2025: A Look Back

my once-in-a-lifetime moment of the year

Overall, 2025 was a very good year for us. We rang in 2025 in Vienna, Austria and rang in 2026 on our Antarctica cruise!

As family, friends, and frankly, anyone who has ever read any other post related to our travel knows, C is the travel planner. And by that I mean he is THE TRAVEL PLANNER. He does all of the research, he finds flights, he finds hotels, he finds things for us to do and see, he works out all of the logistics...you name it, he does it.  I usually have very little idea about what's going on...a happy and blissfully ignorant "travel princess" who follows him blindly because I have been so incredibly fortunate to experience beautiful places around the world as a result of his efforts. He is amazing! My contributions are usually limited to two things: providing the parameters of my restrictive schedule so he can select travel dates and sometimes choosing between two or three hotels once he has whittled down the endless options. The only exception to our dynamic is that I typically book the hotels for our Disney trips and purchase any special event tickets; C still handles all of the other details and reservations!

obviously I am Partner 2
LOL

Our two big trips in 2025 were going to Africa over the summer and going to Antarctica over winter break and I am so pleased to share that I played a very active role in the planning! I was the one who researched and booked both our safari and our Antarctica cruise! C did all of the flights and hotels for those two trips outside of what I booked, since they involved traveling to multiple countries before and afterwards. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about everything working out with the safari and the Antarctica cruise since I was the one who booked them and handled the communication about them for 17 months and 22 months respectively! Fortunately, the two companies we chose handled all logistics, down to the most minute detail, with extreme precision and we were able to visit our sixth and seventh continent and check that off our very lengthy travel bucket list! Having now been to all seven continents, I am even more in awe of my mom, who accomplished this back in 2014, with 3 of the 7 (Europe, Antarctica, and South America) being done with women's travel groups as opposed to family - meaning that for all intents and purposes, she did these three continents on her own. She wanted to go, so she went. She wasn't going to let anything stop her from getting to all seven. She was, and will always be, an inspiration to me. I often feel her presence, and as I wrote about back in July, I felt her acutely when we were in Kenya, but she was definitely with me in Antarctica, too.

In addition to our two big trips (Antarctica offers some of the most beautiful scenery we ever enjoyed and our safari was beyond life-changing!), we went to WDW twice (March and August), Disneyland twice (June and September), on a Disney cruise for spring break, as well as New Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Tampa, several trips to Canada, and some day trips to visit family! Plus I did a there-and-back-in-one-day trip to WDW with one of my best friends! It was a busy travel year for sure! New countries in 2025 were Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, and Argentina, and we returned to Germany and Austria (and obviously Canada and the U.S.).

I like to compile our travel data each year and when C and I were going through our 2025 calendars, it was pretty surprising to see our final numbers!

• total of 69 hotel nights (this number includes nights on a cruise ship)
• total of 25 flights (6 of which were red-eye flights)
• total of 9 nights spent in Canada
• 2 nights spent driving through the night to Canada

...which is a total of 86 nights not at home! 86 nights! That's so crazy!

2026 is looking pretty good in terms of upcoming trips! We've got four Disney Cruises scheduled this year, some quick weekend trips planned, and a long trip to Asia mapped out for the summer!

2025 marked 29 years of me being a vegetarian and 30 years of me living in the U.S. I also got my first new car since buying my Honda Pilot in November 2007! Most importantly, we celebrated three full years of having Avalanche in our lives! The joy he's brought to our lives means everything to us!

I was going to try and select a favorite picture from each month of 2025, but some months didn't really have any noteworthy ones and other months had several, so I just chose my favorites from the year!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2026!

Happy Tails to you!

Antarctica Trip Wrap Up

I like to do a recap whenever a long trip comes to an end and record different stats from our travel, so this is our South America / Antarctica trip in a nutshell!

we had the best time!

Nights Away From Home: 24 

Hotels: 12

Antarctica Cruise: 10

Red-Eye Flights: 2 (ATL-EZE & GRU-ATL)

Nights Away From Avalanche: 28

Hotel Chains: 7

- Home2 Suites

- Hilton Buenos Aires

- Emperador Hotel Buenos Aires

- Park Tower Buenos Aires

- Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana

- Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo

- Hampton Inn

New Countries Added To Our Travel List: 3

#39 Argentina

#40 Uruguay

#41 Brazil

New Continents Added To Our Travel List: 1

#7 Antarctica

Number of Airlines: 4

- Delta (4 flights)

- JetSmart (2 flights)

- British Airways (1 flight)

- LATAM Airways (1 flight)

Number of Flights: 8

with the exception of the two charter flights on JetSmart planned by the expedition company (on both of those flights, we got a middle seat), we never had anyone sit between us because:

- the seat configuration offered pairs of seats (Delta International & British Airways)

- we bought seats that included a blocked out middle seat (LATAM Airways)

- we lucked out with an empty seat between us (Delta Domestic)!

We are window seat / aisle seat for life!

Furthest Distance From Avalanche: approximately 7,000 miles

Random Stat:

I bought these shoes on June 22, 2025.

In less than seven months, I've worn them in ten countries (USA, Canada, Germany, Kenya, UAE, Hungary, Austria, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil) and on five continents (North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America). I'd love to be able to say six continents because I wore them on our cruise to Antarctica, but I didn't technically wear them ON Antarctica because we were required to wear muck boots for all excursions!

The journey home took about 23 hours. We left our hotel in Sao Paulo at 1:40 pm Eastern on Friday to go to the airport and we arrived home at 12:40 pm Eastern on Saturday.

