There was nothing especially unique about this voice - it's the voice of every single person's diary who has ever "gone travelling." Yes, this may have been an enjoyable diversion for friends back home (emailed en masse) but published quality?

I also found the premise quite lame - go travelling and think you're amazing because you can't find a man? O Pulease.

Thanks to netgalley for this ARC. I've read Jen's other books that give great travel advice on subjects, like booking cheap flights, planning trips, and making money working from home. They are great resources if you want travel trips! I've also followed her Instagram and blog Jen on a Jet Plane.

I followed her 12 trips in 12 months journey in real time the year she was doing it and am glad she finally published her memoir! Go Jen! This book covers places like Cancun, France, Cuba, Thailand, Cambodia, Italy, Greece, Iceland and other destinations. She usually does these trips during a weekend and packs a lot in. She also does a lot of organized tours instead of planning things on her own. Id say this is more geared towards a beginner traveler for those reasons. You can read some of her other books where she goes more into the details of the logistics of this. I think in general, people for some reason need a romance in a story to be convinced to read it or watch it. Pretty much every movie or story has some type of romantic interest. So its no surprise some romances are included in this story as well. Whereas I am more interested in the solo independent traveling stories, I understand a lot of people probably will like these adventures more because of romance stories. I also enjoyed hearing about the various things she was comped for during her trips.

I was proud of Jen for choosing a trip to Argentina though over meeting up with a former crush in Morocco. I do think as a society, women are very much encouraged that the most important thing we do is basically get married. No matter that there are studies that show things like divorce makes women happier, married women do something like 7 hours a week more in housework than single women, and even studies that married women have more depression than single women. The mom groups I'm in complain more about their husbands than talking about anything related to their kids. Jen mentions the bad relationships she's been in, her family's bad relationships and even mentioned some friends who have been divorced. So I'm not sure why it seems like the most important goal here is to eventually find "the one" when it seems pretty clear that a relationship isn't the key to happiness but that seems like Jen's ultimate goal as she mentions that throughout the book. For those that are happily married, great. For some people it's great but sometimes it isn't.  But at the end of the book,  the catalyst for a big decision she makes is because her coworker decided to do IVF and have kids on her own. She assumes it's because she gave up on finding "mr right " and alludes to her settling when it's a beautiful and strong type of person to decide she wants a family and makes it happen without waiting around for some elusive perfect guy.

Jen has a lot of talent, interests, and has accomplished a lot. I'm not sure why it still seems like its not enough because she's not in a relationship.  I do recommend her memoir and the other books she has written

As someone who wants to travel more, the title for this one was certainly enticing. In her travel memoir, Jen decides before she hits 30 that she wants to send her 20s out by completing a fulfilling challenge to take 12 trips in 12 months. She recounts what ends up being 20 trips, surpassing her goal, and shares the difficulties, joys, and magic of her solo travel. Her experiences both inspire travel dreams and provide helpful travel tips for people with work and time off to consider as well as budgets to mind. Jen took full advantage of extending holiday weekends, taking all of her provided time off from work, working remotely teaching online for some extra income, and featuring comped travel experiences on her blog and socials. With a wide array of destinations, everyone will connect with at least some of the wonderful travel experiences that Jen chronicles. Jen's beginnings with travel blogging and writing, as Jen on a Jet Plane, as well as her earlier books about travel lend well to her new travelouge that is an enjoyable read while still being helpful to those looking to travel too. The real travel accounts with both missed and found opportunities show that travel does not always go according to plan, and that is ok.

This was a great and fast read! I was shocked when I was already half way through the book and next thing I know I was on Jen's last trip.

A lot of people spend time daydreaming of being somewhere else while they are at work; they wish to travel, to see the world, to live their life in a more fulfilling way. Of those people daydreaming at work, most will think it is nearly impossible to find a way to work on the go or find more time to travel. Jen Ruiz is not one of those people that thought it was impossible; she took the leap and made a way for her to take 12 trips in 12 months, and then, she wrote about her adventures and what she learned through it all. 12 Trips in 12 Months is a memoir of a woman solo traveling around the world at the age of 29, where women typically feel as though their youth is expiring. Jen decided she would make the most of her 29th year by traveling in celebration of the last year of her twenties. Throughout the book, she found that she was looking for love in all the wrong places, and that she was able to grow as a person in each of the trips. Some of her adventures include being in two hemispheres at once and hanging from the side of a cliff fearing for her life. Jen survived and lived to write about it. If you are looking for a book to inspire your travels, even traveling solo, this is most likely a book for you. Jen offers a free webinar on how to do a travel challenge on her website: www.12Tripsin12Months.com. She also shares solo travel resources on her website: www.JenOnAJetPlane.com. I give this book a five out of five stars.