Our Top Travel Adventures
Here's the most memorable places we've explored (so far).
When people find out that we are digital nomads and we travel full-time, typically the number one thing they want to know is where our favorite place has been. It’s always hard to pick a favorite - especially after 5 years of (mostly) full-time travel! We’ve seen SO many amazing things and we’ve been SO many beautiful places - all over the United States and abroad.
But I felt inspired to sit down and reflect on the many adventures we’ve had and these are the things that stand out in my memory as being some of the most amazing experiences - in no particular order. (I’ve linked to more in depth articles about each place at the bottom as well in case you’re looking to travel to these areas and want a little more information.)
Alaska
We’ve been to Alaska twice and we’ve spent time in Fairbanks, Denali Park Village, Anchorage, Seward, and we did an amazing 7 night cruise from Seward, Alaska, to Vancouver, British Columbia. We saw so many incredible things along the way.
Probably my favorite thing was our whale watching excursion in Icy Strait during the cruise. Seeing the humpback whales literally got my emotions going. It was such an incredible experience and an amazing site to see!
I also loved our train ride from Fairbanks all the way down to Anchorage. The views were incredible! In Anchorage one of my favorite experiences was going for a bike ride along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail . And then the bus tour down to Seward from Anchorage was just incredible. There is just nothing like the views in Alaska.
Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, Colorado
Estes Park is one of our most favorite places we’ve been for sure. We’ve been there a few times and have spent many weeks there at a time. Our favorite was when we were there during rut season. Hearing those elk bugling and seeing them in huge herds all over the place is an incredible experience.
In addition to the town being such a favorite of ours, Rocky Mountain National Park is definitely one of our top favorite National Parks. The hiking is just amazing and the views around every bend are just beautiful. We’ve hiked tons of trails in that park and they’ve all been so great!
Rocky Mountain National Park is where we started our National Park journey back in the summer of 2020 when we began our full-time travel life so it’s also very sentimental to me as well. ;)
San Diego, California
Spending a few weeks at the beach in San Diego was something we did in our first 6 months of traveling and we absolutely loved it! We had been there before (it was one of the few vacations we were able to go on with our children!) and we knew we wanted to go spend more time there. It did not disappoint. The beaches there are just beautiful and so peaceful. We also went out on a whale watching excursion that was SO much fun! We got to see so much sea life and just had the best time.
The weather is definitely a big draw to San Diego too. It’s pretty much perfect every day - not too hot, not too cold. There are beautiful flowers everywhere and the vibe is just so nice. It’s definitely a great place to visit.
Maui, Hawaii
We got an opportunity to visit Maui with some great friends of ours and it was the most incredible trip. It was such a blessing and it’s something we’re so incredibly grateful for. The views around the island just can’t be beat and the beaches are fantastic. Our favorite thing we did while visiting was an excursion that toured the whole island on the Road to Hana with a tour guide. It was a full 12 hour day full of one amazing experience after another.
We also enjoyed visiting Lahaina and doing an excursion on a glass-bottom boat down into the water to see all kinds of amazing things along the ocean floor. Sitting on the balcony of our condo each night and watching the sunset was a pretty epic experience as well.
Europe
We absolutely love Europe and have been four different times. Our daughter lived in England for a bit and we visited her plus James is half Dutch and he has family in The Netherlands so that has given us another great place to visit and hang out.
We have absolutely loved hanging with family and visiting the town they live in. It’s such a different way of life and it’s one we wholeheartedly enjoy.
There are lots of other places nearby that we’ve visited as well… a couple of great towns in Germany - Aachen and Monchau; an amazing castle in Luxembourg; Brussels, Belgium; and we even spent a couple of weeks in France. Our daughter met us in Paris for a week and we had a blast sightseeing and strolling around the beautiful city but probably the most incredible part of France was touring Normandy.
We stayed in Bayeux and took a D-Day tour of Normandy that was just so moving. Definitely one of our top experiences.
California National Parks and Coastal Drive
We did an epic road trip through numerous National Parks and many beautiful places through California and then up the coastal drive all the way to Washington as we worked our way to Seattle to fly out to Alaska.
This adventure has been one of my favorite road trips. The scenery was just beautiful. I had never been to northern California so seeing a whole different type of landscape versus southern California was amazing. From the incredible trees in Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Park to Half Dome and Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park to the coastal drive that allowed us to get incredible views of the Pacific Ocean, it was just an awe-inspiring trip.
Hitting all 50 states!
This isn’t one place but the experience of being able to check off all 50 states on our list of states we’ve visited was an amazing feeling! This is something I had dreamed of doing since I was young. James and I had traveled some before our nomadic life began - some for business and some as vacation trips - and we had a lot of states marked off the list already but when we arrived in Alaska for the first time we officially got to check off number 50! That was a pretty amazing accomplishment for us!
In conclusion
This is by no means an exhaustive list of places we’ve loved. This just the few that pop into my mind first when someone asks what we’ve loved most. Writing this post has also made me realize how many places we haven’t written about yet! We’ll need to get those and others written so we can share about more awesome places and experiences.
What about you?
Is there a place you’re interested in traveling to and you’d like to know more? Let us know and we can share if we’ve been there.
Do you have a place you’ve visited that is in your top five or ten places? We’d love to hear where it is.
Want to read more about these places/adventures? Here are more in-depth articles for each…
