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December was one in every of my greatest journey months in fairly a while, taking me to seven completely different international locations — 9 for those who embody France and the Netherlands.
From the seashores of St. Vincent to the snowbanks of Vermont, let’s check out December 2025!
Locations Visited
- Willemstad and Sint Michiel, Curaçao
- Oistins, Bridgetown, Worthing, Speightstown, St. Lucy, Cherry Tree Hill Reserve, Bathsheba, Church Hill, and Welchman Corridor, Barbados
- Union Island, Petit Rameau, Mayreau, Kingstown (St. Vincent), and Port Elizabeth (Bequia), St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Morne Docteur, Victoria, and St. George’s, Grenada
- Fort-de-France, Martinique
- Marigot Bay and Soufrière, St. Lucia
- Portsmouth, Cabrits Nationwide Park, Toucari, Savanne Paille, Morne Trois Pitons Nationwide Park (together with the Emerald Pool and the Middleham Falls path), Wotten Waven, and Marigot, Dominica
- Grand Case, St. Martin
- Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
- Revere, Beverly, Swampscott, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
- Portland, Maine, USA
- Newington, New Hampshire, USA
- Waitsfield, Vermont, USA
PHEW. That was so much.
Highlights
The month started with two extra days in Curaçao. Whereas we had one wet day, we used that to go to the Curaçao Liquor Distillery and the subsequent day, we visited lovely Blue Bay, which was positioned in a gated neighborhood and form of jogged my memory of The Villages in Florida…however with a spectacular seashore.
Subsequent, we spent a number of days in Barbados. My impression of Barbados? It’s an amazing Caribbean island if you wish to DO ALL THE THINGS. There are all types of excursions — historic, meals, water-based — and tons of nice eating places and bars. Plenty of completely different cities, every with a distinct vibe.
I cherished the white sand seashores in Barbados (Dover Seaside was the place we camped out one afternoon) and we did a number of cool excursions, together with the Barbados food tour, a drive into Harrison’s Cave, and I did a round-the-island tour that gave me an excellent overview of the island.
And we had been fortunately on the island on a Friday, so we obtained to expertise the Oistins Friday Evening Fish Fry, which is a enjoyable night time out with music, camaraderie, and nice meals.
Up subsequent was our Star Clippers cruise by a number of Caribbean islands. Star Clippers hosted me and Charlie for every week on the Royal Clipper, which was a improbable expertise I haven’t stopped serious about.
The Royal Clipper is the star of the present. As I talked to the opposite visitors, I realized that everybody right here comes for the ship particularly. It’s so elegant, and retro in the easiest way. Each night time, you set sail and other people go as much as the solar deck to only watch the sails in movement.
This was Charlie’s first cruise ever (!) and my third small ship cruise, after Antarctica and Jap Canada. However being on a clipper ship is a very completely different expertise. You’re feeling such as you’re crusing in Pirates of the Caribbean. Plus, you are able to do cool stuff like climbing the mast and sitting within the internet on the bow.
Our cruise departed from Barbados and visited Grenada, a number of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (that is what drew me to this explicit itinerary), Martinique, and St. Lucia. Each island had one thing I preferred about it, however I particularly cherished the castaway really feel of the Grenadines and the plush fantastic thing about St. Lucia.
Keep tuned for a full submit on the Royal Clipper expertise. There may be SO a lot to share.
Subsequent up was Dominica. I’ll admit that we had a a lot more durable expertise right here than on different islands, which I went into in my worst travel moments of 2025 submit, however there have been some actions we loved, like the recent springs of Ti Kwan Glo Cho within the city of Wotten Waven, and the boat journey we took down the Indian River.
Dominica isn’t the place for me, however I believe a few of you’ll take pleasure in it, particularly for those who love locations which have little or no tourism.
Our ultimate Caribbean vacation spot was Grand Case, St. Martin — a city on the French facet well-known for its culinary scene. There are a LOT of fine eating places and cocktail bars on this city, together with small guesthouses, excessive finish boutiques, and some small however good seashores.
