2025 Travel Recap: Where I Went, What I Learned
I don’t believe in the Bucket List, but if I did, 2025 was the year of the Bucket List Trips. I checked three off the list: Andalucia, Spain; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Istanbul, Turkey.
This year, travel taught me how to be braver, softer, and more connected—to myself, my partner, and my daughter.
When I travel, I try to distill my experience into a few short takeaways. This helps my ADHD brain process all the input and overstimulation from travel and remember what I did in simpler terms. It also helps me when I launch trips for Go Mama Go Travel to focus on what our small-group trips for moms should deliver for our Mamas.
Here’s where I went in 2025 and some of the lessons I learned this year:
Andalucia, Spain (Seville, Granada, Cordoba)
December 2024-January 2025:
Outside the grandiose cathedral in Seville, Spain, where Moorish and Christian architecture collide spectacularly.
Charm. Charm. More charm. I was absolutely stunned by how beautiful, quaint and — yes — charming I found our trip to Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada (notice the spelling — it’s different than Grenada the Caribbean island).
Our time in Spain has exclusively been in Madrid and Barcelona, so I was excited to visit a smaller city and some of the Moorish outposts. The history in this part of Spain is spectacular, changing hands between the Moors (North Africans) and Christians and Jews many times over the last 2500 years.
All of that is reflected in the architecture, and for a history and architecture nerd, it was enthralling.
BUT — all that history is NOT what I learned while we spent New Year’s Eve and Three Kings Day in Sevilla, visited the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, and took a horse and carriage ride through the whitewalled streets of Cordoba.
Nope. What I learned:
Timed. Tickets. Are. Not. A. Suggestion.
I rarely cry while traveling. There’s very few things I can’t fix when they go wrong. But when we rolled into Cordoba an hour late for our timed tickets to see the Mesquita de Cordoba — the grand mosque at the center of town, featuring rows of gorgeous candy-cane-striped arches — there was no fixing it. We were turned away at the door because it was New Year’s Day.
What happened is that I miscalculated the time it would take to get from Sevilla to Cordoba, putting us an hour off schedule. The Mesquita closed for the day at 12 pm, with the last ticketed time entrance right then. After that, no dice.
I cried. I was so (and still am so) disappointed. My husband made me feel better with a promise to return soon, and considering our love for this gorgeous country, I expect that I won’t have to wait very long to arrive half an hour early (at least!) for our timed entry.
Luquillo, Puerto Rico
February 2025
Luquillo Beach in February is absolutely where you want to be.
On our Go Mama Go Travel small-group trip for moms to Puerto Rico, our two guest Mamas escaped their snowbound homes in Wyoming and Pennsylvania and traded icy white landscapes for verdant green mountains in the El Yunque rainforest.
We hiked, kayaked, ziplined, and beached until our hearts were full and our skin was full of vitamin D from the island sunshine. We drank Puerto Rican beer and feasted on ceviche and roasted snapper and fresh fruit. We sunscreened and bug sprayed and dry shampooed our hearts out.
Here’s what I learned:
When a Mama is determined, she can do ANYTHING.
I left BreAnn alone for 10 minutes and when I returned from my room and stepped outside, she had husked a damn coconut and was eating the fluffy “marshmallow” inside the ripe flesh. She told me she’d always wanted to try it, and by God, she did it.
Karen was terrified to zipline. She’d had the opportunity to try it before, but couldn’t muster the courage. This time, she was determined to do it and face that fear. We loved our excursion into the canopy of the El Yunque with Junglequi Zipline Park, and our guides were so fun and sweet that Karen felt comfortable enough to take the leap — literally! She did it, and we were all so proud of her for finishing the whole course and enjoying herself along the way.
Moments like this are why Go Mama Go Travel exists.
Copenhagen and Billund, Denmark
June 2025
The iconic canal houses of Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This was one of my Bucket List destinations, and I loved every minute of it. I’d heard countless times about how kid-friendly Copenhagen was, and we definitely found that to be true. There were playgrounds EVERYWHERE, and the locals were more than happy to welcome our tot into restaurants and museums and other adventures.
