2016 has come and gone, and wow…what a year. It’s one that we bet many people, all around the world, will never forget. Nationalism raised its sometimes ugly head, as did terrorism far too often. We witnessed the outbreak of pandemics, from Pokemon to Zika. We saw Michael Phelps break more records, and the Cubs win the World Series, proving that, even in tumultuous times, miracles do happen. From earthshaking political events to the passing of entertainment legends, from our favorite Viral Video (#PPAP) to exploding phones and toys, 2016 has left us with both scars and blessings.
As always, there are “2016 Top” lists for everything under the sun! Top sports moments, top movies, top songs…and don’t forget about our collaboration with several top bloggers, The 12 Best Countries to Visit in 2017 with @philandgarth! (#shamelessplug)
In the spirit and tradition of New Years posts, we present A Tale of Two Nines: Our Nine Best and Nine Favorite Instagrams of 2016. You might be surprised to learn these are not the same thing. There is a fun on-line app that will show you the Best Nine, your nine most popular Instagrams of the year. Later, we’ll share ours and show you how to get yours. But first, here are our personal Nine Favorite @TravelLatte Instagrams of 2016!
#9: 23rd Street Artists’ Market Mural, Austin, Texas
#8: Shade Worshippers visiting Chichen Itza, Quintana Roo, Mexico
#7: Dinner and a show! Mai-Kai Restaurant & Polynesian Revue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
#6: Saunders Hall at dusk, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
#5: Melisandre in the Jardin Botanique d’Eze, from our #FallInFrance
#4: The Broadway Overlook in historic Stillwater, Minnesota
#3: Promenade du Paillon, Nice, France
#2: Le Trocadero as seen from Tour Eiffel, Paris, France
#1: Our favorite Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C.
The TravelLatte Best Nine
Not surprisingly, a few of our favorites are among out most popular. Or maybe it should be surprising that more of our favorites didn’t make the list! Of course, our favorites reflect our tastes and memories of those trips. It’s always interesting to see how your favorites compare to what others like best.
On to the good stuff: How to get your Instagram Best Nine! It’s a very simple, two-step process:
- On your smartphone, open a browser and go to https://2016bestnine.com
- Enter your Instagram user ID, and press GO!
You are rewarded with an Instagram-friendly collage of your nine most popular photos of the year, and a summary of your likes. Nice! Oddly, the app makes it easy to share on Facebook and Twitter, but not so much on Instagram. Clicking the handy IG logo opens the app with a search of #2016bestnine instead of uploading your Best Nine. We resorted to saving the image, and posting it ourselves. #firstworldproblems.
Whether it’s one of our favorites or one of yours, we thank you for taking the time this year to check out our blog and Social Media, to leave us a comment and give us a Like. Literally, we could not do this without you!
Happy New Year from everyone at TravelLatte.net!
Your Turn!
Have you posted your Best Nine? We want to see it! Leave us a comment with a link, or with your New Year’s plans, or your favorite New Year Cocktail recipe, or…whatever!
Travel Blog Linkups
If you’re like us, you love reading about travel almost as much as the actual traveling! We participate with other bloggers in the “Link Ups” below. That means we share our posts, and get to read great travel stories by other bloggers who Link Up. Please visit the host bloggers today, or search for the hashtags on Twitter. If you follow us on Twitter, watch for Tweet about our favorites, too. And don’t forget to comment – bloggers love comments and that’s how we build a community of like-minded travel lovers!
- #WeekendWanderlust is a blog hop and travel community on Facebook, with lots of great travelers and bloggers sharing their stories, photos, and adventures.
- Feet Do Travel’s #FollowMeFriday is another Facebook blog hop and travel community with a great bunch of travelers and bloggers sharing stories, advice, and pictures.
great photos! happy 2017!
Happy 2017 to you, too! Thanks for the photo love! 🙂
It’s been a pleasure following your adventures Rob and Ann, plus you do take a killer photo! There’s a really great mix of destinations here and look forward to seeing where you share in 2017, both here and on Instagram!
Hi David – it really has been our pleasure getting to know you and follow along this year. Your photos are awesome!! We seem to have similar tastes, though you get much further off the path. Here’s to a Happy New Year!
Gorgeous photos! My fav is probably #9… I just love the colour?? Thank you for sharing, I now have my best nine ??? ??thumbs up on the shameless plug ?
Hello, Turpins, and Happy New Year! We fell in love with that mural in Austin. It took many tries to get the whole thing in, and we were really happy with how the colors came out. Glad you like it, too! We loved your article on the street art in Penang – that could have been a Best Nine right there! (Especially the one with Mr. Bean 🙂 Happy New Year to you both!
