Guru's 2016 Travel Cliff Notes

2016 was a big travel year. The past seven years since I have been in EUROPE, I have been accustomed to life on the road, but this year transitioning from volleyball player to tour guide has given me even more opportunities to expand my number of travel days in a year.

January - April I was finishing up my sixth season playing volleyball overseas, for Maribor Nova KBM.

Commence May tour season, our busiest time of year.

I started with a trip from MARIBOR to ROME with Western Michigan.

Directly after, I flew to SPAIN for a tour with Wittenberg University from MADRID to VALENCIA.

From there I flew back to SLOVENIA where I picked up Wildcat Juniors from VIENNA, MARIBOR, VENICE to ROME.

That brought me to the middle of June where I had a few weeks to jump across the pond, home. I made a trip to PORTLAND, OREGON and spent a great weekend in the beautiful COLORADO mountains.

After spending America’s birthday in style, it was time to fly back to work. I flew into PRAGUE and then my Global Challenge team went to MARIBOR and down to PULA, CROATIA over the course of two weeks.

After PULA, I hopped on a sail boat for our fourth year of sailing the ADRIATIC SEA for a week.

By now it was the beginning of August and I traded my sail boat for a jumbo jet to fly across the ocean to go back to COLORADO for a whirlwind trip filled with great American activities and great people.

Ten days later I was flying to VIENNA to pick up Canyon Crest Academy as we went from VIENNA to MARIBOR to PORTOROŽ to VENICE.

Directly from VENICE I met Stanford Men’s volleyball team and I retraced my steps back through VERONA, back to SLOVENIA, VIENNA and ending in PRAGUE.

This brings me to September and the Chinese Volleyball tour portion of my life. I started in STUTTGART, GERMANY and then we went through SWITZERLAND and ended in beautiful LIVIGNO, ITALY.

Soon after I started with another tour in SLOVENIA and we made our way down ITALY, finishing in MILAN.

That brings me to the end of September where I flew to FRANKFURT and completed a loop around GERMANY, into SWITZERLAND and back to FRANKFURT for a 10 day period.

Breather, small break...and then I am at the end of October picking up another Chinese team in SLOVENIA; we traveled through ITLAY with a stop in VERONA and PADOVA, ending in ROME.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving time where I flew to BERLIN to do a tour with A5 Juniors through BERLIN, KRAKOW and PRAGUE.

That brings me up to date to now, the end of 2016. And what better way to finish off 2016 and bring in 2017 then on tour! I am currently on my way to PRAGUE to pick up Texas Advantage Juniors as we go from PRAGUE to VIENNA, ring in the New Year in MARIBOR, to VENICE and finish with ROME.

This is the cliff notes version of my 2016 travel year and because pictures always have a way to bring a story to life, here are the Top 16 Photos from 2016.. and just because I couldn’t keep it at 16 I added one more for a total of 17 to kick off 2017.

“And the best thing you could give her was a lifetime of adventures..”

Merry Christmas from my Christmas tree to yours wherever you may be spending it this year. May your travels be safe, your bellies full, the laughter and wine endless, your heart be giving, that you bring joy to those around you and may your hopes and dreams for adventuring around the globe in 2017 come true! xo #goingplaceswithguru

16) Number Sixteen-BERLIN

Checkpoint Charlie. This touristic site is forever changed for me after my last trip there. They say, it's not where you travel but who you travel with. I'm a big believer in this one. One of my last travel companions shared such a compelling story about her relative escaping from East to West Berlin when the Wall was up. History. People. Stories. Reasons I love my job.

15) Number Fifteen-ZAGREB

What's better than Christmas? What's better than a Christmas Market to get you in the full fledged Christmas spirit? So much love. Zagreb Christmas Market received the Best Christmas Market in Europe for the 2nd year in a row, and I was lucky enough to experience it. Very magical. High quality. I stand behind that vote.

14) Number Fourteen-VERONA

One item everyone should put on their lists of things to do and see: attend an opera in a colosseum in Italy. Unreal. The best plan of attack is to take up shop at a table in the square a few hours before the show starts and order the works in wine and Italian spreads. Then watch the show walk in. The show, being the audience members; the Italians who deck themselves out head to tow in elegant evening wear to attend these events. Talk about: #Goals.

13) Number Thirteen-BERLIN

The year 2016 was chalk full of the name: Donald Trump. Even being overseas, you couldn't get away from it. This picture was taken when President Obama visited Berlin during his last months as active President. To see the Brandenburg Gate area desolate and shut down for all of the visiting foreign major powers of the world, was a unique experience. And I saw Obama! Well, almost.

12) Number Twelve-SWITZERLAND

Along with checking Spain off of my country list, I also got to check off Switzerland! It truly is as beautiful as everyone says. One of the most amazing road trips I took was from Zurich to Livigno, Italy. It was views on views on views winding a huge bus through some very narrow mountain passes, and even getting stuck for a good 45 minutes on one turn. That was an adventure all on it's own. This is the year of, falling more in love with the mountains, for me. And it started here.