And to be trustworthy, Grand Case was the right finish to our journey. We lounged. We ate. We briefly ventured to the resort-filled Dutch facet for a catamaran journey, which was tremendous enjoyable, however confirmed that we massively most well-liked the French facet. Did I point out the grocery shops have French merchandise for French costs?
We’ll most likely return to St. Martin sooner or later, because the island is well-connected to each Boston and Europe and makes an excellent stopover. And you’ll go to so many islands by ferry from St. Martin/St. Maarten, together with Anguilla, St. Barth’s, Saba, and St. Eustacius.
Subsequent we headed to the States to spend time with my household for Christmas. Three Christmas dinners with numerous members of the family, and journeys to Maine and Vermont! It was so good to spend time with household, although we had been up and down and in every single place!
This was my first time in Vermont in about 20 years — however straight away I fell again in love with the mountains, the small cities, and the quiet ambiance. Charlie’s impression? “New Hampshire is Temu Vermont.” I imply…
And we obtained again to Prague simply in time to throw our annual low-key New Yr’s banquet with mates.
Challenges
I went into this in depth in my worst travel moments of 2025 submit, however Dominica was a troublesome vacation spot for us. Dominica could be very completely different from different Caribbean islands — it isn’t a seashore vacation spot, the island could be very undeveloped throughout the board (made worse after extreme hurricane injury in 2017), and the tourism trade is thus at its nascent stage.
The hardest factor about Dominica was the roads — they had been in horrible situation, particularly within the north of the island, and driving them was so terrifying that my coronary heart was in my throat the entire time. And after we overnighted close to the airport in Marigot, we needed to drive throughout to only discover a place the place we might purchase meals. The final place closed at 5:50 PM.
I don’t say this to be crucial of Dominica, nor wouldn’t it be honest to match it to more-developed islands. However I believe it’s vital to share what it was like so you’ll be able to decide whether or not you wish to spend your journey coping with stuff like this.
I do assume it will have been so much higher if we had employed a driver, are available by ferry fairly than by airplane, did excursions out of Roseau, and introduced a stash of protein bars for when there was nowhere to eat.
Rattling, Barbados was costly!! Properly, a lot of the Caribbean is pricey, however Barbados left me aghast at a few of its costs. Significantly when Charlie and I went to a restaurant for one order of waffles, one breakfast sandwich, and two cappuccinos and the invoice was $50 USD.
Having an allergic response to Elf on a Shelf cereal. Yeah, this was so ridiculous it was humorous. The cereal is made with meals dyes that include warning labels within the EU, and my cheeks turned so pink, I appeared like an precise elf.
What I Watched This Month
Down Cemetery Street is a creepy British thriller on Apple TV+ starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. It’s a restricted collection — simply eight episodes — and because it’s based mostly on a e-book collection, they’re making multiple season.
Now, I’ll be trustworthy. This began SO sturdy, with the form of cliffhangers that freak you out and make you wish to binge straight by. The collection is shot fantastically (I like how a lot cash they throw at Apple TV+ collection), and there may be a lot attractive UK surroundings on display screen, particularly in Oxford.
And Emma Thomson and Ruth Wilson are a pleasure to look at, as they at all times are.
However because the collection goes on, it begins to pressure credulity — method too many plot holes and coincidences. The tone form of jumps round between seriousness and comedian reduction; it virtually appears like two reveals.
Numerous viewers say that Down Cemetery Street is the weakest of the creator’s novels, so I’m hoping that they iron out these points within the subsequent collection. In case you love thrillers, UK surroundings, and Emma and Ruth, I nonetheless advocate it, although!
What I Listened To This Month
I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which I’m having fun with immensely. I’m loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve one way or the other missed my total life till now!
In December, I listened to albums quantity 175-163. Solely 13 albums — not nice, however nonetheless one thing. It’s exhausting for me to maintain up when on busy journeys like this one.
Favourite Discovery: There are two new albums that I cherished this month — nevertheless it form of felt like I had listened to them each earlier than, as they each have so many well-known songs!
The primary is the Saturday Evening Fever soundtrack. Clearly an iconic album — it’s one of many best-selling albums of all time, the one disco album to win Album of the Yr on the Grammy’s, and it’s even within the Library of Congress!
