What’s Ahead for Haunt Jaunts in 2012?

Last year I had big plans for Haunt Jaunts in 2011. You know that saying about if you want to make God laugh, make plans? He must have had a rip-roaring belly wiggler over all the plans I laid.

I was going to put plans in place for a calendar, get the Haunt Jaunts travel guide out, host a radio show, and jaunts were anticipated for San Francisco, Vegas, and New York.

Had to put the calendar idea on hold. My dreams were bigger than my budget.

I couldn’t come up with extra time to do a weekly radio show. I had to back out of that.

None of the jaunts I expected to take happened. Instead, I ended up going places I hadn’t ever foreseen myself traveling to last year…if ever!

And the book…I did manage to work on that some. I did not manage to procure a publisher for it yet. Perhaps that will fall into place this year.

There’s a part of me that would love to know what’s ahead in 2012. That way I’d know what to look forward to with anticipation and what to brace for.

But that latter part is exactly why another part of me can bear the suspense. Sometimes it’s better not to know. That way I’m not disappointed when things aren’t as happy as I expected, and I don’t waste a lot of time worrying about the bad to come. I just deal with it all as it falls.

This year I’m not going to speculate about 2012. However, here’s what I hope to see happen in the year ahead:

1. That the Haunt Jaunts Bermuda Triangle Halloween Party cruise happens and everyone who attends has a blast.
2. That the Haunt Jaunts Guide to Paranormal Tourism gets picked up by a publisher.
3. That wherever my travels lead me this this year, they’re safe ones again. (I’m not even going to attempt to plan out my itinerary this year. Last year I felt 90% certain the places I mentioned would be the places I’d get to. After all, they were the places my husband and I kept talking about going next. Instead, other opportunities came up. This year we could try for San Francisco again, perhaps hit Buenos Aires, or find ourselves on a Mediterranean or Northern European cruise. Or none of those things. There’s just no telling. We’ll see where the road takes us…)

I also realized after having discovered some favorite new-to-me travel bloggers (who I will mention when I pass on the To Travel Is To Live award), and looking back at pictures while putting together Haunt Jaunts 2011 Year in Review Travel Memories, that I’m failing as a travel writer.

For the past two years, I’ve written about some of my jaunts here and there. But there are many stories still waiting in the queue. I still have jaunts from 2010 I have not yet chronicled!

I can’t explain it, but I’ve been sort of saving them. For what, I don’t know. It’s like how I eat: I save my favorite thing on the plate to savor until the end. Maybe subconsciously I’m thinking about all this 2012 Mayan Prophecy/World Coming to an End stuff. Now that 2012 is here, it’s okay to share all I saved?

I don’t know. All I know is going forward I want to focus more on my travel tales.

What do you foresee and/or hope for your 2012?

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.