One of the most common questions I get asked about my travels is...what was your favorite place? As I have mentioned before, I liken this to choosing my favorite child, or my favorite book, which I believe is near to impossible. I mean, obviously I am my parents' favorite, but other than that, choosing a favorite is hard! Just kidding Broski! So instead of choosing a favorite, I will tell you twenty (in no particular order) destinations that I really enjoyed in 2025!
Don't forget to add your two cents in the comments: what were some of your favorite destinations, vacations or trips in 2025 and why??
1. Hiking and eating in Mesita, Georgia
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| Mestia |
2. Cycling, beaches and history in Riga, Latvia
3. Mountain sports in
Bansko, Bulgaria  |
| Bansko |
4. Turquoise waters in Kaş, Türkiye
5. Slate houses, valleys and mountains in Snowdonia, Wales
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| Betws-y-coed |
6. Tapas, architecture & history in Granada, Spain
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| Granada |
7. Architecture, food and wine in Dijon, France
8. Hiking the Via Transilvanica, Romania
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| Sighișoara |
9. Peaks of the Balkans hike through Albania, Montenegro & Kosovo
10. Riding across Wales on the Lon Las Cyrmu route
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| Lon Las Cymru - Yup, that's snow! |
11. Learning about the textile mills in Macclesfield, England
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| Silk factory |
12. Cave churches and rock formations in Cappadocia, Türkiye
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| Cave church |
13. Learning about ancient wine and religion in Georgia and Armenia
14. Sarajevo and the beautiful Bosnian mountains (and Mostar of course!)
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| Stari Most, Mostar |
15. Hiking and exploring the Isle of Skye, Scotland
16. Seeing Auschwitz and Krakow in the dead of winter
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| This pile of prosthetics made me cry |
17. Living on the beach for a month in Costa del Sol, Spain
18. Learning to make Khinkali and Khachapuri in Tbilisi, Georgia
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| Khinkali making |
19. Skiing in the Alps in Valmorel, France
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| Valmorel |
20. Trying to speak French again in Lyon, France
What were some of your favorite destinations, vacations or trips in 2025 and why??
Oh the places you will go! I agree that it's impossible to chose a favorite, and the key is to have lots of travel so that you have lots of favorites.
ReplyDeleteMy highlight reel is:
FL - not so much for the place as for the people I got to meet
CA - I got to live in San Francisco for a week! And I met great people.
BC - Epic meetup/beautiful place
NS/PEI/NB - same as above for an epic meetup/beautiful place
Stay tuned for next year!
I love that all of your adventures include meeting great people. I can't wait to hear what you have planned for next year, and to learn more about the flags of the world! Happy travels!
DeleteWhat an amazing time you had, Kyria! I've enjoyed traveling vicariously through you. I got the Christmas card you sent! Thank you! I hope you are soaking up family time. Good for you for marking all posts as read and moving forward. I definitely understand!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! You are welcome! I am having a great time and am looking forward to more adventures next year! Maybe it will include some cows!?
DeleteWow, you saw and did some amazing things! What a wonderful highlight reel. But gah - that pile of prosthetic. :....( How moving.
ReplyDeleteI did not travel much for pleasure this year but that's the stage of life we are in. But here are the highlights:
- We went to Mexico in March with 2 other couples and had the best time.
- I took Taco to Chicago in June and that trip was solidy "type 2 fun" (not fun in the moment but sort of fun to reflect back on). We had some good times but a big city destination during an incredibly hot, humid time was not the best decision on my part. But we have some good memories and he came back with a snow globe which is about 95% of the reason he went on the trip.
- I had some nice trips to NYC for work. I was able to run in Central Park on one of the trips and I took a long walk on another trip. I adore NYC so very much and love to wander around the different neighborhoods. I usually stay in Midtown since that's where our office is but after talking to a senior employee at the firm, I'm going to stay in a more fun area in the future so I can do some exploring in my neighborhood after work (he stays in the west village since that's where his kids live and I will do the same since I love that area).
I love running in central park! My Dad was working in NYC and I went to visit and each time we went somewhere he would take the subway and I would run and it was so fun to see all the different neighborhoods.I really enjoy the Brooklyn side or if you are staying in Manhattan it's fun to stay near the village or hells kitchen.
DeleteI'm in awe of your adventures and travels. I loved reading about all of them and seeing the photos. There is No Way I'd be able to ever tour a place like Auschwitz; my father saw a concentration camp shortly after liberation and once told me about it for a research presentation. It was gut-wrenching.
