AK Month-to-month Recap: September 2025

September 2025 is among the most adventurous months I’ve had in years! My long-awaited journey to Mauritius, Réunion, and Madagascar befell — and this journey had the very best highs and lowest lows of the entire 12 months.

It is a BIG month-to-month recap and fairly a bit occurred, so prepare for a prolonged learn!

Locations Visited

• Prague, Czech Republic
• Flic en Flac, Tamarin, Chamarel, Bois Cheri, Curepipe, Port Louis, Pamlemousses, Cap Malheureux, and Grand Baie, Mauritius
• Saint-Gilles, Saint-Leu, Cilaos, L’Étang-Salé, Langevin, Saint-Philippe, Saint Joseph, and Saint Pierre, Réunion
• Antananarivo, Antsirabe, Lac Tritiva, Maromandray, Miandrivazo, Anosinampela Waterfall, Begidro, Tsaraotana, Belo Tsiribihina, Mahajanga, Bekopaka, Tsingy de Bemaraha Nationwide Park, Kirindy, Morondava, Betania, Nosy Be, Nosy Sakatia, and Nosy Tanikely, Madagascar

Highlights

Good instances in Prague. My good friend Mike, one in all my oldest buddies from the world of journey running a blog, got here to stick with us in Prague for a couple of days, and we received to point out him the very best that Prague has to supply.

Altogether, there have been meats at Kantýna, a wine pageant on the sting of Prague Citadel, a burger pageant, a brewery cease, and simply having fun with the unimaginable place that’s Prague within the month of September. And OF COURSE Charlie and Mike received alongside like a home on hearth!

Ending 75 Exhausting. I haven’t talked about something about it on the weblog but, however from June 24 by way of September 6, I accomplished 75 Exhausting — a health and psychological toughness program.

Every day, you have to do two exercises of not less than 45 minutes every; comply with a eating regimen of your selection (I did no sugar and no junk meals); learn 10 pages of a private growth ebook; drink completely zero alcohol; drink one gallon (3.8 liters) of water per day; take a progress photograph; and ZERO CHEATS WHATSOEVER. If you happen to miss something, you begin over.

I wrote about it in a post on the Adventurous Kate Facebook page, and received’t reiterate what I mentioned there. Right here’s a quote about why 75 days is a lot extra transformational than 30:

30 days will not be sufficient for a problem to be transformative. I’ve performed a LOT of 30-day challenges over time: Whole30s, sober challenges, health tune-ups. 30 days appears like rather a lot once you’re getting began. It’s not. 

This time, I didn’t truly hit my groove till 40+ days in. I didn’t begin wanting totally different to my buddies till the 50s. And 75 days of social engagements offers you much more follow not ingesting round drinkers, which you want.

General, this has been a tricky 12 months for health for me partially as a result of my hip damage in March, however 75 Exhausting helped me turbo-charge my well being and get again into fairly respectable form.

Additionally, the man who created 75 Exhausting, Andy Frisella, is a homophobic and transphobic right-wing nut job, so I made positive to donate $75 in his identify to the Metro Trans Umbrella Group in his hometown of St. Louis.

The problem could also be over now, however I’m sticking to 90 minutes of understanding per day, sticking to the identical eating regimen 90% of the time, and I haven’t had a single alcoholic drink since. I plan on solely ingesting on particular events going ahead.

A style of Mauritius. For my journey to Madagascar, I had simply sufficient further time to do a couple of days every in each Mauritius and Réunion. They’re every in regards to the measurement of Rhode Island, the smallest state within the US. Whereas three days isn’t sufficient for both vacation spot, I assumed it could be sufficient time to get a taster and see if I needed to return for extra.

Mauritius is an fascinating place — an island within the Indian Ocean that was uninhabited till 1638 (!!), and at this time has a inhabitants descended largely from Indian visitor staff and enslaved Africans (not in contrast to Guyana, minus their Indigenous inhabitants). The island is a lush paradise, with waterfalls, craggy mountains, and fairly seashores.

I loved touring across the island and seeing the sights — I particularly cherished the waterfalls, the enormous tortoises, a captivating Hindu temple on a sacred lake, and the bustling market in Port-Louis. The seaside in Flic en Flac was beautiful.

Mauritius is ideally explored by automobile, however as a result of they drive on the left facet of the street and I used to be flying in a single day (i.e. a sleepless evening), I didn’t assume I’d be a protected driver underneath these situations. However I used to be capable of finding taxi drivers for 83 euros that will take you on excursions for round six hours or so. I did that on two days.

That mentioned — Mauritius and I didn’t actually vibe. It felt a bit shabby general, public areas had been poorly cared for, most points of interest had been a bit underwhelming, and I discovered the Indian-influenced meals fairly bland regardless of begging everybody to make it spicy, native spicy.

I’m joyful I visited Mauritius, and loved what I noticed, however I don’t have the necessity to return. I contemplate my go to a hit. Not each vacation spot needs to be a house run.

