I Finally Got My Passport & 2021 Travel Bucket List

Atlanta, GA • June 23, 2021

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Im sure at some point if you have read my blog before maybe you wondered why we vacation in Puerto Rico. Yes we have family there and we love it but the main reason is that we never got passports. 2020 was going to be my travel year but then Covid came along and I decided to focus on finances instead of travel. Well now that I have eliminated most of my debt and 2021 is fast approaching, I finally got my passport! My husband and daughter also got passports but sadly we couldn’t get my son’s passport just yet.

FYI you need the original copy of your birth certificate. I misplaced his a long time ago and only had a copy which is not sufficient. That being said the wait for a birth certificate from the state of NJ was 6-8 weeks back in March when I ordered his birth certificate. We are now 10 weeks into waiting and they just changed the time frame to 8-12 weeks now! That being said I’m hoping we are near the end of this waiting period and then i can turn in his passport paperwork ….and start that wait …HAHA!

"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before."

- Dalai Lama

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Let's Go

We are all ready for travel at this point. Covid really threw such a wrench in our plans for 2020. I think we all realize how precious life is here on earth but that being said sometimes we just have to go for what we want without fear or hesistation. That being said if you are planning on traveling in 2021, one of the best things you can do is look at travel apps. Instead of picking your travel dates and places first, look for deals and work around that. Momondo is one of my favorite apps for this. There is a map of the world and it shows you specific price deals for certain dates then you can book from there!

Bucket List

In order to make my travel plans a reality I decided to make a plan for some travel goals next year. Sure I have a few typical places I want to visit like Greece, the Amalfi coast of Italy and many other places you see bloggers go. However there are several places that I want to visit even more which will be my first international trips if everything goes as planned. I typically get around 6 weeks PTO per year so I’m planning to break it up and I would like to visit 3 specific places

Dominican Republic

So many of my friends and family rave about Dominican Republic! The people, the beaches, the food…just about everything everything in Dominican Republic makes it a great place to visit. From what I hear, daily expenses are very affordable and airfare is also pretty cheap. A typical flight to Dominican Republic from the United States is under $400 round-trip! In addition, one of my best mommy friends I met online over a decade ago also lives there to of course DR is at the top of my travel list!

panama

Panama is near and dear to my heart. My grandmother came here from Panama in the 1940’s and I still have some family that lives there. Her home is covered in Panamanian Molas as well as a beautiful oil painting of the ruins at Panama Vieja that my great-grandmother painted. Visiting the country that my grandmother immigrated from is just something I have always wanted to do. Americans like me always have this inexplicable feeling to know more about their roots because our country is such a melting pot.

US Virgin Islands

This may be an adults only trip but I’m undecided. Everything is still up in the air right now. We will still probably go to Puerto Rico since our family is there and its the easiest travel destination for us especially since we don’t have a passport. However you also don’t need a passport to go to USVI so if we do go to Puerto Rico we may take a quick day trip over to USVI from there and then plan a longer trip to USVI later.

Travel Apps & Websites

Until I have something set in stone though you can find me browsing all the travel apps for deals! Momondo has some amazing last minute travel deals and I’ve also been checking out the Hopper app…what are your favorite apps for travel deals?