In writing a post like this, I have to acknowledge that the last year was not perfect. In fact, there is a good chance it will go down as one of the harder years in many of our lives.

I was fortunate to have spent much of the last year traveling, but of course, I did so with a mask and hand sanitizer in tow. I pushed ahead through a lot of personal growth. I learned how to mitigate the influence of all the crazy out-of-my-control things had on my happiness and outlook on life.

That being said, I wanted to write this entry as a way to practice positivity, focus on the good (and great) parts of the year, and recognize 2021 for the teacher that it was.

The Travel 

During the last year, my foremost goal was to travel as much as I could. That ended up including: 

• Columbus, OH

• A road trip up the west coast with my partner (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Northern California, Portland, & Seattle)

• Taos, NM on my first ever solo camping trip

• Minneapolis, MN for a new job opportunity in my professional life

• Philadelphia, PA

• Minneapolis (for work again)

• North and South Carolina (Charlotte, Durham, Asheville, NC & Greenville, SC) 

• Las Vegas, Nevada (to celebrate my younger siblings turning 21!)

• Phoenix, AZ to see family for the holidays

• Santa Fe, NM for a quick tour of my partner’s college town

It goes without saying that I stayed busy in 2021, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

What I’m Taking from the Last Year

What I learned from all the travel this year is really very straightforward. There are two main takeaways I can see, and I’ll be brief so that we can get to the photos I captured along the way!

Number 1: I learned that I can adapt.

I embraced my positivity this year. Though there were challenges, I’m proud of how I confronted them. I think I’ve grown as a person and learned how to make the best of literally any situation.

Much of my travel in 2021 was done with the intention of finding a new place for my partner and me to call home. We’ve been discussing the idea of leaving Colorado since we began dating almost 3 years ago, and I’ve been anxious for something new since even before my college years. 

What I can say now, looking back, is that I found something to love in every single place I visited from Columbus to Philadelphia.

I can admit I’ll probably always have a bias toward big cities, fast-paced environments, and places with one-of-a-kind street frames on every corner. My favorites by a long shot were Seattle, Portland, LA, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. 

But I continue to enjoy my time in Minneapolis when I travel for work, I adored Columbus, OH for so many reasons, and in the end, we chose Asheville to be our next home, a small mountain town in North Carolina.

Number 2: I know nothing about anything, and most of our preconceptions are bullshit.

This one was a harder pill to swallow, but one that taught me so very much last year. The only thing that each of the places I traveled to in 2021 had in common, was that I was wrong about every single one of them.

Some examples:

• I have to be honest and say I had a lot of pretense surrounding LA, and California’s culture as a Denverite. Some of it came true, but most of it was wrong.

• Minneapolis is full of surprises, and a whole lot of fun- at least during the warmer months! I look forward to visiting downtown each time I make my way out for work.

• San Francisco quickly became my favorite city in the United States. This is due in large part to Chinatown, but also the weather, architecture, and fog. Yes, you read right, the fog. We don’t get much other than blue skies in Colorado and I don’t have much to complain about, but I loved every single moody photo I took in SF, and I can’t wait for another opportunity to shoot those scenes again.

• Philadelphia blew me away. There are rough spots, like in any city, and Philly certainly has more than some other places, but I find myself struck with a longing for that signature East Coast hustle and bustle* after visiting that I just can’t seem to shake.

  • *People just walk faster in Philly, and I love it.

• Columbus, Ohio, though quiet when OSU is not in session, was full of amazing places to visit and had me checking Zillow listings at breakfast.

The moral of the story, and what I’m preaching constantly along with my travel photo posts: 

If you have the means to do it, travel. Traveling cures all the pretense that you don’t even realize you have. If nothing else, I promise you’ll experience something unexpected.

Photos of the Year

I put together a post at the end of 2021 with my top 9 favorite photos of the year.

I’d have done an even 10, but one of my 10 allotted Instagram slides had to be a cover for the collection 😒. See the post.

Without further ado, my favorite shots of 2021:

I really enjoyed jotting down my thoughts about this past year, and I’d love to hear what you think!

You can email me at nick@gunairy.com, or get in touch on Instagram. Thanks as always for reading. Go buy plane tickets to somewhere you’ve always wanted to go!

- Nick