A whirlwind go to to Réunion. Réunion Island, technically a part of France, completely blew me away. I discovered the island spectacular in its pure magnificence, exceedingly effectively maintained (the roads had been LIKE BUTTER), coated with recent flowers, and stuffed with pleasant individuals who thoughtfully helped me discover the appropriate French phrase as a substitute of rolling their eyes and switching to English like the everyday Parisian.

And admittedly, I barely noticed a fraction of what the island needed to supply. My massive day journey was a personal tour to Cilaos, an nearly unspeakably stunning little village set amongst the mountains.

The surroundings was so beautiful, it almost made me cry. (And effectively price costing 4 instances what I paid for a day journey in Mauritius — yikes!! You’re very a lot in France right here!)

So sure, I’m fairly wanting to return to Réunion and see MUCH MORE! The energetic volcano and the opposite cirques of Salazie and Maïdo are on the high of my record. I’d additionally like to spend a number of days in Cilaos and use it as a base for mountaineering.

I’ll be writing extra about my time in Réunion, so keep tuned for an even bigger put up!

The journey of a lifetime in Madagascar. After which got here the BIG occasion — my Madagascar trip with Rock My Adventure. Probably the most adventurous journey I’ve had in years, and one in all my favourite journeys EVER.

Madagascar has been excessive on my record for years — however it’s a little bit of a tough vacation spot with restricted infrastructure, even by African requirements, so I at all times knew I needed to go to Madagascar on a bunch tour. And as quickly as I noticed the itinerary covered ALL the places I wanted to visit in Madagascar, I knew I needed to do it!

Sure, Madagascar may be very a lot a difficult place to go to, however it’s additionally stuffed with beautiful pure magnificence and wildlife, and residential to a few of the warmest, most great folks ever. Moreover, there may be zero overtourism right here, which is refreshing.

So what had been my favourite elements?

A 3-day journey down the Tsiribihina River. This was very tough — we camped, our boat didn’t have a rest room, we went days with out showering, and once we wanted to pee, we pulled over to shore to pee behind a bush (and generally MORE THAN PEE). However this was such a enjoyable journey. We swam in waterfalls, sang songs across the hearth, and stopped in cities alongside the way in which.

Climbing within the Grand Tsingy. The Grand Tsingy is an intimidating rock forest, and exploring it was one of the vital intense hikes I’ve ever performed. That is the primary time I’ve performed a By way of Ferrata-style hike the place you put on a harness and clip in to cables all through the route. Regardless of that, it truly wasn’t scary in any respect!

Experiencing the wildlife. We received to see SO many lemurs! And in Kirindy, we received to see some uncommon animals just like the foussa, mouse lemurs, and a few cool chameleons.

Island time in Nosy Be. We completed our journey with time in Madagascar’s most touristy space: the northern islands. We received to snorkel with huge sea turtles, and lemurs truly crawled on our heads!

And the folks of Madagascar had been an absolute spotlight. The warmest, most welcoming folks. The children had been improbable and lovable, at all times wanting to carry our fingers. We randomly stopped in a village and the ladies launched us to a child who had been born just a few hours in the past!!

However this tour was SO nice, and I can’t advocate it extra extremely. The following Madagascar tour is going down in October 2026, and you can learn about it here.

Keep tuned for rather more about Madagascar. I can’t wait to jot down about it.

For now, you will get £100 off any Rock My Adventure tour with the code KATE100. And I had a lot enjoyable on this tour, I’m already selecting out my subsequent tour for 2026!

Talking French for 3 weeks. Regardless of visiting Paris yearly, I don’t get to talk French fairly often — partially as a result of if Parisians sense you’re international, they routinely swap to English. However BOY, DID I SPEAK A TON OF FRENCH throughout this journey!

In Mauritius, you will get by simply with English, however many locals solely converse French. In Réunion, French is the one and solely language. And in Madagascar, most Malagasy folks be taught French for “official” communication and English is a decrease precedence, so we normally defaulted to French in our conversations.

I truly rescheduled a canceled flight on the cellphone fully in French with Air Austral. I took a personal tour with a information who solely spoke French in Réunion.

I took over speaking with the French-speaking workers of our guesthouse once we had been caught in Antananarivo and Helen was on the airport attempting to get us new flights. I made native buddies in Madagascar that don’t converse English.

I’ve at all times needed to make use of my French expertise extra on my travels, and I’m so delighted that I received to talk a ton of French on this journey. Lesson? If you wish to converse extra French, go to francophone Africa!

Challenges

Unrest in Madagascar. I’ve talked about this more extensively on Facebook, however I’ll give the fundamental factors right here: on the day we flew from Morondava again to Antananarivo, protests started in cities all through Madagascar. Individuals are protesting energy cuts, water shortages, and a corrupt authorities.

Let me be clear: I totally help the protestors. They’re asking for very staple items that we as westerners take without any consideration.