My absolute favorite part of the trip was not in Copenhagen though: It was our overnight trip to LEGO House and the Givskud Zoo. We stopped at the zoo first and when I tell you that EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL was where they said it would be, I am telling the God’s honest truth. Starting with the Humboldt Penguins (yes, you can see penguins outside in Europe!) and continuing through the safari areas where you drive to different walkable exhibits with loose animals along the way, we loved everything about this zoo.
The best area of the zoo, for me, was the lion enclosure. The double-gated area is a drive-through exhibit where you can enjoy these animals in their habitat. You cannot open your windows or doors. These are literally lions right outside your door. Also, there’s a whole dinosaur exhibit with lifesize models that you can walk — or use the provided wagons — through. Our dino-obsessed baby girl loved it, but not as much as the wolf exhibit where she “arooooooo-ed” herself silly.
We also loved staying overnight at the Givskud Zoo Hostel. It was lovely to stay with other families in this themed hotel with two play spaces, a full catering kitchen — we went to the grocery store and made pizza for dinner!) — and bunk beds, which our toddler thought was the coolest thing. We could have easily stayed at the LEGOLAND hotels, but they were so expensive and this on-site hostel at the zoo was incredible. 10/10 will do again.
But enough about Billund. Here’s what I learned:
Summer is a state of mind.
In Copenhagen, we were lucky if the daily high was about 65 degrees F. It was our “Cool-Cation,” escaping the 100-degree temps in Florida and enjoying a little chill in the air.
We were in trench coats and scarves, but the Danes were soaking up the sun — sunbathing on the docks, kayaking in the Baltic, diving into the canals for a swim. They were seeing their only few days of sunshine and they were thrilled about it. While it was proper spring/fall weather for us, they were deep in a Summertime State of Mind.
Lima, Paracas and Huacachina, Peru
June 2025
A study in duality: The oasis of Huacachina among the towering sand dunes of Ica.
Just 10 days after we returned from our cool-cation in Copenhagen, I jetted off with the toddler and abuelita in tow to meet my husband who had just finished the Inca Trail — starting in Cusco and ending in Machu Picchu.
His side of the family is from Lima, so this was my second time visiting but our daughter’s first time in her Papa’s family’s homeland. Compared to Copenhagen, Lima is not as kid-friendly. We stayed in the Miraflores neighborhood, which is excellent for families, and was able to find a brand-new playground just steps from our rented condo, adjacent to my favorite spot in Lima, Parque Kennedy, with all it’s resident cats and roving street food carts selling honey-soaked picarones and glazed nuts. We spent a lot of time there every day.
Here’s what I learned on this trip:
It is possible to be glad you did something scary and also not want to do that thing again, ever.
One of the days, my bestie and I went on a little girls trip to swim with sea lions in the only place on Earth you can legally do that, Palomino Island, home to THOUSANDS of chanchos marinos. When I booked the trip, it was already 100 degrees in Florida in May, so it didn’t occur to me that we’d be swimming in the winter waters of the Pacific on this excursion.
Well, even with wetsuits, the water was about 33 degrees. We were already feeling a little nauseous from the rough seas and the odiferous smell (something else we did not anticipate, even on the “guano islands,” was how nasty sea lions smell en masse), and I almost chose to stay on the boat and just be miserable, skipping the whole point of the boat trip.
I was the last in the water, but I did it. I jumped in, swimming with my girl out to the island, where hundreds of sea lions popped up from the water’s surface, barking at us and wanting to play. They swam around and under us while we recovered from the shock of the freezing water and our skin turned from ice cold to simply numb.
There is one thing I really hate in life: Being cold and wet at the same time. I had to endure this in order to have this experience.
And you know what? I hated it. But I’m also glad I did it. But I’m also glad it’s over and I will not be doing it again.
Paris, France (of course!)
September 2025
Our dinner boat cruise on the Bateaux Mouches was a very cliche ending to our trip — but also very wonderful.
When my aforementioned bestie’s daughter graduated from high school, I promised her I’d take her and her mom on a girls’ trip to Paris as her graduation gift. While I’ve visited Paris more times than I can count after having lived there on two separate occasions, I’d never visited with two girlfriends, so it was a completely different trip than I’d ever done before.
We stayed in the sleepy 14th arrondissement, which was quaint and quiet, traipsing all over the City of Light every day for a week. I admit, I ran them HARD. Our final count: Over 80,000 steps and 366 flights of stairs, which equates to climbing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai TWICE.
