2022: Travel Year in Review
I made it almost halfway to the moon in 2022! Well, I traveled that distance to different parts of our planet. Maybe one day I can head up!
2022 was the busiest travel year for me.
My 2022 Flying Travel Map
It brought me to 22 countries, including 18 new ones! I also got the opportunity to visit some special non-country regions such as Nakhchivan— an autonomous region of Azerbaijan— and the Kingdom of Denmark’s Greenland and Faroe Islands. My year was broken up into five major trips, and the highlights of them are below.
El Salvador:
Because of my interest in Bitcoin, I started out my travels for the year in the first country in the world to adopt the cryptocurrency as a legal tender. While the country used to be notoriously plagued by gang warfare, I felt very safe during my week. I enjoyed spending time both by the beach— where the adoption of Bitcoin in the country began— and up in the mountains.
El Salvador is also a very accessible Latin American country for people who do not speak Spanish. Because of the high number of call centers that exist in El Salvador and the fact that nearly 1/3 of the country’s citizens live in the United States, English is spoken by a lot of locals.
Solo Summer Trip:
When the school year ended, I decided to head on my first-ever solo trip outside the United States. I had traveled solo domestically plenty of times before, but this would be my first time overseas by myself. This trip was also just about the longest I’ve ever been on. I started out in Serbia, enjoyed snowy Georgia, met a friend in Turkey, got questioned by border police in Moldova (and Transnistria), ate way too much plov in Uzbekistan, and then finally got to see my friend who was working in Nigeria.
This is a trip I won’t soon forget, especially since I got to see the country I’ve been dreaming about since my 18th birthday: Uzbekistan.
Greenland:
One thing I’ve always wanted to do is travel with my brother somewhere. I told him that the destination was 100% his choice, and he settled on Syria. We applied for the visa, and unfortunately, Syria began denying all applications for people with US places of birth. Previously, they just weren’t issuing visas on US passports but would give them to people with dual citizenship.
After giving up hope with Syria, we decided to go to Greenland. We spent a week taking in the beauty of the icebergs and the fjords. We even got to walk on the famous Greenlandic ice sheet! The sheer natural beauty of this place, and the fact I got to enjoy it with my brother, make this one of my favorite trips ever.
After my brother returned to the US (he doesn’t like to leave home for too long), I continued to the Faroe Islands, another location with nearly unparalleled natural beauty and lovely people.
Eurasia With My Mother:
I also got the pleasure of traveling with my mother. She and I have always been interested in Azerbaijan, so we decided to go together for my 21st birthday.
After a long journey from Boston, we landed in the capital of Baku. The city is a fascinating mix of oil-money-funded modern buildings and Parisian charm, with just a touch of Soviet influence like underground walkways. During our days in Baku, we also took day trips to the country’s mud volcanos, cave paintings, and Zoroastrian fire temple. In my quest to visit many of the world’s regions, I also was determined to visit the Autonomous Region of Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan nestled between Iran, Türkiye, and Armenia. Because of geopolitical disagreements and the fact that Azerbaijan’s land borders were (and remain) closed, we had to fly. We landed at night, and on the next day — my birthday — we hiked up to the Alina Fortress, toured the city, and ate Turkish food for dinner.
Once we returned to Baku, we went to one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. While overlooking the Caspian Sea, we ate sturgeon, beef, and local rice dishes.
Then we headed to Belarus, which was a country I was determined to visit this summer because I figured geopolitical problems might make going there very difficult in the coming years. The only flight available out of Belarus was to Kazakhstan, where my mother and I enjoyed exploring the nation’s eccentric capital and the mountains outside the southern city of Almaty.
Once my mom was ready to head home and with me still angry about my Syria visa rejection, I decided to go to a difficult country with no visa hassles: Somalia. I contacted the Peace Hotel in Mogadishu, and within 2 days, I was on the ground. I saw the city’s famous lighthouse, fish market, and a new mosque. This was definitely the most nerve-wracking place I’ve been, and I struggled to sleep on the flight into Mogadishu out of nervousness.
A Winter In Africa:
Determined to keep traveling to some of the more difficult countries on our planet, I spent the fall semester trying to arrange a visa to Libya. I had been rejected once before, but by using a different tour operator, I was successful! I spent a day in Washington, DC, to get the visa in my passport and meet a new online friend who also likes to travel.
In December, I headed to Libya. Over the course of a week, we visited the coastal cities of Tripoli and Misrata, as well as the desert oasis of Ghadames. The impressive historical sites, tumultuous recent history, and lack of deserts made my time in Libya very interesting, and frankly, I felt very safe.
Before the year switched, I spent just over a week with my friend Leo in Southern Africa in Lesotho, South Africa, and Victoria Falls.
Overall, 2022 was an unbelievably jam-packed travel year, which was a very welcome change after having barely left the country in 2020 and 2021. I have started out 2023 in Paraguay, and I am excited to see where this year takes me!
Happy travels.