A Year of Going Deeper: Our 2025 Travel Recap

In this end-of-year episode, we sit down to recap our 2025 travels — not as a highlight reel, but as a reflection on how we travel, why our preferences are changing, and what we’re carrying forward into the next year.

• Puerto Rico (New Year’s) — navigating island infrastructure realities and adapting plans on the fly

• Chicago — the Travel & Adventure Show, favorite neighborhoods, and standout food

• Mexico City — private guiding, home cooking, and a trip that permanently raised our expectations

• Traverse City, Michigan — spring camping, fall wine country, and a destination Thanksgiving

• Watkins Glen & the Finger Lakes — camping, hiking, and cool-climate wine

• New Orleans — one of the best food cities in the world

• Summer Camping Road Trip (3 weeks)

  • Bruce Peninsula National Park

  • Algonquin Provincial Park

  • Montreal

  • Acadia National Park

  • Connecticut & Rhode Island

  • Scranton, Pennsylvania

• Michigan Favorites — Ludington State Park, the Straits, Fayette, and Detroit day trips

• Why private and small-format experiences consistently outperform big group tours

• How long weekends can deliver outsized value with less burnout

• The tradeoffs of camper travel — and when it shines vs. when it’s hard

• Food as a decision-maker: Mexico City and New Orleans set the bar

• Returning to places at different life moments — and why that matters

• Learning to travel well without always flying far

• Michigan wine discoveries and joining another wine club

• Standout meals in Mexico City and New Orleans

• Unexpected gems in Detroit’s food scene

• Cooking Thanksgiving away from home — and why we’d do it again

This isn’t just a recap of where we went — it’s about how our travel philosophy continues to shift:

• Less checklist travel

• More flexibility and context

• Fewer crowds, better conversations

• Trips that fit real life, not the other way around

As we look ahead to 2026, we talk about what we miss, what we don’t, and why traveling thoughtfully continues to matter more than ever.