2025: A Grand Welcome to my 30s

This year I had a lot of fun and amazing adventures. From completing a portion of the Camino de Santiago with my mom, to exploring Amsterdam in a girls trip. I also had a few fun adventures in Ontario by visiting my friend in Ottawa, and by attending a plastic surgery conference with one of my coworkers in Toronto which we turned into a super fun trip. I added on a bit of a solo adventure to Rotterdam and Ghent after my family returned home from Amsterdam, and of course I can't forget turning 30 in Portugal! 

Camino de Santiago: April 2025

This was a trip my mom has been wanting to do for many, many years. And I was overjoyed to embark on this adventure with her. It took a lot of planning and in the end it resulted in an unforgettable experience. 191k we spent walking together. Neither of us brought headphones so it was just oursleves and the beautiful Spanish landscapes around us to keep us occupied. It was not all sunshine and roses the entire time, but looking back, even the tough times along the paths were memories I wouldn't want to forget. It took a lot of physical strength but some days more so mental strength to get ourselves to the next town. It was 100% worth it and I couldn't imagine a better person to embark on this adventure than my mom! 

Portugal: April 2025

After our pilgrimage along the camino, my mom and I returned to Porto for the last few days before our flight home. We got ourselves new outfits for the occasion. I got to turn 30 in Portugal and celebrated by going to one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world and bought a new copy of The Hobbit in Spanish! After exploring the city we also went to the fancy Imperial McDonald's for lunch and finished the day off with some ramen and cookies! Our last day in Portugal was a day trip to a couple nearby towns! We got to see a lot in the little amount of time we had. I would love to return to Portugal to see more!

Amsterdam: Sept 2025

This was a girls trip my mom wanted to go on for her 50th birthday with my grandmother and her two sisters. I had been planning on going myself in October, but was able to get vacation and was able to join in along with my cousin. It ended up being a lot of fun exploring the city together and we all enjoyed our cookie canal cruise. We all loved the day trip adventure to Giethoorn where four of us took rode bikes to the car less town. My mom and I where able to do a small detour and visited the cat art museum that I thought was cute and fun. Overall I was happy to have joined in with my family. Can't always do solo trips!

Rotterdam/Ghent: September 2025

After my family left to return home, I still had a few days left. We said our goodbyes at the airport and I took a train to the nearby Dutch city of Rotterdam. By this time I wasn't feeling 100% (found out later that my cousin and I got covid from the man who sat between us on the plane). But I made the best of it. I explored the city mostly by foot. Went to a giant food hall for dumplings, saw the unique cube houses, and walked the waterfront. My last day I took a couple trains into Belgium to visit the fairytale city of Ghent. It was a magic place where I took a canal tour, tried a Belgian waffle and visited an old castle. A great way to end my little add on solo adventure!

Ontario: Toronto Jun 2025/ Ottawa Aug 2025

I made two trips up to Ontario over the summer. First stop was Toronto. I traveled with a coworker for a nursing symposium for plastic surgery and we decided to make a trip out of it. I had a lot of fun and we got to do a lot. We tried some amazing dumplings at Juicy Dumpling that her son at reccomended. We visited some really cool vintage clothing shops, went to the aquarium, and spent an evening at a retro arcade bar. And of course did some learning at the conference and met up with more of our fellow coworkers! 

My second Ontario trip was to Ottawa to visit my friend who had just recently moved there. She let me stay at her place and we got to have some fun in the city, though an Ironman was going on so navigating where we wanted to go was a little tricky. We still got to walk around parliament hill, grab some gelato, visit the Byward market and then took the car to a lake for some kayaking. On one of our days we did a little road trip to Gatineau Park we we did some ziplining. I will definitely be visiting Ottawa again to visit my friend!

All in all, I'd say I had a fantastic year of travel. I returned to a new region of a country I had already been to (Spain), and visited three new countries (Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium). This goes to show, it's not all about ticking off countries, sometimes revisiting is 100% worth it! It felt like a new experience as I was in a completing different region of Spain. New landscapes, new culture, new experiences! After all, that is why we travel. 

2026 is shaping up to be a fantastic year. I am finally embarking on my dream trip! I will be stopping in Sydney, Australia for a few days before continuing on to my final destination of New Zealand. I have been dreaming of this trip for probably well over 15 years.  The Lord of the Rings are my all time favourite movies and I can't wait to do my LoTR tour and to see the breathtaking beauty of New Zealand! I will also be meeting all four hobbits at Fan Expo Toronto in August! Last thing I was hoping to do was attend a World Cup game. It has been near impossible to get tickets, so unfortunately I don't see that happening for me. There is always the next one I suppose. Regardless this year will be amazing with my dream trip!