And naturally I knew so most of the Bee Gees’s hit songs from the soundtrack. However I completely adored David Shire’s rating for the movie, which is about pretty much as good as disco will get. And I LOVE disco.
The second is Billy Joel’s The Stranger. This album is INSANE. How did Billy Joel write so many good songs, all of them completely different from one another, on a single album?! “Vienna,” “Movin’ Out,” “Simply the Method You Are,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”?! I knew each single one in every of them, regardless of by no means listening to the album earlier than!
I really feel like he doesn’t get the songwriting credit score he deserves. He’s completely one of many greats.
In case you’ve by no means listened to the complete albums earlier than, begin to end, I extremely advocate you give each a pay attention!
Different Favourite Discoveries: Folklore by Taylor Swift, Murmur by R.E.M., Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, At Folsom Jail by Johnny Money.
Favourite Revisited Album: DAMN by Kendrick Lamar. You most likely know by now that I’m an enormous Kendrick fan — and DAMN is a particular album to me as a result of it’s a hip-hop album I associated to fairly a bit.
This album is an existential stroll by the thoughts of a person infatuated with loss of life. He makes a selection and is both saved or damned, relying on the order you hearken to the songs.
What I like most is that there are recurring themes about being a artistic on the prime of your recreation, the toll it takes on you, and the fixed terror that you simply’re going to lose it. That’s what I relate to, particularly “FEEL” and “FEAR.”
“DUCKWORTH” is among the wildest too-coincidental-to-be-true tales ever advised in a rap track. Oh, and this album was the primary non-classical non-jazz album to win the Pulitzer Prize. How about that!
Favourite Songs: “Manhattan Skyline” by David Shire, “Solely the Good Die Younger” by Billy Joel, “DUCKWORTH” by Kendrick Lamar, “Kissability” by Sonic Youth, “The Solely Dwelling Boy in New York” by Simon & Garfunkel.
Get the playlist: I’m making a playlist of my favourite songs from the five hundred albums — most one per album — on Spotify. You can listen to it here.
Lowlight of the Month: The soundtrack to The Tougher They Come. This was principally a number of variations of the identical track, which is a good however not wonderful reggae tune, and whereas I admit it was influential in popularizing reggae within the US, I don’t know why it’s on this listing.
What I Learn This Month
The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Beha (2020) — After predicting each 2008 election final result accurately and attracting a following, statistician and blogger Sam Waxworth is employed to be a author at {a magazine} and finally ends up getting entwined with a wealthy New York household, every member on their approach to their downfall.
I take pleasure in novels that concentrate on a number of completely different characters all through the e-book, having the whole lot converge on the finish. And this e-book was like watching a automobile crash, particularly because you quickly be taught that every one however one character are horrible individuals (although very entertaining to learn).
Total, I couldn’t put it down. And the ending was fairly satisfying.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995) — The novel that impressed the musical, Depraved tells the story of Elphaba, a younger green-skinned woman in Oz who was the sufferer of a propaganda machine and become the Depraved Witch of the West.
Guys, I received’t say I hated this e-book, however I disliked it enormously. HOW ON EARTH DID THEY TURN THIS INTO THE MUSICAL?! It’s so completely different, it was like they plucked three small plot factors after which ran in a very completely different route!
However sure. All the e-book was written in a method that felt harsh and discomfiting, with some bizarre intercourse stuff thrown in for shock worth. Plus, Elphaba is a depressing particular person, whereas Glinda has no persona. You know the way some books you simply wish to keep in perpetually? This was the other.
I’m genuinely shocked that this e-book turned a bestseller. I can see which area of interest fantasy followers would really like it, however for those who’re not into that…phew. I received’t be studying the sequels.
Coming Up in January 2026
Annually, I preserve January freed from journey plans and spend the month working. I really feel a number of productive New Yr’s vitality annually, and I like driving it out.
We’ve been having fun with a prolonged interval of subzero temperatures, which implies that the snow has been sticking round way more than normal! It’s such a pleasant improve from the same old grey days of January.
And it’s so good to be house after being away for a month, cuddled up with the cats. Murray is sleeping in entrance of my keyboard as I write this.
The remainder of the month will probably be quiet and comfortable.
What was your favourite second from December? Share away!
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