My favorite moments of 2025 + Trevi fountain charging

Hi Reader,

Only 1 day left till the end of the year!

I hope you have wonderful plans for tomorrow ✨

I am staying home cooking dinner and planning to head out after midnight.

In Spain, we have many traditions for the holiday season. On New Year's Eve, we eat 12 grapes at the touch of midnight, one for each ring of the clock, and we wear red underwear for good luck. Yep, very specific!

📩 On this week's email

My favorite travel moments of 2025. The moments that left a mark and made travel extra special. Spoiler alert: they always involve people or wildlife, rarely monuments.
The Trevi Fountain will start charging to get close from 2026.

My favorite travel moments of 2025

This was a remarkable year for Solo Female Travelers, and for me, one filled with many magical moments, especially those that involved animals.

I looove wildlife, so the many opportunities I had in 2025 to get up and close to some of the funniest ones was just pure bliss for me.

Swimming with turtles in Madagascar felt deeply peaceful. I had seen turtles snorkeling before, but this time felt extra special because they were completely unbothered by us and didn't notice our presence. It helps that the 8 of us were the only ones there, instead of the hundreds of boats I've seen at other locations like Malaysia, or the Maldives. We could glide alongside them and observe them come up to breathe or go down to eat. It was incredible. We return in 2027 and I am so excited to share this and the many other pinch-me moments with another group. Come join us!

Being reminded of the tangible effect of running tours that support women. Five different women behind the businesses we support on our tours told me this last year that our tours have helped them pay for the school or university of their children. That the recurrent income from our tours have given them the courage to pay the high fees knowing they will be able to keep doing so. Because women use their income to give better opportunities to their families.

My short trip to Menorca reminded me of the immense joy of a solo trip. This was not work motivated and I didn't even take my laptop. I explored like I used to, before Solo Female Travelers or my blog or anything that demanded a specific agenda. I was just another solo traveler getting lost and following rural paths down pristine beaches, and it brought me back to the Why that got me started with travel. It was a reminder I really needed.

New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day in Oaxaca was a wonderful way to kick start 2025. We had a group celebrating the end and new year in this heart-warming part of Mexico, just like we will have this and next year, and I could not have asked for a more fun and wonderful group of women and a more festive and soul-filling trip. We laughed, we karaoke'd into 2025 and we set our intentions in a temazcal ritual that has stayed with me all year. You have to visit Oaxaca with us.

Seeing penguins in Antarctica was so. much. fun! I knew I would love to see them in real life and was so excited about the trip, but they made me smile and laugh even more than I anticipated. Seeing them jump out of the water, play in the snow and walk around (and fall!) was hilariously adorable. Penguins were the highlight of the trip, along with the majestic landscapes that I find it hard to find words for. Lucky me, I get to return this December, come join me in Antarctica! I will take care of all the details and you just need to show up in Buenos Aires.
I visited Puerto Rico right in time for the Fiestas de la calle San Sebastian that took over the entire city center. It was a coincidence to be there at that time, but what a party! I had t take buses and walk to reach the city center, so that was a bit of a hassle, but the entire town was lit, with performances and stages everywhere and music all day and night long. Puerto Ricans know how to party, let me tell you! It was a lot of fun to join in and experience for myself.

The 4 days in the Amazon rainforest were so much more special than I had anticipated. I feared there would be lots of bugs, but there were very few, and I loved waking up to the sound of the howler monkeys and the open plan restaurant of the lodge. Fishing for piranhas was so much more fun than I thought and gliding through the rivers on our wooden canoe as the sun set or rose was just pure bliss. There is something really magical about being completely immersed in nature, in the middle of the world's largest forest, surrounded by animals and pristine forests. I am excited to return in May.

Swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos was as incredible as swimming with turtles, only that they are sooo fast there is no way you can swim along them, it's more like a game of hide and seek where you try to guess where they are (below or behind you maybe?) and they try to get up and close to check you out. They have to be the funniest animals after penguins! As you can tell, I love animals and the Galapagos is a paradise for animal lovers. There are so many unique creatures and they get so close to you that you can spend hours just observing them. I will return in May as part of our Ecuador + Galapagos trip and we have 1 spot left on our Galapagos only trip in December with Anastasia as photographer.

The powdery beaches and calm waters of the Caribbean. I had only been to Cuba before 2025 so most of the Caribbean was new to explore for me and spending a week onboard the luxury super yacht we are chartering for our 10 year anniversary in 2027 was just THE best way to explore this part of the world. I indulged in so many drinks with umbrellas, incredible breakfasts with sea views and even a night under the stars on the ship's Balinese beds. But the highlight had to be the calm, warm waters of Anguilla and the fun beach clubs of St. Barts. Nobody does Caribbean chic like the people on this French overseas territory. I am excited to take 100 best friends on a trip of a lifetime to celebrate the 10 years of Solo Female Travelers. We have a few spots left so you can still join us.

Feeding reindeers in the Swedish Arctic is an annual highlight. I feel they are like the penguins of the Arctic - so friendly and adorable...We spend a morning with a female reindeer herder and her friends hearing about the tough job of caring for reindeers which is a privilege and honor for Sami people, then have lunch in her teepee. At the end of the meal, she sings a family yoik for us which she wrote for her son, and it is the most beautiful song. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Many of us cry of joy and gratefulness, and it is one of those moments travel brings you that stay with you forever.

Chatting about medicinal food is a moment that stood out from my 2 weeks in Japan. I always leave the country more relaxed and content, the Japanese culture of thoughtfulness and consideration is very touching. I spent a morning with Onishi Sensei, a medicinal food chef and grandma who told me about her efforts to bring back healthy and safe eating to places like Hiroshima or Chernobyl, and how nourishing yourself from the inside is the best gift you can grant yourself. Experience Japan with us in 2026.

Hiking to the top of a 2600m volcano in Comoros in the pouring rain and crazy wind. I wondered what the heck I was doing there for the entire 4,5 hours that it took us to get up and down. The best part? At the top, we couldn't see the caldera because it was covered in thick fog.

Enjoying the Northern Lights put on a real spectacle. We saw them almost every night in the Arctic, and on most nights, they went on for hours, dancing above our heads and covering the entire sky. I have now seen them multiple times in Iceland and in Sweden, and I just don't get tired of them. Come see them in Iceland next October.

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This photo was taken in Malta!

They were part of the British Empire for a few years so they inherited the British love for red mail boxes and phone booths.

Congrats Lourdes and Patricia :)

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My favorite moments of 2025 + Trevi fountain charging

My favorite travel moments of 2025

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