What I learned:
Even a place you know well can always surprise you.
We did so many things in Paris that I had never done before, and I loved every moment of it! We shopped until we dropped in the boutiques of the Marais, made our own perfume at Fragonard and custom lipstick shades at Baton Rouge, had a photo shoot at the iconic Pont Bir Hakeim (so cringe, but so fun!), and had an incredible dinner and the Féerie show at the Moulin Rouge.
Of course, there were plenty of time for my favorite cultural spots — I loved sharing the Louvre, Sainte Chapelle, Square du Vert Galant, and Versailles with them — but I also was able to see the restored Notre Dame, more joyful and light now that its been fully cleaned and gleams white instead of Gothic grey.
Paris is always full of surprises, but visiting with a new group of friends and enjoying new experiences in your favorite place makes it extra special. I can’t wait to recreate this epic girls trip in 2027 with a group of Mamas!
Athens, Greece; and Istanbul, Turkey
October 2025
Layers of history inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.
My husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this year, and we wanted to experience two new countries together. Istanbul was my third Bucket List trip for the year, and it was everything I hoped for and then some.
We started in Athens, and enjoyed the history and architecture (the Parthenon is just as incredible as you think it will be!), as well as the incredible nightlife. Did you know that three of the World’s Top 50 Bars are in Athens? We visited two of them — The Clumsies and Baba Au Rhum — which were both fantastic. I’m not as much of a nightlife girl, but my husband loves a good thumping beat and some strong firewater. I’ve promised to take him to Ibiza and Mykonos for his 45th birthday already.
Istanbul, though, blew my socks off. There was beauty and life and culture and something delicious around every corner. The Turkish people are so proud of their independence and their secular republic (which still has its problems, don’t get me wrong), and are so kind and welcoming. All you need are a few words in Turkish and a smile and you’ll get around just fine. I was on my own a few times while Cliff shopped and visited a Turkish barber for a haircut and shave and I never felt disrespected or unsafe. Just like in any other big city, there are places to be and places to avoid. Just educate yourself beforehand and be a responsible traveler.
What I learned:
After having kids, a trip alone with your partner is relationship medicine.
There’s plenty of evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, that shows that having children significantly change a relationship between partners. Especially in this high-survival toddler stage we’re currently experiencing, it’s so easy to see your partner differently than how you did when you first met or as newlyweds.
There’s also evidence, however, that experiencing new things with your partner — especially outside of your usual environment — rekindles that spark and renews the sense of connectedness that we often lose after having a child and shifting focus almost exclusively to keeping them alive and happy.
The trip we took together was really hard for me to do. I’d just returned from Paris — from being away from our daughter for 9 days — and then I went on this trip three weeks later. In all honesty, I didn’t want to go. I wanted to cancel many times. It felt too hard and I felt so much guilt. But it was fine. She was so happy to stay with her aunt. She got to go to the Magic Kingdom. She played endlessly and got so many presents when we got home.
But she did make it clear that she gets to go next time.
Now, my partner and I have a whole new list of memories to enjoy when times get hard and the emotions are running high. We can remember the serenity of the hammam, the otherworldliness of drinking tea in the Grand Bazaar, feeling the grandeur of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, climbing the Acropolis to see Roman and Greek ruins at sunrise, trying so many new foods and learning how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Greek and Turkish.
I feel so grateful that we took this trip and am proud of myself for saying yes and just trusting that all would be well.
Conclusion: The Year of “Let’s Go!”
Feeling very regal overlooking the Bosphorous at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey
While 2025 was a bit of a wreck in our home country, we spent as much time in our element abroad as possible, and that was this year’s saving grace. Twice, I returned from an international trip just to turn around a week or two later and head out again. There were so many adventures and new flavors and sounds and experiences (Whirling Dervishes!) jammed into this year that we’ll have enough to last us for a few years to come.
The trips I took this year will inform the Go Mama Go Travel itineraries I launch in the future. Istanbul, Copenhagen and Lima are definitely spots we’ll explore together on our small-group, all-inclusive trips for moms. You deserve these experience as much as anyone, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Which trip sounds the best to you? Any of them on your “Bucket List”? Let’s go!
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