ReplyDeleteNo travels this year, unfortunately, just vicariously through you. And thank you for the Christmas card! I am so glad we found each other. Enjoy your family time. You always know where to find us.
It's definitely heart wrenching to go to the camps! I am lucky that I didn't have family members there but it's still hard to see it in person so I can imagine that if you were directly affected, it would be very hard.
DeleteJust to be absolutely clear, my dad was there as a servicemember, an army corporal (in case anyone could possibly misunderstand his presence).
DeleteI feel like it would be especially hard to see at that point, as it was hard for me 80 years later!
DeleteMy only destination trip this year was France (Paris with the kids and John over March Break) and it was fabulous. Ask me this time next year and I will have A LOT more to say :)
ReplyDeleteThat was a fun trip, wasn't it?? The kids seemed to have a lot of fun on that trip! I know you will have lots of adventures in 2026 and I can't wait to hear all about them!
DeleteYour adventures are always so interesting and cool. I really only went one place - Italy. I mean, if you're not gonna travel much, at least do it up right when you go, right? It was a great trip and I posted a few stories about it, but then I got sidetracked or assumed readers were bored, so I never finished. I really like Assisi. Florence was also great. OMG - our day trip to Amalfi Coast was so so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI also liked Florence a lot but haven't been to the Amalfi coast yet! I will add it to my list! I usually don't post trip reports as I feel like they are a great diary for me but not that interesting for other people sometimes. However, you never know! I am always looking for inspiration from others!
DeleteI agree, but I will say that the meat of my trip reports were how we almost missed a train while I was serving as sherpa for Mini who'd been up puking all night in a hotel room that we were all sharing - mere hours after we'd checked out of a hotel that afforded us two separate bathrooms. So, not exactly a THEN WE STARED AT THIS STATUE FOR AN HOUR, THEN WE ATE XYZ, ya know? ;)
DeleteWell that's not quite the inspiration that I'm looking for but the stories are amusing!! 😁
DeleteYou have been to so many amazing places, Kyria! I just love seeing photos and reading about your travels.
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzanne! I am enjoying having the adventures and will keep you posted for this year!
Delete2025 has been a year for travel for sure... An unexpected trip to Russia via Turkiye, then our 33 day trip to France. That French trip will be forever etched into my memory. Yes, it was long, yes, it was expensive (mainly because it was so long), and worth every penny.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about skiing in Europe with the kids. Wanted to ask San about that German ski resort but I can see that Valmorel is kind of perfect- one can even fly into Geneva and go from there..
33 days is a great amount of time and I know that it helps me to have more time to explore or slow down a bit, so I bet it was great for you! Valmorel was great and not really that expensive compared to the Tahoe resorts that I usually go to in the US!
DeleteWe didn’t do a lot of travel this year…went to an all day music festival in LA in May, and to Portland to visit family in July. Saving our money, we want to go to France next autumn! Paris for sure, not sure whether we will focus our energy there, or spread out a bit. Depends on time, I guess.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are so lovely, except the tragic one, that almost made me cry just looking at it. I can’t imagine being there in person, I got upset at Alcatraz.
France will be a lot of fun! I do love Paris, and also love the little towns in the countryside as well, so you really can't go wrong with whatever you choose. The camps are upsetting for sure! I feel that it is important to see things like that, although it is hard to do.
DeleteCopenhagen was one of my biggest travel highlights of the year! It was a place Ivan had always wanted to go but I literally knew NOTHING about it and was always like, um, ok... what is even there?? We booked the trip and I still didn't know much about it until much closer to the actual trip when I researched and figured out some things we'd do. I think that was some of the beauty of that trip- it was like this giant pleasant surprise that it was just the most amazing place!! I assume you've probably been there, but if not, you have to go! So quirky and cool and we did incredible day trips too.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, of course, I can't leave Nova Scotia off the top of the list, either!
I actually have not been to Copenhagen, but it has been on my list for some time! I will get there eventually. I know that they have Legoland! I know they have a lot more than that too, but I have a friend whose kids are big fans!
DeleteWell, this is a little unfair- how are we supposed to compete with THAT??? Let's see. I went to Waco! (again.) Oh, I also went to Chicago- that was fun. Oh, and I'll count our day in Miami as a "trip", lol.
ReplyDeleteMiami was a trip! That was very fun! I had a great time and don't worry, it will be featured in a separate post!
DeleteYou have had an epic year of travel! The only place I visited that was new to me was London, but I loved it so much. With my mom getting sick only two days in, we didn't get to do everything we planned so I'd love to go back someday (maybe combined with a Paris trip?) and see more of the city!
ReplyDelete