2023 was a busy travel year for me as I got to go on 6 trips. I bought an annual pass to Universal Studios Hollywood so 3 of my 6 trips this year had to include a visit to that theme park to make my pass worth it. I also got to add a few more countries to my list of countries I traveled to, which is now at 34 countries.
My 6 trips in 2023 are:
1.) Los Angeles and San Diego, USA
My first trip of the year was in March to Los Angeles specifically to attend the newly opened Super Nintendo World. We went only 2 weeks after it opened at Universal Studios Hollywood so the entire park was crowded and sold out. It was a good thing I bought an annual pass.
got to visit Super Nintendo World just 2 weeks after it opened
We did manage to do some things in the LA/Hollywood area including the popular Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum. The next day we got to spend the day at Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
Santa Monica Pier
We then flew to San Diego for a 2 night stay which is where our Disney Cruise ports out of. Visiting world famous San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park was the main highlight of this short stay.
back at the San Diego Zoo
Disney Wonder Cruise
on the ship with Minnie Mouse
I love going on cruises and was so happy to finally go on my very first Disney Cruise on the Disney Wonder. Their theme parks were always fun and I really wanted to experience how Disney did the cruises. It was amazing with excellent food, shows and even character encounters.
one of the stops was to Ensenada, Mexico
2.) Phoenix, USA
I have been trying to get to Phoenix since 2020 to attend PHXLights music festival. It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and I missed it in 2022 due to other travel plans. The 2023 event in April was such a fun time, I may come back in 2024.
PHXLights 2023
The rest of our Phoenix trip included a couple sporting events, Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, the Phoenix Zoo and more. We had a really packed 6 night stay in Phoenix for sure.
a nice day in Phoenix
3.) Rome, Italy
in front of St. Peter’s Baldachin
After visiting London and Paris last year, that made me want to visit somewhere in Europe again. I’ve always wanted to visit Italy so I booked a 2 week stay in Rome in June that included a one week cruise around several stops in Europe. We got to visit main tourist attractions including the Colosseum, Vatican City and even a theme park called MagicLand.
Roman Forum
MSC Seashore Cruise
Going on the MSC Seashore cruise was my first time on MSC cruises and 9th overall cruise. The Seashore was a newer ship and was very nice and modern looking. All the food, shows, accessibility were all great and I was pleased with MSC. It was even better since we got the package that included the Easy Plus drinks, Wifi and a $25 on board credit.
Bridge of Sighs on the MSC Seashore
All 5 of our ports stops were docked so we did not need to use any tender boats to get to land. We stopped at Palermo Italy, Ibiza Spain, Valencia Spain, Marseille France and Genoa Italy. The weather was pretty warm or hot the entire 2 weeks of our trip.
in front of our docked ship
4.) Austin and Los Angeles, USA
In August, a friend and I went to Austin to check out the Live Music Capital of the World. We did get to go to a few piano bars, Toy museum, Texas State Capitol and the Austin Zoo.
at the Yeti Flagship Experience store
We even did a day trip to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the ultra accessible theme park: Morgan’s Wonderland. It was extremely hot during our Texas trip and using my manual wheelchair with a missing front wheel didn’t help either.
Whirling Wonder ride at Morgan’s Wonderland
We combined this trip with a quick 2 night visit to Los Angeles so that I could use my annual pass to visit Universal Studios Hollywood for my second visit. I did get to go on some rides this time including the new Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge ride. This required my friend to lift me inside the ride vehicle though.
back at Universal Studios Hollywood
5.) Denver, USA
broken commode was part of the reason my trip was cut short
My trip to Denver in September was the only ever time I had to cut my trip short and fly home early. It started with arriving in Denver with a broken and unusable commode. There were some other issues too, but we did get to see a few museums and visit the super popular Meow Wolf: Convergence Station.
still managed to do a few things
6.) Los Angeles, USA
My last trip of the year was late October back to Los Angeles. A friend wanted to visit Super Nintendo World so we went for 2 days at Universal Studios Hollywood to fully explore the entire park. We also wanted to check out the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights which required a separate ticket and was not included with my annual pass.
got 2 more days of Universal Studios Hollywood in plus the Halloween Horror Night
Final Thoughts
I had a lot of fun in 2023 going on 6 trips. I bought an annual pass to Universal Studios Hollywood and got to go on 3 of my 6 trips and will go 1 last time in February 2024 before it expires. I went on 2 fun cruises that includes my first time sailing with Disney and MSC.
I will be on this cruise ship late February 2024, so look for my review in March
I already have planned another Disney cruise to combine with my February trip and planning Vegas for May. Follow my page for more updates next year.
Mel
Hi, I have been on Celebrity Silhouette and that was fantastic! Let me just recommend you need to go on that one! I also went on the Rhine cruise starting from Amsterdam to Budapest. Both were fantastic. My next adventure will be to Norway and Finland. I am a bit nervous as it might be very hard for my parents to walk/wheel me around as I think it will be snowing. I really wanted to see the Aurora Boralias, but I have some doubt in seeing them at the end of January. There are awesome activities that we are doing which I am happy about!
alantvuong
I have never been on any Celebrity cruises, are they your favorite?