiking, backpacking, skiing…This summer we ventured with backpack to the Minarets in Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range which was stunning.

Garden: Keukenhof

In the spring these are arguably the most beautiful gardens in the world. You can see acres and acres of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils in a spectacular park.

Wine Region: Paso Robles

We grew up on Napa and Sonoma wines but for the first time this year we ventured out to Paso Robles and absolutely loved it. There are some fantastic wineries in that area: Thatcher, Denner, Whalebone, Nenow, Hatcher Ranch, Willow Creek… It was hard to break the tie between Paso Robles and Austria’s Wachau Valley which was prettier but we didn’t care for the wine quite as much.

Party: Oktoberfest

This is the world’s biggest party. Imagine standing on benches, singing bad American music hits with thousands of strangers-turned-best-friends with a stein in your hand. Enough said.

National Park: Yosemite

This will forever be one of our favorite National Parks. We went to many this year: Yosemite, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Hawai’i Volcano’s National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, Channel Islands National Park, but the majesty of Yosemite is hard to beat.

Finally, Our Top Can’t-Miss in Each of our 2022 Spots:

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