12 Trips in 12 Months - Make Your Own Solo Travel Magic by Jen Ruiz and narrated by Jen Ruiz is pure inspo. I took a long time off travelling and it was actually my return to it that highlighted this fantastic audiobook to me

This audiobook is a gorgeous listen and narrated by the author which adds that extra personal touch to the story told. Ruiz decided one day to stop saying no and start saying yes to getting the most out of her spare time. Defying expectations and forging ahead. Already successful in her career, Ruiz undertook a personal goal of making 12 trips (by plane) in 12 months and actually exceeded her goal by 8, taking a total of 20 trips

An insperational story for anyone who feels they are stuck in a rut, that life is passing them by. Ruiz is personable , relatable and inspirational

Stop waiting for others, do it for you

Thank you to Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks and Jen Ruiz for this wonderful ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I absolutely loved the author's writing style with this non-fiction book. It was very inspiring and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

Jen balances personal life experiences with travel tips and tricks but most of all, she keeps her eye on the prize: her happiness.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I really enjoyed this! Traveling is one thing that brings me pure joy and I save my money to be able to do it! This book has even inspired me to put a couple things in place for 2025!
I have been to some of the places she was talking about. Which was quite fun listening to her describe her experiences. When it comes to traveling by yourself Jen Ruiz is an inspiration to women! I have spoken to three different lady friends who were contemplating taking a solo trip. I told them yes, go for it! I also told them about this book. I would recommend this book if you love to travel and love memoirs.

Interesting stories by a travel blogger about getting her start and taking the plunge from full-time desk job to full-time traveler, something I would love to do. While the destinations are seemingly stunning, I don’t feel like I really got a good sense of where she went as it was more about her getting the right pictures and hopefully finding love. These are not bad things, they just weren’t what I was expecting.

I love to travel and I enjoy travel stories. I’m also a fan of audiobook memoirs read by their authors. I can say that overall, this book by Jen Ruiz checks those boxes and was an enjoyable read. I did understand from the summary that part of her reason for travel in this particular year was to combat her sense that she should be married and having children at almost-30 years old, although I didn’t realize that so much of the book would dwell on her efforts to find a man while traveling or the mistakes about relationships that she continued to make. But, I can understand how those two things connect. What I was less prepared for was the idea that she was trying to become a travel influencer/content creator (as I had never heard of her before). That part I was much less interested in, and I felt that it led to short trips crammed with activities—something she does discuss as an aspect of the job—and the result was somewhat superficial experiences. While many of her adventures were really interesting and I enjoyed hearing about her day with the elephants in Thailand, the hot air balloon ride in New Mexico, and many intriguing outdoor activities, I did like the other aspects of the book less. I do appreciate the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio arc of this book! I liked the stories about each of the author's trips. The author describes her twelve different adventures and what she learned from each of them. I think I might have liked this one better if I would have read it instead of listening to it. The narration didn't work for me. I do plan to read one of Jen Ruiz's older books and I do recommend trying this book in written format.

This book was good. I really enjoyed that the author traveled to and wrote about her travels to Latin countries, I feel like that is not something that is seen very often and is highly appreciated. I also liked that she traveled alone and talked about her experiences traveling alone, how she felt safe in places because of xyz. This was reassuring and made solo travel feel more approachable.
She is and does write like a travel blogger. There wasn’t any in-depth description of what she say or how it made her feel. It seemed more surface level, which I get for a travel blogger. With that though, I was hoping for more in the inspiration category and the “you can do this too.” Since she is an influencer, she gets perks and freebies, which she is very transparent about, but is just not sustainable for the average person looking to travel.

I was excited to read this book because I love to travel and learn things about new places. This book just… didn’t do it for me. This author claims that this book is great for the solo traveler and helpful for tips on how to travel alone affordably.
Here are her tips: become an influencer, put it on your credit card and pick up another job. Literally a quote from the book,

“Charge it!”

Ruiz’s instagram looks appealing, I hadn’t heard about it before but the pictures inspired the appropriate amount of wanderlust for the viewer. Knowing now what I know about the debt and absolute entitlement that this author has changes the way I view the pictures.

