2025 Year-End Travel Wrap-Up

What can I say about travel in 2025?  With the current horror show in the U.S., each trip was a temporary reprieve from insanity and incivility.  More than that, though, it was a reaffirmation that the vast majority of people, wherever they live and whatever they believe, are fundamentally good.  Travel is an irrebuttable counter to misanthropy and an irrefutable reason to believe that we remain capable of sublime beauty and great kindness.

Over the past year, I visited ten countries on five continents.  Six of these places were new to me, bringing my life total to 103 countries/territories.  I flew 40,000 miles, sailed 5,000, and walked hundreds (mostly, I believe, in the Frankfurt airport).

Here’s a quick review of the ten countries, along with one of my favorite photos from each place.

Japan

Japan was a revelation.  I must confess I had no burning desire to go, but the chance to travel with my sister and brother-in-law persuaded me to give it a try, and I will be forever grateful that I did. 

What a lovely, civil, accomplished country!  Graceful, centuries-old temples, the spiritual goliath that is Mount Fuji, fascinating cities, advanced technology that truly makes life better, and most of all, the politeness and graciousness of the Japanese people, made Japan a place I’d love to explore further.  Many thanks to Odysseys Unlimited for a tour I will never forget.

Mexico

I’ve been to Mexico several times – including a business trip to Mexico City where my cab driver was a huge fan of American football with no English, who wanted my opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of every team in the NFL (my Spanish was, shall we say, tackled for a loss) – but never to the beautiful cities of Zihuatanejo, Cabo San Lucas, and especially San Jose del Cabo.  Each was a treasure trove of culture, art, history, and friendly, proud people.   

Guatemala

I got to see very little of Guatemala because of a teachers’ strike that closed the main roads.  The more I learned about how poorly the teachers are paid and treated, the more I wanted to hop off our bus and join them on their blockade.  Guatemala needs to take a lesson from Costa Rica, where education is prioritized and the standard of living is far higher than elsewhere in Central America.

Costa Rica

People are drawn to Costa Rica for its astounding natural beauty, and rightly so.  But this country offers so much more: top-notch health care, a commitment to environmental sustainability (99 percent of its energy needs comes from renewable resources), excellent education, and no military – Costa Rica is a nation that does just about everything right.  I can’t wait to go back and dive deeper into Costa Rica’s wonders.

Colombia

Many Latin American nations have old cities with splendid colonial-era architecture, but few are as well-preserved and attractive as Cartagena.  Colombia has suffered its share of drug-related violence, but the situation appears greatly improved. I’d love to venture to Medellín and Bogotá on a future trip and take in more of this vibrant country.

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is as easy as the Caribbean gets – an English-speaking island with gorgeous beaches, good roads, and little crime.  Having said that, Grand Cayman doesn’t have the physical beauty or thrumming native culture of many other Caribbean islands.  It’s a pleasant enough getaway, but I much prefer Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Curacao …

France

A Van Gogh tour in Arles, a sail up the Rhone and Saône on AMA Waterways, centuries-old wineries, millennia-old towns, and a few hours wandering around Dijon (and buying mustard, of course) – France is a pleasure, even if occasionally snooty and always expensive.  Having said that, there are several places in Europe I prefer: Ireland, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Spain – all of which offer as much scenery and history as France with more warmth and humor.  (And I’ll take the food in the final three over French food any day.)

Switzerland

I had been to Switzerland, sort of, twice before: a rainy morning in Basel and a couple of hours’ layover at the Geneva airport.  I was thrilled to be able to spend a few days there after my river cruise.  My travel agent, Lauren Clark, put together a great sampler of a couple of days each in swanky Montreux, breathtaking Interlaken, and bustling Zurich.  We crammed lots of touring into those few days – boating on Lake Geneva, taking a train ride through the Alps, hopping a funicular to Jungfraujoch in near-blizzard conditions, and walking tens of thousands of steps while crisscrossing Zurich’s bridges.  (All of this activity was fueled by more than a few croissants and pretzels.)

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is two hours from Zurich by train, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see another country and learn a bit about this almost-accidental microstate.  Honestly, though, unless you’re as committed to “collecting” countries as I am, or you’re into skiing and mountain hiking, I don’t think Liechtenstein, picturesque as it is, is worth a special trip.

Egypt

Percy Bysshe Shelley was a magnificent poet but a lousy historian.  His “Ozymandias,” based on a shattered statue of Ramesses II found buried in the sand, is a meditation on the fleeting nature of power and glory.  With all respect to the poet, I think he got it wrong:  who else from 43 centuries ago has left such copious and magnificent evidence of his life and times?

Ramesses II, like all ancient Egyptians, sought to achieve everlasting life and fame after shuffling off this mortal coil (to quote another great poet who was a questionable historian).  He and his fellow ancient Egyptian nobles achieved this objective with astounding success.  The ancient Egyptian civilization and way of life lasted for more than three millennia – far longer than any other society in human history – and thanks to the desert sands cloaking their pyramids, tombs, inscriptions and depictions, it seems like it could spring once again fully formed from the banks of the Nile.

I’ve never been to a place that puts human history in perspective the way Egypt does.  It’s a terrific reminder that our leaders and our laws, our creeds and our crises, don’t last forever, but their impact may be felt for ages to come. 

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And that’s a wrap for 2025.  I’ve got three trips planned so far for 2026:  (1) Chile, Argentina and Brazil in February with one of my oldest friends (in terms of tenure, not (just) longevity; in fairness, pretty much all my friends are chronologically accomplished); (2) Poland and a Viking river cruise on the Elbe in April with my frequent and phenomenal travel companions, Andy and Char; and (3) a Kenya/Tanzania safari through Odysseys Unlimited in August, with my sister and brother-in-law and their dear friends Howard and Lala.

Thanks for reading the blog – if you like it, here’s an easy New Year’s resolution:  click “follow” (or “subscribe,” I can’t remember what the button actually says) so you are notified of future posts automatically.

Enjoy your Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Festivus, Bodhi Day, or whatever you may celebrate at this time of year.  And may your New Year be filled with joy, peace, health, humor, kind people, and magnificent sights!