2022 was a year of travels to all sorts of cities around the world for ChiLuxe Travel. We took three trips to Europe, making up for lost time during the pandemic. There was a lot of time spent at restaurants in Chicago, as well as a few domestic trips including Orlando and Las Vegas (the two places in the USA where it’s easiest to forget about my day job!).

2023 will be quite a different year with a focus on the tropical. There will be so. many. palm trees! The first half of the year is pretty much completely planned out with hotel reservations and flights purchased, where I’ll be returning to two of my absolute favorite places in the world!

In February, like every year, my husband and I will be traveling to a warm locale to celebrate our anniversary. This year, we are returning to one of our favorite countries in Central America – Costa Rica. The first time we came here was our first trip together in 2014, and at that time, we stayed further south along the Pacific coast, near the town of Uvita. This year, we are excited to be staying completely in the jungle/rainforest at Nayara Gardens near the Arenal Volcano. I expect a lot of relaxation time, as well as some spotting of tropical birds and hopefully a sloth or two. March will be filled with Costa Rica content here on ChiLuxe Travel!

In May, we will be taking our second-oldest, Noah, on his high school graduation trip. He graduated last year, and is currently a freshman at Indiana University, but the high school grad trips were delayed a year due to COVID. You can read all about his sister Anna’s grad trip to Malta here! Noah chose Bali for his trip, and boy, am I excited! I have already been to Bali twice, though I was young, and did it on the cheap. Even still, it remains in my memory as one of the most beautiful places in the world, with the nicest people. This time, we’re flying business class on Singapore Airlines on the longest flight in the world (JFK-SIN) and staying at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay and Four Seasons Sayan in Ubud – how luxe is that? I haven’t stayed in either of these cities, so I am excited not only for some luxury and pampering, but also to explore these areas more. Look out for a ton of Bali content coming your way in May and June!

The second half of the year is a bit more up in the air. Bali is going to be a longer trip with the flights, and the most expensive trip of the year, so we will have to budget out the second half pretty smartly. We will most definitely be taking the two youngest on an all-inclusive mega-resort vacation to Mexico or the Caribbean in July. This trip is still in the works, but it’ll be interesting to do an all-inclusive mega-resort as that’s not really what we’re used to. It works the best for our budget, though, so it’ll be fun to check it out. Look out for even more tropical content in your feeds in July and August!

I have nothing planned for the fourth quarter of the year right now, and it’s totally up in the air. My brother is urging a Disney World outing, focusing primarily on the Food and Wine festival in the fall, which is super tempting. I love the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT, and I really want to ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride there.

We have ZERO Caravaggio’s in the queue for this year, so it’s possible that if it’s in the budget, or we accumulate enough points, that we take another long weekend in Europe just to scratch that Caravaggio itch. Or, maybe, we’ll just end up going to Kansas City or Fort Worth or even New York to see their Caravaggios? Who knows? Leave a comment as to where you think our fourth quarter trip should take us!

I’m super excited for my trips this year, and I can’t wait to share everything with you all. As always, thanks so much for reading!