The absolute privilege in this book, the audacity of the author and the way she treats her work- it’s honestly astonishing.

“I’d practiced calling out so much that year, I had it down to a science. The key was to not ask for permission for a sick day, but rather to state it matter of factly.”

“I was playing hooky from work at Disney, hoping my boss wasn’t watching the show, or that no one would spot us on a replay.”

“Because life is about living and enjoying your worthwhile experiences, not sitting in your cubicle or windowless office until you die.”

To boil this to brass tacks, this author claims to go on a journey to find herself and discover her happiness by taking 12 trips in a year and though it may start that way, it seems to turn into “how much can I get for free?” And “I deserve this- my credit card will pick up the expense!”

If you’re looking for depth, personal discovery, coming-of-age stories, or even solo travel tips that you can ACTUALLY use… keep looking.

The author, Jen Ruiz, narrates the book and you can hear the excitement in her voice.

Does a great job of showing the highs and lows of traveling. I think when you travel like this, you really find yourself. Jen shares how she discovered major habits and revelations about herself. I think if you are in your 20's-30's you'll relate to her journey of self reflection. As a woman she shares the value of protecting yourself and respecting your own peace.

I especially loved the elephant part!

Thank you to NetGalley, Jen Ruiz, and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to listen to 12 Trips in 12 Months. I have written this review voluntarily.

Jen Ruiz is a non-profit lawyer turned full-time professional international travel blogger extraordinaire. I can’t say I’ve ever read a travel memoir before, but I absolutely adored this one and lived vicariously through it!

Jen found herself nearing her thirties, love interest-less and childless, looking for some purpose. Following her first solo trip, the idea to do twelve trips in twelve months was born (which she ended up doing almost double that amount in the end) and this book was later written in fascinating detail about her adventures, a little about how she did it, and a lot about why. You can follow along with her on adventures through Iceland, Italy, Thailand, Greece, Mexico, Canada, and more. I completely understand the public interest burnout as a government lawyer myself and wish I had the courage to quit my job and travel to see the world like Jen did! For now, I’ll enjoy armchair travel seeing the world through her eyes, a strong, independent, and happy female. Jen is very raw, humorous, and well-written and I breezed right through this book in a few days!

For audiobook listeners, she reads her own memoir which is super cool and I always appreciate more 🎧 She is very articulate and well spoken.

Thank you so much to Jen, Blackstone Audio, NetGalley for the advance audiobook!

I had never heard of Jen or her adventures before; I love to travel and when I saw the title I thought I would request a copy. I am so glad that I did.
I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author and she did a great job telling her story. It often felt like a conversation with a friend.
While I enjoyed the audiobook, and it allowed me to preview the book, I think I would buy the physical copy for the library and I actually bought a physical copy as a gift for a fellow traveler as well.
This book spoke volumes to me: feeling lost in your 20s when everyone else seems to be doing something else, diving into travel as a way to find yourself, realizing the happiness on the other side. I did the same thing in my 20s--and continue to travel with young people to help introduce them to how travel can change your life and perspective.

I enjoyed her writing and the trips which are described in lots of different ways, and I appreciated learning of her tours and travels. I appreciated that her stories were more than just about traveling and the places she went, but more of the journey in her life as well. I think this book was great and would definitely recommend to others, especially some of my seniors as they are trying to figure things out.
I added Jen Ruiz to my reading list and look forward to finding more of her writing.
Thanks NetGalley for the audio ARC to review.

DNF at 45%. I was expecting this book to be about solo travel and finding oneself (which is the journey I've been on and was excited about a book with a similar story. The book seems to be much more about the author going on solo trips, but looking for guys around every corner. It's just not my cup of tea.

This was a nice quick and easy to listen to audiobook that I really enjoyed! The memoir chronicles the author's journey over the course of one year as she commits to travelling more. The book covers some travelling tips and tricks as well as fun and interesting anecdotes from her time in each location. Other themes from the story include the transition from young adulthood to turning thirty, life as a hard working single woman, trying new things/putting yourself out there, and re-evaluating what is most important to you in life. The book is narrated by the author, making it feel more like a friend sharing their recent vacations than an audiobook. I would recommend this for anyone who loves travelling or wants to travel more, and for someone looking for something to sit back and enjoy without worrying too much about missing important plot lines or critical details (something I very much value in an audiobook).

