We had a rough start to 2016. Mr. Meena and I ushered in the New Year from our hotel in Schweinfurt, Germany while trying to understand why all the Germans were watching an obscure British skit.
January 1st marked four months since we had arrived in Germany and I was still struggling to adjust to life there. I hadn’t made any friends in our small German town (Mr. Meena had his friendly coworkers, fortunately) and I felt like moving abroad might have been a disastrous decision. I was starting to experience a huge amount of chronic pain and the German medical system was making me play an excruciating waiting game. Even our first trip of the year, to Stuttgart, was a bit discouraging as the city was trashed from the New Year’s celebrations and the upsetting news from Cologne.
Thankfully, our luck was about to change.
Photo by Rebekah Jackson Photography.
In January we headed to Amsterdam and it was during that trip that our love of travel really clicked into place – we started booking all sorts of trips. I also met a wonderful group of women through a local intercultural group who became an amazing support system for me – and I desperately miss every one of them now that I’m back in the States. And things just kept getting better from that point on.
We did have some challenges and lows throughout 2016, but nonetheless it turned out to be one of the most fulfilling years that either of us have had in our 26 years of living. So let’s take a look at what happened:
Coaster highlights.
We blew this year out of the water by visiting 11 theme parks – a fantastic new record considering we’d only taken five coaster trips together from 2012 (when we met) to 2015. Coaster trips can be more difficult than other travel experiences because 1) they are expensive and 2) theme parks get unbelievably crowded in the summer months – which is why we try to travel in the off season.
Mr. Meena was ecstatic to ride a whopping 60 new coasters this year, which brings his current total coaster count to 261 (if you’re curious, he uses Coaster Counter to keep track of it all). I’m dubious that he’ll ever be able to ride more than that in one year (although of course I would love for him to do so) since he now has significantly less vacation days (#ThanksAmerica) and we no longer have an expat travel allowance to devote to those trips. But we can try!
Here’s our 2016 coaster trip breakdown:
Portaventura (Spain)
Europa Park (Germany)
Tripsdrill (Germany)
Wurstelprater (Austria)
Energylandia (Poland)
Kolmården Wildlife Park (Sweden)
Gröna Lund (Sweden)
Heide Park (Germany)
Phantasialand (Germany)
Carowinds (USA) – our home park
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (USA)
Aside from the sheer joy of getting to visit so many parks and ride so many coasters, we especially enjoyed:
+ Riding Dragon Kahn at Portaventura. Mr. Meena had wanted to ride this coaster since he was six years old. It was truly a dream come true for him and it was why Portaventura was our first park of the year – he just couldn’t wait any longer!
+ Riding Olympia Looping. This is a legendary coaster that’s been traveling for more than two decades. Coaster enthusiasts love it because it’s a Schwarzkopf, it has five intense loops, and it’s a highlight of Oktoberfest. I especially liked it because it’s colorful.
+ Our ERT on Wildfire. Wildfire is a new wooden coaster located in a wildlife park in Sweden. ERT stands for exclusive ride time, which in this case meant that the coaster club we were with got one hour to ride the coaster as much as we wanted (or could physically handle) after the park closed. I’m proud to say that I rode the coaster 10 times during that hour.
+ Riding the brand new Taron at Phantasialand. It is our favorite coaster in Europe – out of the 63 we’ve ridden. (Or rather, that Mr. Meena has ridden. I occasionally skip the rougher coasters as they tend to cause me too much pain.)
Travel highlights.
We do, in fact, have travel experiences where we don’t get flipped upside down. Some of our favorites were:
+ Meeting the Berlin bears.
+ Doing a lap on the Nurburging. (Mr. Meena)
+ Walking on the fortified wall around Rothenberg ob der Tauber (Germany).
+ Experiencing the beauty of Lucerne (and buying a Swiss Army Knife) in Switzerland.
+ Making friends while traveling.
+ Having a Pils in the place where it was created – Pilsen, Czech Republic.
+ Finding this beautiful quarry in Krakow, Poland.
+ Visiting the biggest IKEA in the world (near Stockholm).
+ Our unplanned stop at Castle Eltz (Germany).
+ Visiting the Weltvogelpark Walsrode (a bird park) in Germany!
Blog highlights.
I didn’t share much about it then, but My Meena Life turned one year old in July! This blog has grown so much in just a year and a half and I’m happy to share these highlights from 2016:
+ I’ve written 76 posts this year, bringing the total post count up to 125 (including this one).
+ In April my post about our cost of living in Germany compared to the USA got a huge boost when it was shared by The German Way on Facebook and it’s been read more than 2,400 times since then! I’ve loved watching that post grow in popularity – especially after the US election results (which I did not love).
+ In late November my post about giving up our vehicles for a year was shared by Rockstar Finance, which has made that post popular as it’s been read more than 1,600 times since then.
+ Big one here: I landed my very first complimentary visit as a travel blogger! I was already excited to visit Busch Gardens Tampa Bay to squeeze in a few more coasters this year, but successfully pitching my first sponsored post made the trip even more memorable.
+ I contributed to The Thoughtful Travel Podcast (episodes 16 and 17), which was a great experience.
+ I was interviewed by the Schweinfurt Main-Post about living in Germany (link in German).
+ I was interviewed by various expat sites, including Intentional Travelers, Cheryl Howard, Expat Finder, Expat Woman, and Expats Blog.
+ I was nominated for the Liebster award by Lori of California Globetrotter.
+ I discovered the world of blog linkups and have enjoyed in participating in a few regularly:
Truly, I’ve learned so much as I’ve blogged about my life and travels over this past year, and I only love it more as time (and posts) grow.
Our year.
We traveled extensively within Germany, taking our pet bird with us as frequently as possible. We traveled within 11 different countries together – and Mr. Meena also visited Romania for work.
Germany
The Netherlands
Spain
Austria
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Poland
Sweden
Luxembourg
Belgium
USA
In May we had a great time when most of the Meena family visited us in Schweinfurt. We took them all over Germany, creating fantastic memories, and their visits were a huge morale boost for us.
We had a professional photo shoot in the nearby town of Bamberg to commemorate our time living in Germany together.
After being gone for 13 months, we moved back to the United States on October 1st – which is no small feat when you bring a bird with you. It’s extraordinarily difficult to transport birds internationally because of the bird flu (which actually surged in Germany as we were leaving). But we love Koopa and couldn’t imagine life without our bird.
Our first week back home was a blur, much like our first week abroad. We spent that week running around trying to accomplish everything on our repat checklist, staying glued to our phones (with their brand spanking new US phone plans) while waiting for important calls, and struggling to stay up past 6pm. We experienced different phases of reintegration and found ourselves missing Germany. After two weeks we signed our first lease (ever!) and moved into an apartment. I struggled with the idea of living a more permanent lifestyle and trying to figure out why we have so much stuff when our warehouse shipment from storage was delivered to our new home.
Very recently we celebrated three years of marriage in a rustic, secluded cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. Tomorrow we are heading to Sky Ridge Yurts in Bryson City, NC, to close out the year and I’m ecstatic as I’ve been wanting to try glamping (glamorous camping) for a while now.
Thanks for following along and here’s to a happy, wonderful 2017 – may it be filled to the brim with travel and joy!
You can read my 2017 Yearly Digest here.
what a great year! happy 2017!
Thanks so much Tanja!