2012 was a great year for me. It started with the purchase of my first condo (with the cash fronted by my pops) on South Beach in the first few days of January. I like my new place a lot and it has really become a great home base for me.

I got around a lot this past year (take that as you will), and here is a brief recap of all the places I had the privilege of visiting in 2012.

In January, I flew up to NYC to work the JC Penny Re-branding event (now they’re called JCP, how progressive…). I love the city and got to catch up with some friends while I was there which was nice.

In February I stayed in Miami as it was one of the best months to actually work events like my favorite one of the year, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival which basically consists of heavily drinking on the job and talking to hot girls all day on the beach, worst job ever.

In March, I hit the road again, and this time it was for my first partially sponsored trip, courtesy of the Tourism Board of Panama. They arranged to take me around one day to see all the sights in and around Panama City and set me up with a ridiculously good buffet lunch at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal (even though I don’t recommend you waste your time in Panama City, go straight to the countryside!).

I finally got to see my favorite band, Radiohead, live in Miami in April. But, I was pretty crestfallen after seeing where our seats were in the stadium after letting a friend buy the tickets. Let’s just say that we could have done pull-ups from the rafters. After that show, I immediately checked the next cool date on the tour, bought a planet ticket and a concert ticket, and the next thing I knew, I was squirming around like a creepy hipster with a bunch of Mexicans at the Foro Del Sol in Mexico City. I had a great time and after the show, I took a bus to the city of Puebla a couple hours away to spend a few days.

In May, I flew up to Philly to give my first real big boy presentation at the NOSSCR (National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)((Social Security Attorneys) Conference. I talked about Social Media Marketing for Social Security Lawyers as well as basic Search Engine Optimization Practices (see below).

 

In May, I flew out to Chicago for my little cousin’s Bat Mitzvah. It was nice to see my family and to see my little cousin become a “woman”. I think I really realized while being in a synagogue again how much I think religion is a crock of BS, and weirdly, that the Bat Mitzvah was probably the last time my family ever does anything religious as it seems everyone has gone the way of the atheism/agnosticism, oh well! While my family went their separate ways after the weekend, I headed to downtown Chi-Town to visit a college friend and spend a few days exploring the city. I really had an awesome time in Chicago and it’s now one of my favorite American cities . It’s like New York City, but cleaner and more affordable.

I felt more metro sexual than normal in June, so I decided to go to Europe. Where? I started in Paris to show off my freshest skinny jeans and dance outside the Eiffel Tower. The hostels in Paris were booked up so I ended up renting a small apartment for the week which ended up working out great. I then flew off to Krakow, Poland, why? Because the flight was dumb cheap. After Kraky, I continued on to Berlin- the ultimate hipster city (imagine Williamsburg the size of Manhattan). I had a great time catching up with old friends in each location (minus Krakow, because who is from Krakow?).

In July, I flew back up to Philly from Miami to hang out and enjoy the summer weather (winter sucks there).

August was a fun month spent in Miami with my old college friend coming to visit me for my 25th birthday (who actually lives in Philly) and I had a big party at a club.

September 1st started the epic beginning to my Big Asian Adventure in which I spent a few days out in San Francisco on my way across the world. I had a great time and it became my new favorite American City. I then flew out to Manila and spent the rest of the month in The Philippines with a brief stop in Hong Kong to visit a friend from Miami out there for a conference.

October was another amazing month in which I spent a week in Cambodia visiting Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat Ruins and then headed to Thailand where I started in Bangkok, headed up to the north to explore the mountainous region around the hippie enclave of Pai and then down south to the beaches near Phuket and Krabi Town.

November saw the end of my amazing Asian excursion and I endured a brutal two day, non-stop journey back to the states that included flights from Phuket to Bangkok, Bangkok to Shanghai, Shanghai to NYC! and NYC to Miami. I then couchsurfed my own couch (I’m not kidding) as the girl I rented my place to let me sleep on my air bed for a couple nights so I could grab some stuff I needed before flying right back out to the furthest possible place in the continental US from Miami, Seattle Washington. I spent a week in Seattle working at the auto show as a Jeep Specialist, and then flew directly back to San Francisco for another week for the San Fran auto show.

In December, I flew to Philly from San Francisco where I would spend three whole weeks re-cooperating, catching up on work that I needed to finish, visiting my family and making a quick trip up to NYC to visit an old friend that I had met 5 years ago when I studied abroad in Barcelona. On December 18th, I flew back to Miami to close out the year.

After writing this post, I really realize how much bouncing around I did and I can’t believe I managed to do it all in the span of 12 months!  2012 really was a monumental year and while I’m looking forward to being in Miami for the next couple of months, I plan on doing a huge trip towards the middle of the year after my brother’s wedding. Stay Tuned!

Do you have any big travel plans for 2013