it’s the end of 2011 and i realized i haven’t blogged once about my travels all year. 2011 was a year of many big changes, the biggest of which was leaving my job as a consultant and becoming a full-time mba student. with that drastic change, i bid goodbye to glamorous work-paid travel and became grounded in cambridge for almost half a year. while it was a nice change of pace to be settled in one place for an extended period of time, it certainly feels weird to be spending the holidays at home. however, as i reflect on the places i’ve been over the past few years, i’m extremely grateful for the sights that i’ve seen, and for the moments that simply take my breath away. here are some of those that i have not blogged about before.

Huangshan (Yellow Mountains), Anhui, China
it took 2 days of hiking to see this beautiful world heritage site, and i vowed to return one day.

Bonn, Germany
the perks of working for a german company: travel to germany every year. i miss the christmas market in bonn so much.

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France
heart-stopping view of paris from sacre coeur. now i see why people fall in love here.

Sunrise in Avesta, Sweden
God’s gift to me at the end of my first missions trip. every year i returned to sweden after that, i would always visit this lake first.

Jungfraujoch, Swiss Alps, Switzerland
i am enamored with mountains, so i had to visit the highest one in all of the swiss alps. another world heritage site.

Christmas in Milan, Italy
i’ve seen more cathedrals than i can count, but the duomo in milan blew all the rest away. christmas lights were a nice touch too.

Ponte Veccho, Florence, Italy
the famed ponte veccho in florence, and yes, this was my desktop wallpaper for a long time.

Ruins in Rome, Italy
so, so much rich history in rome. i loved the catacombs, but they wouldn’t let us take pics there, so this will have to do. =)

Xiamen Island, China
i went to search for the future in china, but found beauty in the present.

Bamboo Forest in Kamakura, Japan
so many moments from my time in japan, i wish i could list them all…

Autumn in Nikko, Japan
fall foliage in new england is beautiful, yes, but the “koyo” in japan totally wins.

1,000 Torii Gates in Kyoto, Japan
there are hundreds of beautiful temples in kyoto, but it was this stairway to heaven that captivated me.

Night view from Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan
4 months in this amazing city = forever changed.

Palais Badii in Marrakech, Morocco
what a fun adventure morocco was…

Shopping in the Souks, Fes, Morocco

Sevilla, Southern Spain
is there gonna be another city in spain that’s better than the ones in andalusia?

Bonjour Paris, again
this time i spent only 24 hours in paris, and soaked in every minute

The Louvre, Paris, France
a gorgeous lazy afternoon, where i didn’t mind being by myself and just simply people-watching

London stole my heart in 2011
it only took 7 trips, but i love, love, love the city of london so much. i can definitely see myself living there one day. and it will be a good, good life.

there’s sooooo much more of this world that i have yet to see. fortunately, there are many adventures to be had with my wonderful new classmates, and weddings to attend in exotic places. looking forward with anticipation to the travels next year!

on the slate for 2012:
kenya and tanzania (jan), norcal (feb), beijing (march), socal (may), thailand (july), hong kong (nov)

those of you who know me best know that i have 3 very ambitious goals in life:
1) get a sushi roll named after me (how good does “mandy roll” sound?)
2) get my cat, milo, on lolzcats
3) visit every major league baseball park in the country (and i guess that one park in our neighbor up north too)

last weekend i went on my first ever baseball roadtrip with a dear friend who is leaving boston. in 3 very short days, we saw 3 games in washington dc, philly, and nyc. we planned this trip a long time ago, and got unbelievably lucky with the pitching schedule! at the nationals-white sox game we saw national phenom stephen strasburg. at the phillies-twins game we saw cole hamels, and at the subway series we saw santana vs. sabathia. even though it was blistering hot outside on all three days, it was an awesome trip filled with exciting extra inning games and good food. why spend time sightseeing things like the national monument and the liberty bell when you’ve got america’s favorite pasttime? this mini roadtrip reaffirmed all the things i love about baseball.

LOVE: all star hype + presidents
we had originally bought $10 seats thinking we could easily move up in nationals park…but we had no idea that the national treasure would make an appearance on the mound. subsequently the game was sold out and we were left to melt in our scalding terrace seats. there was so much hype that even the president was at the game! well that and his beloved white sox were in town.

LOVE: ballpark food!
so much fat…sooooo good. burgers, fries, hot dogs, sausages, cheesesteaks…i had ‘em all! as someone asked me after, “are you even a girl?”

five guys burger and fries in dc:

pat’s and geno’s cheesesteaks in philly (and yes, pat’s >>> geno’s)

LOVE: funny mascots / pregame activities
i’m really a kid who loves silly mascot races. seriously, that mascot relay race video gets me every time, haha. we got to citizen’s bank park 3 hours before the game to watch BP and other pregame fun. here’s mr. reeses to welcome us in.

in honor of father’s day, the phillies players played an one-inning game with their kids. the kids obviously dominated their fathers. the best part was when RJ ibanez got caught in a pickle running home between shane victorino and jayson werth, and slid under the throw to score! here’s placido polanco with his kids.

LOVE: fans (well, most of them)
sports cities are great because they have fans who care. and now i can legitimately say that yankees fans are so much worse than red sox fans, after seeing them heckle the crap out of mets fans.

this old man got a lot of jumbotron time for his dancing.

LOVE LOVE LOVE: beautiful ball parks
these images say it all…

friday night lights

so, who wants to go on the next baseball roadtrip with me??

over the mega-holiday that was president’s day, chinese new year, and valentine’s day, i took a short trip to hawaii. i should’ve known that the trip could’ve only been considered short had i left from california, not boston. hawaii is a lot farther away than i thought…dude, it’s practically halfway to japan! note to self: never fly cross-country, cross-pacific from hawaii, and attempt to come back to work after two red eyes in a row. it’s not pretty.

as curtis had eloquently said, this was a trip “10 years in the making.” indeed, it was, since my best college friends and i had been talking about visiting mike in his native state since freshmen year. the trip was an absolute BLAST and totally worth waiting 10 years for. a huge THANKS to mike and his family for their ohana hospitality. in between all the fun i had snorkeling with giant sea turtles, sea kayaking to remote islands, eating every variety of shave ice imaginable, playing blockus till the wee hours of 3am, i managed to squeeze in a *few* quick shots with my camera:

gearing up at snorkel bob’s

my dad had specifically requested that i bring him back a hot hula girl. so i got what i perceived to be a hot for dude for my mom and a hot hula girl for my dad. my dad was not pleased by my choice. =P

…so…when are we going back again? =)

southern spain was absolutely gorgeous, and definitely less hectic than morocco. here are pics from my visit to sevilla and granada (andalucia region):

Sevilla, part 1
Sevilla, part 2
Granada

this december, i traveled to morocco after my annual company travel to germany. below, you will find pictures from the two beautiful–albeit absolutely crazy–cities i visited, marrakech and fes.

Marrakech, part 1
Marrakech, part 2
Fes

first night in the markets of marrakech- amazing!

beautiful menara garden

mosaic tiles everywhere

ben youssef medersa (school)

beautiful fabric of the bedspread in the guesthouse at fes