A Brief Tale of Two Flights:

We flew from Sao Paulo to Atlanta on the Friday night red-eye. The gate area and boarding process can only be described as complete and utter chaotic madness. Delta had NINE employees at the gate and these were some of the most useless people I've ever encountered. No announcements about which groups were boarding, no enforcement of one personal item and one carry-on, and no updates beyond being told we'd be leaving late. Passengers stood in a large crowd and blocked the boarding area. No one knew what was going on, resulting in frustration and no one behaves particularly well when they are tired and frustrated. We waited until our boarding group was called, but then had to push our way through the throngs of aggravated people while the employees stood around doing nothing to organize people or let anyone know what was going on. I'm surprised a fight didn't break out because tensions were high. When we finally got on the plane, the flight attendants were awful. That's all I can say. Some of the worst service we've experienced. The flight was almost nine-and-a-half hours long and it felt like it lasted a week. I was thoroughly disgusted with Delta and I could not wait to get off the plane.

Once we landed, we had to go through passport control and I've got to give kudos to the Atlanta airport because the Global Entry process was extremely quick and absolutely seamless. We then had to collect our luggage, walk it over to another check-in desk, drop it off for our flight home (it had been tagged to everyone's final destination back in Sao Paulo), and then go through security. Once again, kudos to the Atlanta airport because we were through in no time at all, and although we have TSA PreCheck and CLEAR, that's not always the case (I'm looking at you, MCO). We had a few hours before our flight, so we went to the Centurion Lounge to get coffee and breakfast before wandering down to our gate.

I was prepared for the worst, given the Delta nonsense we'd just gone through, but it was the complete opposite experience in every single way. It might sound cheesy to describe getting on a plane and taking such a turbulent flight that the flight attendants were not allowed to leave their seats AT ALL as "lovely," but it was indeed lovely.

Everyone, from the gate agent, to the flight attendants, to the other passengers were so incredibly pleasant and polite. First, you may have noticed that "gate agent" is singular. There was ONE Delta employee checking people in, tagging bags as needed, answering questions, providing announcements, assigning standby seats, and updating the screens in the gate area with pertinent information. All before a single person boarded. All on her own. So competent, organized, and knowledgeable! She was amazing! When it was time to board, NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON STOOD UP FROM THEIR SEAT UNTIL THEIR BOARDING GROUP WAS ANNOUNCED. Do you know how fast and easy and wonderful that made the boarding process?!? No one exhibited an ounce of impatience. Everyone simply waited their turn. It was glorious. I wanted to hug every single person on the plane - adult, child, dog - for being the kindest group of fellow travelers I've ever had the pleasure of flying with.

When I got on board, I spoke to the two flight attendants greeting passengers and I said that I didn't know who I could give the compliment to, but that I wanted someone to know just how fabulous the gate agent was, and their reaction was delightful and they complimented her as well and said how great she was to work with! Immediately I knew these two flight attendants were unlike the terrible bunch on our previous flight. As I mentioned, the flight was very turbulent and the flight attendants had to remain seated and buckled in for their safely for the duration of the flight, but they made helpful announcements (and apologized profusely for not being able to serve us beverages) and were so friendly during boarding and deplaning! Speaking of deplaning, the same magnificent fellow passengers were patient and orderly and helped each get carry-ons out of the overhead bins and we got off the plane in such a swift and stress-free manner! Gate agent, flight attendants, other passengers...absolute gems of human beings.

Once we landed at 11:30 am on Saturday, we collected our luggage, and took an uber home, arriving at 12:40 pm. I quickly watered the plants while C checked the house, then we threw some stuff in a bag, got in the car, and left at 1:10 pm to drive to Canada to get Avalanche.

We had planned to drive for five hours and then stop in Corning, NY to sleep (we knew we'd be exhausted from traveling) before driving the remainder of the way this morning. Well, the five-hour drive turned into an eight-hour drive because of traffic incidents and terrible weather, so we were really happy we had planned to stop because we had briefly entertained the idea of driving all the way there yesterday!

We got up at 4:30 am this morning and drove to C's parents' house and along the way, we encountered some whiteout conditions east of Buffalo. Surprisingly, half an hour later, it was fine in Canada! Bizarre.

We got to C's parents' house at 9:05, had a super quick visit, gathered up all of Avalanche's belongings, and left for our ten-hour drive home at 9:45 am.

The first hour was fine, but once we crossed the border and went into the Buffalo area, the weather got worse again and we dealt with snow and icy conditions for about six solid hours. Avalanche, of course, loved wandering around in the snow whenever we stopped!

Buffalo 8:00 am

Canada 8:30 am

back in his happy place
(the back seat of the car)

bumper and front plate frozen over!

We're a couple of hours from home now and it would seem we'll thankfully have clear weather for the remainder of our drive!

It's always so nice to come home after being away and we are certainly looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tonight, but returning to reality is always a bit of a challenge.

I generally find the word "epic" to be overused, but I think it's appropriate in this case: our trip to Antarctica was epic. I would go back tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself! One of, if not THE, most beautiful place I've ever seen with my own eyes.

We owe an enormous thank you to C's parents for watching Avalanche for four weeks. Even though I know he loves being there and they love having him, and overall, he's a very easy-going dog, that is A LONG TIME AND A LOT OF WORK. The peace of mind we have knowing they are caring for him is priceless. I've said it before and I will say it until the day I die...I hit the jackpot and I have the greatest MIL and FIL on earth. They are truly my second mom and dad and we are beyond fortunate they're willing to host a very furry and sometimes sassy houseguest while we travel!

Avalanche was definitely living his best Canadian Winter life while we were away...he loved the cold temperatures and would hang out or nap on the deck for hours on end:

adorable!

Happy Tails to you!