Travel in 2025
2025 was not a normal year. It was not a great year. It was a challenging year in many respects.
I visited 5 new countries. In order, it was Libya, Algeria (finally!), Mauritius, Seychelles and Madagascar. This brings my life time country count to 88. I continue to chip away at the African country count, now at 38 of 54. Europe and Asia remain unchanged at 19 & 20 respectively.
I renewed my passport this year after (nearly) filling up the second passport.
Yet again, I flew a bizarre mixture of airlines this year. AirFrance was my most frequent airline. New airlines were Libyan Wings (to/from Libya), Air Algerie (into and inside of Algeria), Air Mauritius, Air Seychelles, and Emirates (between Seychelles & Madagascar). Libyan Wings was sorta ok (flights ran on schedule, but the planes were very very old). Air Algerie was awful (flights were very late, crew were rude, planes were cramped). Air Mauritius & Air Seychelles were fine. Emirates was pretty standard nice & ok.
I finally made it to Algeria after multiple failed attempts. Was it worth it? Maybe. I don't regret going, but I'm also not sure it was worth all the effort. Libya was fantastic, and I would love to return some day.
Mauritius was nice, but kinda touristy. Seychelles was also nice. Madagascar had amazing wildlife, but the real reason for going was for a friend's wedding.
I also made it to Reunion Island, France's subtropical island in the Indian Ocean. It was amazing, and I did some spectacular hiking there.
The planned horn of Africa trip never happened due to the previously mentioned challenges. However, I've got it replanned for 2026.
There's also a winter Europe trip coming in February, and some huge other plans for later in the year. 2026 will hopefully be a much better year overall.