Lovely pictures! I can’t choose my favourite! Its great to look back on a year of travel then get all excited about the new year ahead!!
Hi Tracy – thanks for visiting our blog! We had a hard time just choosing NINE favorites! We’re so glad you like them, though. You’re right about looking back filling us with excitement to add to the photo album. We trust you’ll be doing the same! 🙂 Happy New Year!
Love your nine favorite Instagram photos. Especially one of my favorites was the #shamelessplug for the 12 Best Countries to Visit in 2017 🙂 My favorite of your instagram photos is the Chichen Itza photo. I have never been and its on my bucket list. Looking forward to more photos and articles in 2017. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Happy New Year, Stephanie! I’m glad you like the photos. There’s another one from Chichen Itza that I really like, but isn’t as recognizable. Hope you get to visit soon – you will love it! We are hoping to go back and stay at one of the resorts adjacent to the park so we have more time to explore. And heck, if you can’t get in a #shamelessplug on your own blog, what’s the world come to? Right??? 😉
Love your photos! What a fantastic year of travels. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Elisabeth! It was a great year of travel – even better than Instagram shows! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. Happy New Year!
Really enjoyed this post and reviewing your favorite Instagram posts of 2016! I’m glad to see a shot from our day in Stillwater made your favorites. I included an Instagram from Stillwater in my own list of my most memorable Instagrams of 2016. 🙂 I think my favorite of your favorites is the Polynesian dancers at the Mai-Kai restaurant. I remember reading your review of that restaurant and thinking that it seemed like such a fun experience. I hope you guys have a happy new year! #WeekendWanderlust
Hi Erin, and Happy New Year! That was a fun day in Stillwater, and we’re still impressed by how picturesque the town is. I remember seeing your Instagram from Maple Island Brewery – glad it made your year end list, too! I also remember that we need to meet up in Chicago for a visit to Three Dots & a Dash! One day… 😉 Thanks for stopping by our list…now we’re heading over to see the rest of yours!
Love all these gorgeous buildings. We both have a fondness for great architecture. I hope your 2017 is as fantastic as the last. #weekendwanderlust
Happy New Year, Elaine! We do have a fondness for architecture, and it becomes very apparent when we start filtering through our photos. Seems like it’s mostly beaches and buildings! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that! 😉 Thanks for stopping by our blog!
Love your year in photos and a shout out to my beloved Cubs! Some great photos and fantastic destinations. Great to see Austin in there! I love that city. Hope you have a fantastic 2017!
Happy New Year, Lexx! Thanks for the kind words. Gotta say, we were a little worried the Cubbies might not pull that one off! Great story, either way, but…Cubs! 🙂
Ah, thank you for teaching me how to make my own best nine! I was wondering how everyone did it haha. Your pictures are beautiful by the well 🙂
Glad we could help! If you post yours someplace, come back and leave a link so we can see! Personally, we like your llama at Machu Picchu picture. He’s adorable! 🙂
Instagram is soooo inspiring! Thanks for the recomendations!
Hi Midori – Thanks for visiting our blog! Instagram has become one of our favorite Day Dream machines – there are so many great photographers out there, and beautiful places to go!
Oh I love your shameless plug, that had to be my favourite and made me smile 😀 From your photos, for me it has to be #8 The shade worshippers at Chichen Itza, this is a place that is high on my bucket list. #7 is another my eyes were drawn to, I love the colours of the lanterns and skirts in contrast to the blackness – fabulous! Happy New Year to you guys is all that is left to say and here’s to many more travelling instagram opportunities!
Hi Angie! I think the secret to #7 is your secret desire to be a hula dancer and sashay around the beach in a grass skirt all day! No? 😉 Thanks for stopping by the blog, and Happy New Year to you guys, too!
What a fantastic collection of photos! My favorite is the one of Nice, France. It’s a gorgeous promenade and it hits the light perfectly.
Thanks Brooke! The Promenade made for a great photo op – it’s a very photogenic landmark! Of course, much of Nice is very photogenic. Absolutely loved our time there. Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year!
Great photos and of course memories, we have done a similar thing at it was lovely recapping on a fantastic year! Thanks for sharing. #Feetdotravel
Thanks Paul and Carole! The memories, of course, are the best part. Here’s to more of both in 2017!
Loving the shameless plug, thanks so much for your contribution Rob, great year of Insta photos too, I think the Trocadero pic from the Eiffel Tower is my favourite, look forward to seeing more of your travels in 2017.
Hey Garth (and Phil!) – That’s my favorite, too! It was awesome working with you guys and the team on the collab & we’re really looking forward to more. 🙂 Happy New Years, gents!