Last year, I compiled a retrospective of my first year (2024) of traveling the world. (Mostly on my own, not on the Odyssey.)
Here is a recap of what was most memorable in Year 2 (2025): the good, the bad, and the ugly.
My Most Favorite Place
Antarctica
I Could Live There
Cairns, Australia
Spotless, inviting, walkable
Warmest Welcome
Mexico
Sweetest Sailaway
Bitung, Indonesia
Where I Felt the Most Unsafe
Honiara, Solomon Islands
Favorite Pier
Cartagena, Colombia
Step off the ship, and into a birding paradise
Biggest Setback
A week in a hospital in Japan
Best Excursion
Rhythms of the Night
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Best Birding Experience
Barbuda
Magnificent Frigatebirds, with brilliant red pouches
Best Public Transport System
Japan for speed
Taiwan for ease of use
Best Sunset
Alaska’s Inside Passage
Best Street Art
Valparaiso, Chile
Best Birthday Bash
At Sea in the Caribbean
Most Senior-Friendly
Brazil
Oddest Tourist Attraction
Toilet Restaurant
Taipei, Taiwan
Photo not available.
Even if it was, believe me,
you wouldn’t want to see it.
My Most Embarrassing Moment
Projectile-vomiting on my shipmates on a tender boat in Cabo San Lucas
Best Sculpture Series
Manzanillo, Mexico
Zodiac Walk
Best Botanical Garden
Butchart Gardens, British Columbia, Canada
Biggest travel nuisance:
Unleashed dogs, all over the world. They are the bane of my travel life. Two Odysseans have been bitten already.
6 responses to “Retrospective 2025”
Great snapshot of the places you visited in 2025.
I love it… these pictures and why you took them are priceless… even the non picture category. Love this trip !!!!!!!!!
That’s a very nice compendium. So glad we get to share it with you. It’s not always perfect, but I can’t imagine life being better anywhere else.
Agree!
Fabulous
Looking forward to you joining us, Meredith