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to and review this audiobook!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Between Ruiz's engaging writing about her travels and her insightful self-reflections, it was the perfect combination of entertainment and education.

Thank you to NetGalley and the pubisher for this ARC in exhcange for an honet review.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but I love travel so I was intrigued.

I’m so glad I listened to this - with the author as narrator.

Some great travel tips, moments of real self reflection. She visited a lot of fun places during these 12 months and did some really fun things (I think the volcano in Iceland might’ve been the one that I most wanted to try - and the swing over a cliff made me queasy, there’s no way I could do that).

This book is authentic, relatable and a fun listen.

I found this book pretty disappointing, though I possibly may have liked it more were I reading it rather than listening to it. As regards the narration: I found the author’s voice pretty annoying and overly peppy, not conveying much emotion. I have never sped an audiobook up past 1.25x and went up to 2x at times on this one.

As regards the book itself… I found the insights to be pretty shallow in each location. The author comes across very privileged, not just because she takes more than 12 trips in a year because she is, boo hoo, 29 and single, but also just regarding her general vibe in each of the places she visits. It does seem like she learned some good things in some instances, like about the treatment of elephants in Thailand, though it does seem like most of her revelations were about her relationships with men.

As someone who loves to travel and has loved traveling both alone and with others, I was hoping for actionable tips and to hear more about the locations she visits. I perhaps should have realized that the aggressive schedule of 12 trips in 12 months means these are pretty quick trips! My experience traveling has often been that many of the places I have spent the least amount of time in have become places I want to travel to again because I feel like I missed the full experience, but the author doesn’t seem to feel that way, so our travel vibes may be different, though I did relate hard to overscheduling! Overall, this book just wasn’t for me because it felt a little bit like a really perky Eat Pray Love, but hopefully others will like it more.

First off, I am a sucker for an audiobook that is narrated by the author (as long as the author has a nice speaking voice and reading fluency), because they truly know the best way to convey the tone and stories in the book. On this front, and many others, Jen delivered!
This story takes readers through many challenges that women face—specially women who are not in committed relationships. Issues of dating, men not putting effort into relationships, situationships, lack of confidence, career/life balance, pressure to have children, and more. Jen is raw and real with her emotions and the lessons she learned along the way.
Not only that, but there is so much interesting information about female solo travel, becoming a travel blogger, and different cultures and experiences. It reads a lot like a detailed diary but with humor and a good pace.
There’s a few places I would have loved even more detail, or some information on the safety of female solo travel, but overall it was an interesting read with good life lessons that are relevant to many women of many most all ages.

🎧12 Trips in 12 Months🎧
By: Jen Ruiz
Narrated By: Jen Ruiz
Review Score: 3 1/2 Stars

🎧 Audiobook Review! 🎧

12 Trips in 12 Months was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing. Thank you for allowing me to read this book!

Release Date: Out Now!

As a lover of travel, I always gravitate toward books where travel is an element. So I was excited to read about Jen's journey as she goes on 12 trips in 12 months.

While I did like this book, I didn't love it. Some of it talks about travel hookups, some of it talks about work, some of it talks about her weird travel quirks (like refusing to stay in hostels when you want privacy, when there are plenty of hostels that do offer single rooms). There were just some things that felt odd to throw in.

Overall, it was a good book, and I didn't like it, but it didn't wow me.

Jen takes the reader on a trip around the world while sharing her life lessons. It was a fast read with lots of humor and great storytelling. I loved reading the descriptions of the places she visited and the activities she experienced. I thought she was very trusting by letting a taxi driver and a random French car rental guy be her tour guide of their respective countries. She also showed bravery by hiking to the top of the Angels Landing Trail in Zions National Park and experiencing two extreme adventures on the same day in Ecuador. I especially appreciated her attitude of hope for finding true love one day despite her previous relationships with men. I found the book to be uplifting and inspiring. The audiobook is read by the author and was so fun to listen to. I highly recommend it! It also made me antsy to book another trip!

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review!