3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Happy New Year! 2020 started off with the great expectations that accompany a new decade. New Year’s resolutions seemed to come with an added dose of resolve.

Personally, we were coming out of 2019, a year of a record five trips, four of which were to new countries, and nearing our blog’s one year anniversary. We had five more trips planned for 2020, the year ahead - Italy, Iceland (for a second time), Utah, Colonial Williamsburg in our home state of Virginia, and a return to Oak Island, North Carolina for a beach Christmas. We were last-minute cramming Italian lessons on Duolingo, an effort that brought back distant memories of college Italian classes. We had started preliminary planning for 2021 trips with a hefty travel guide for Japan adorning our night stand.