Everyone who knows me knows how much I love to plan – it’s what I do, it’s what I enjoy. (I get excited when I get a new planner in the mail, and even color-code the entries!) I make plans for everything…until John tells me no more planning, of course! 🙂

So on my run tonight, I distracted myself from the ridiculous hills that are Germany by starting to figure out where we should go and what we should experience this year. And in my planning ways – I needed to come right back and make a list!)

I started with the list I made last January as a plan for what I thought would be my last nine months in Europe…here is how it turned out:

The January 2014 list (in no particular order):
1. Rome, Italy (Done – July 2014)
2. Venice, Italy (Done – July 2014)
3. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Done – April 2014)
4. Coupled with No. 3 are the Tulip Fields in The Netherlands (Done – April 2014)
5. London, England (Done – June 2014)
6. Edinburgh, Scotland
7. Normandy Beach, France
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Florence and the surrounding Tuscan towns, Italy
10. Split, Croatia
11. The towns on a Rhein Cruise, Germany (Done – April 2014)
12. Loire Valley, France
13. Schwabisch Hall, Germany (Done – January 2014)
14. Hannover Germany
15. Dresden, Germany (Done – February 2014)
16. Cologne, Germany (Done – February 2014)
17. Liverpool, England
18. Lisbon, Portugal
19. Mainau Island, Germany (Done – June 2014)
20. Santorini, Greece
21. The island of Malta
22. Budapest, Hungary (Done – February 2014)
23. Barcelona, Spain
24. Bergen, Norway 
25. Reims, France 

We didn’t do too bad at all, really. We went to places not even on the list such as Crete, Poland, back to Paris, Zurich, Berne, Verona, Vicenza…so it was a pretty successful year I would say!

And now, here is my wish list for the next 365:

The October 2014 list (in no particular order):

1. See the “Cows Come Home” in Switzerland (technically, this is an easy entry because we are doing that this weekend…it’s when the cows come back from the pasture for the winter…this is a big deal over here, apparently.)
2. Valduz, Liechtenstein (Another easy one – we will be driving through here en route to the cows…I’ve wanted to see what the 6th smallest country looks like!)
3. Edinburgh, Scotland (a carry-over from January’s list…and the flight is already booked!)
4. Reims, France (another one from January…I WILL drink champagne in the champagne region!)
5. Copenhagen, Denmark (this is on John’s list…and the more I read about it, the more I want to go. Who wouldn’t want to visit one of the happiest countries in the world?)
6. Santorini, Greece (John and I both want to go back to Crete…a ferry for the day over to Santorini would be perfect!)
7. Croatia! (Yes, all of Croatia…Plitivice National Park, Split, Krka, Dubrovnik…I foresee this being a trip we take leave for and spend our time sight-seeing around the country!)
8. Lake Bled, Slovenia (I’ve heard nothing but good things about this area, and being just 5 hours away makes it an easy weekend getaway!)
9. Hannover, Germany and the Fairy Tale Road (Still need to see the town where my Meinecke ancestors lived!)
10. Tuscany, Italy (including a side-trip back to Cinque Terre, one of the best places I have ever visited!)
11. Normandy Beach, France (shouldn’t this be a required stop for every American in Europe?…with a side trip to Mont St Michel)
12. Krakow, Poland (John wants to go back to Poland…the short day we spent there wasn’t really enough)
13. Barcelona, Spain (I really would like to see Spain before the year is up…John’s not as interested, but fingers crossed I’ll get him there!)
14. Repeat alert: Budapest (LOVE Budapest and definitely wouldn’t mind a return trip!)
15. More repeats: Prague (Prague is awesome…it’s time to go back!)
16. Lake Hallstadt, Austria (an easy, laid-back weekend getaway type place that looks picturesque!)
17. The Cotswolds, England (with, fingers crossed, a trip to Wimbledon thrown in…trying again this year!)
18. Bergen, Norway (Another family related place, this is where my mom’s family is from!)
19. Hamburg, Germany (We haven’t spent a lot of time in Northern Germany, so I’d like to get back up there!)
20. Reykjavik, Iceland (This is a long-shot, but I would not mind admiring the Northern Lights or taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon!)

So, the BIG goal this year is taking at least one trip a month (while fitting in some of the smaller, more manageable destinations in between.) It’s ambitious…but I like a good challenge. And of course, an opportunity to plan!