11) Number Eleven-MARIBOR

Christmas card 2016. The city of Maribor really did a great job decorating for Christmas this year, I felt like the city was alive all season and feeling the Christmas spirit. I captured this one and was so happy with it, it became the Christmas card send out to family and friends around the world. From sLOVEnia, with love (always).

10) Number Ten-PIRAN

It is mandatory one spot in the Top Photo list is reserved for a sunset picture, being the avid sunset chaser that I am. This is the one photo in the group that I personally did not take; I am one of two on a floatie in the distance. This day in general, ranks high on my top tour days. We bought a floatie at a local shop, waited while it was blown up in front of us, (it was the year of the floatie, afterall), then proceeded to the sea to float for hours and watch an epic sunset. Great company included, ab workout for laughter; check.

9) Number Nine-CROATIA

That color. My favorite color. And sailing on that turquoise blue on the Croatian Adriatic Sea is one of my all time favorite trips. The turquoise combined with the inflatable Swan's butt in the corner, make this picture for a perfect summary of 2016 boat trip. Pretty damn close to perfection.

8) Number Eight-COLORADO

Those Rocky Mountains are a big beautiful symbol of home. And that tall lengster out there is where my heart is. I always love getting home to Colorado during the summer and watching my brothers and friends play in sand volleyball tournaments (sometimes participating) in the mountain towns. This one was in Vail. It doesn't even look real, that's coloRADo for ya.

7) Number Seven-PRAGUE

Prague. I can't get enough of this city. I was there a total of 4 different tours this year (totaling about 15 days) and even though it is not even close to being a hidden secret, with the amount of tourists flowing through, I love the vibe the city gives. It's like walking around in a fairy tale with delicious food and cheap beer around in antique Breweries on every corner. This shot was taken after climbing the stairs of St. Vitus Cathedral. I appreciate it even more now because soon after this trip, they started doing security checks to get into the Prague Castle and the Cathedral, which can last for hours. Not for me, glad I was able to check this point of interest off of my list.

6) Number Six-LAKE BLED

Lake Bled will always remain at the top of my favorites list and whenever you can make those extra special places in your book even better, that is a win. This is the rope swing we jumped off of before swimming to the island in the middle of Lake Bled. One of the more exhausting but exhilarating swims I've made in my life time.

5) Number Five-ROME

This one is entitled: 'Herkie jump!!' Anytime throughout the course of this 10 day tour, if anyone randomly yelled out 'Herkie Jump!" Cam (pictured here), had to stop whatever he was doing and herkie jump. Quite entertaining, to say the least. And this capture in front of the Trevi Fountain, was a winner. And you can see Kyle, in the background is clearly over Cam's cheerleading moves on our last city of the tour. What a blast this tour was.

4) Number Four-SPAIN

2016 brought my first trip to Spain! I've always wanted to go, and it sure lived up to it's hype. We started in Madrid and ended in Valencia with many great stops along the way. There were so many beautiful captures in Spain but I love this one so much because it was a random shot taken out the bus window on the way to Valencia. I love capturing beauty in the most random and unexpected of places. Location? Somewhere near Valencia-ish.

3) Number Three-ROME

Europe absolutely crushed Fall this year. All over, from Slovenia to Italy to Austria, I couldn't get enough. I took a gazillion Fall photos and this one ranks as a top contender. This is one of my favorite spots in Rome, Castel St. Angelo, near the Vatican.

2) Number Two-KRAKOW

Soul shaker. Visiting Auschwitz was an absolute soul shaker. By the time I went through all of camp one and drove to camp 2, the death camp, I couldn't bring myself to even enter. I sat on this spot on the railroad tracks and balled my eyes out as I looked across the field, through the fences, completely undone by the sheer size of the camp and the amount of gas chambers that once stood there. Overwhelming. Hatred may be the scariest emotion known to mankind. Auschwitz is a place every single human being needs to go once in their life. I can't explain it. Somewhere down the line we learned a behavior that is capable of wiping out millions of people. Hatred and fear. I don't understand the place these emotions come from and it shakes me to my core. It terrifies me not only that it happened, but also what we are capable of doing to each other. This photo will always speak to me, for as long as I live.

1) Number One-FRANKFURT

Frankfurt, Germany. This cultural city snuck up on me. It wasn't high on my list of cities to see, but as I wandered the streets I was enamored by all of the red brick buildings, bridges and the city's layout. And this is one of those pictures that will hang in my own house someday; it just captures all the right spots.

WINNER-ROME

I adore this photo. And even more the memory that goes along with it. While grabbing late night Italian pizza, we met two guys, one with a guitar case and one with a saxophone case. They had just finished playing a gig at a nearby bar and were headed home. Somehow three American girls convinced them to play and sing for us in one of the best Piazzas in Rome, Piazza Navona, now my favorite Piazza in Rome. We bought a 6 pack of beer and headed down, before we knew it, the sun was rising. In a city as busy as Rome, seeing this square empty at the break of dawn is an indescribable moment.