2025 was a big year for me as it contained a landmark birthday and my silver wedding anniversary.

I was to spend my birthday on a ship on the Caribbean Sea.

2025

January Caribbean Cruise

For the first time I took a cruise in order to get some winter sunshine.

The 2,000 passenger Marella Voyager was our vessel of choice as we visited 10 islands – Barbados, Saint Martin, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Nevis, Guadeloupe, Tobago & Grenada.

We had fun though we will not be rushing back for another cruise any time soon.

Norway in February

I adore Norway so took the opportunity for a solo weekend break to Stavanger, a lovely city at the mouth of a huge fjord.

It was a great place for strolling and popping into warming cafes.

Highlights included an amble amongst the white wooden houses of the old town and a fjord cruise to see waterfalls and the stunning Pulpits Rock, a huge flat topped cliff.

I also took a train on the coastal Jæren Railway to Egersund and back via Erling Haaland’s birthplace Bryne.

After UK trips to Suffolk and Devon, the next foreign trip was not until August.

New York & Canada, August/September

We flew to the Big Apple to kick off our Silver Wedding celebrations.

Initial highlights were the Friends Experience and the Empire State Building. As ever though everything about New York was impressive and wonderful to be in.

We then took an Amtrak train to Montreal where we celebrated 25 years of marriage with a helicopter ride over the city.

Via Rail then took us to charming Quebec City and then back through Montreal to Toronto. We finished the Canadian leg of the trip at Niagara Falls.

Finally, it was back on the train to New York for visits to Broadway for a show, Bird Land Jazz Club, Central Park, the Roosevelt Island tramway, Central Library and many other wanderings.

We also visited the 9/11 memorials and service on 9/11 itself.

Just a few days after getting back from North America I was off again, this time to Africa with my travel buddy Hamish.

Ethiopia, Rwanda & Uganda, September/October

We flew Ethiopian Airlines into Addis Ababa for a few days in the capital. Lots of great coffee and an incredibly manic drive through one of Africa’s largest street markets.

We then flew onto Kigali. The Genocide Memorial museum was particularly harrowing. The city seems to have recovered well though and is very neat and orderly. Africa’s first ever road cycling world championships just happened to coincide with our visit.

We visited a national park too for some safari before heading overland into Uganda.

Whilst there we trekked to see golden monkeys as well as visiting lakes and another national park.

It was then onto Entebbe & Kampala, crossing the equator en route. A boat trip on Lake Victoria in search of the elusive shoebill stork was probably the highlight – mission accomplished for a change.

Paris, November

Last trip of the year was by Eurostar to Paris in late November, primarily to go and see Jamiroquai.

We also paid a visit to Notre Dame to see the great cathedral reborn after the devastating fire.

2026

Unusually plans for 2026 are pretty light with a January visit to Athens and another in February to Bergen. In Norway I will be doing the scenic Myrdal to Flam railway journey that I undertook for the first time in 1992.

Just leaves me to wish everybody a Happy New Year with plenty of travels.