Well well, 2022.

Looking back at last years post, I'm honestly pretty jealous of it. This has been a tumultuous year for us, although there was some good. Off the top of my head, the trips to Xiamen and Guangxi were pretty great. Ella and I especially liked Xiamen, and is one of the few places in China I would be fine with going back to see again. Guangxi also was very beautiful, but I do feel like it's "done", so to speak. I'd certainly visit again if it was next door, but not really worth the flight to see something I've already seen before.

And then, we get to the two big events of 2022. The first, most amazingly, was that we were locked in our apartment for 3 months. I say amazingly, because it is hard to believe that was this year. It feels like a lifetime ago. I've gone on and on about the lockdown, because well, at the time, I had nothing better to do. I even wrote a blog about border disputes, and actually had a great time doing it. If I were incredibly rich, I'd love to make a travel series where I travel around to disputed territories and find out what life is like there.

Of course the second, and probably more important was me doing my DELTA. My last entry was about that, and I'm not going to go into it again. I will just sum up by saying it was one of the worst times of my life, and that alone puts a scar on 2022 that I'm never going to forget. Seriously, in 20, 30 years, I'll still recall that time as being really, really bad. Maybe I won't remember 2022, but I promise you I'll remember DELTA for all the wrong reasons.

And then we round out the year with two (sort of) important developments. (big sigh) Unfortunately they're both COVID related. The first, positive one is that China has finally given up and dropped all restrictions. So we're back to normal after all, even for international travel. This is huge for us, because well, we like to travel. So that is definitely in the cards again. We're staying in China for this upcoming holiday for a few reasons though. First, we haven't seen Ella's parents in a while. Second, we're going to check out southern Yunnan, which has always been on the back of my mind. Third, prices are through the roof right now, as everyone is dying to get out. And fourth, I'm not really keen to catch some other variant in some foreign country. Let the travelers bring it back here, so I can get over it, if I even need to, at home.

Also appropriately with dropping restrictions, we got COVID! Yay! In truth, I knew it was inevitable. I am stuck in a room with 25 germ factories M-F. And, you know, not to single them out, all kids are germ factories. I was one. But yeah, I knew it was going to happen. I actually didn't think it was COVID for a while, because I even took some tests that all came back negative. It wasn't until after my fever was pretty much gone that I finally tested positive. Truthfully, the whole experience wasn't that bad. About 2 days of fever, while feeling very tired. That sucked. And suddenly, bam. I was fine. I did have a lingering runny nose for about 1 week, and then cough for another 2. It improved each day, but, you know, annoying. Still, I was testing negative so we could still go out. Of course, Ella, with her magical "never get sick" superpower, went through the whole thing in about 1 week. Every friend I know also got it, so Shanghai decided it's online classes for the rest of the semester. Fine with me.

So that leaves us at 2023. Last time I said I hope 2022 gets back to normal travel, and fortunately I turned out to be mostly right (technically it happens Jan 8th, but hey, I count it). For 2023, I hope we take advantage of that. We live so close to Korea and Japan, I would really like to visit both. I know I have been before, but Korea was a drunken blur and I don't remember as much about Japan. Personally I'm more interested in Kyoto/Osaka than Tokyo, so we may end up there anyway. Also, Europe is still a possibility. Ella has never been, and we'd like to end up there one day, so that's an option. I know saying "Europe" is incredibly general, it's like saying "I'd like to visit Asia." But still, getting to that part of the world would be a good change of pace. I'm feeling positive, because 2022 set the bar really low.

Looking back at my recent photos, I don't really have much to share. For New Years, Ella and I went bar/coffee shop hopping and got home before the metro closed. So instead I thought it would be more fun to look at some of my favorite photos from 2022. Here's hoping next years are even better.

That beach was surprisingly a lot of fun.

Ella and her one true love.

A BAR WITH AN ALPACA

Our last outing before being lockdown

Hey, Japan is that way! Let's give that a try in 2023.