I’ve been in areas with unrest earlier than, and it’s normally fairly simple to keep away from. However this time, our lodge was proper in the midst of the fray — a lot that we had been herded inside in a panic, principally barricaded in our lodge, and the police tear gassed the neighborhood, which damage our eyes and throat even throughout the lodge courtyard.

Our flight to Nosy Be the subsequent day was canceled, and we moved to a small guesthouse in a protected space in a gated group. By this time the town was underneath curfew and all retailers had been presupposed to be closed (we discovered a couple of that had been open).

Our flight the day after that was canceled as soon as once more, however we had been lastly capable of get to Nosy Be two days later than scheduled.

On high of that, as soon as I received to Nosy Be’s airport to go away, my flight was canceled for the subsequent two days. Boy was I joyful after I lastly made it out of Madagascar.

So sure, it was rather a lot to take care of — notably the scary arrival day in Madagascar once we had been surrounded by violent clashes — however finally, it was simply an inconvenience. My coronary heart is with the Malagasy folks, who’re dwelling this daily.

Our lease went up. By a LOT. Charlie has lived in our condo since 2009, and our neighborhood of Karlín has gentrified enormously since then. In consequence, our lease has been under market fee for fairly a while, and solely raised a bit at a time.

However this 12 months they raised it a really surprising quantity, which hit me onerous as the previous renter of a sponsored condo in New York whose lease by no means went up greater than $50 at a time. YIKES.

That mentioned — we will work with this. It’s not as unhealthy because it could possibly be.

(No, we’re not going to purchase a spot in Prague. We do hope to purchase a spot in Italy within the subsequent few years.)

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 complete life till now!

In September, I listened to albums 249-228. Listed here are the highlights:

Favourite Discovery: Anti by Rihanna. I’ve been a fan of Rihanna’s music for the reason that starting, however I’ve by no means sat down and listened to Anti begin to end. And now I notice how Rihanna followers lose it over this album.

This album is horny and futuristic, robotic and intense, and has such a transparent perspective. The manufacturing is on level and every little thing is completely attuned to Rihanna’s distinctive voice.

Yep, that is an album I’ll be blasting for a very long time.

Different Favourite Discoveries: Discovery by Daft Punk, American Fool by Inexperienced Day, Love Deluxe by Sade, Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, Heaven or Las Vegas by the Cocteau Twins.

Favourite Revisited Album: All the pieces was new to me in September — I had hoped I’d get to #218, CrazySexyCool by TLC, however that must wait till subsequent month!

Favourite Songs: “Kiss It Higher” by Rihanna, “Voyager” by Daft Punk, “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” by De La Soul, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Vacation/Boulevard of Damaged Desires” by Inexperienced Day, “Jingling Child” by LL Cool J and Marley Marl, “Naima” by John Coltrane.

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: I don’t perceive the purpose of Kraftwerk. Their album Trans-Europe Specific may be very “bleep bleep, bloop bloop, I’m a pc and I make music.”

Random Music Ideas: This month I had maybe the most effective mixture of vacation spot/expertise and music, as I listened to Daft Punk’s Discovery whereas driving round Réunion Island.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. Listening to immaculate French dance music whereas driving these buttery-smooth roads curving round volcanic hills, with probably the most excellent light heat climate and massive fluffy clouds up within the sky? FANTASTIC.

It’s the greatest driving I’ve performed for the reason that Loire Valley final 12 months, and maybe the most effective driving I’ve performed, ever.

This was my first month actually listening to Patsy Cline, and I discovered her voice so compelling. She actually has a special high quality, so trendy, that’s distinctive on the planet of nation.

And eventually, it was fascinating revisiting Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak this month. I listened to the album again when it got here out, and like all Kanye followers on the time (I’m not a fan anymore, his conduct is reprehensible), I used to be shocked at how unusual this album was. Autotuned, susceptible, melodic rap. “I miss the previous Kanye,” certainly.

However this album has since turn into the blueprint. EVERYONE in hip-hop at this time appears like this album, from Drake to Child Cudi (granted, a Kanye protege) to J. Cole and Travis Scott. This isn’t Kanye’s greatest album by far, however I’d wager it’s probably the most influential.

What I Watched This Month

The Righteous Gem stones. It is a Danny McBride-created HBO sequence I by no means received round to watching till now, a few household of televangelists in South Carolina and all of the wild issues that occur behind the scenes. The solid is wonderful, every character is as fascinating as they’re vile, and the present is rather a lot funnier than I anticipated it to be!

(Additionally, no new season of Under Deck to report on this month, however my Madagascar journey was FULL of Under Deck followers!! We stored saying issues like, “Captain Jason offers me the fanny flutters.”)

The Emmy Awards had been earlier this month, and I’m so happy that The Pitt, so many actors on The Pitt, and Jeff Hiller of Any person Someplace received Emmys! These exhibits are each MARVELOUS and I extremely, extremely advocate them each.

What I Learn This Month

I received by way of three books this month. Let’s have a look:

Woodworking by Emily St. James (2025) — Erica is a 35-year-old instructor in South Dakota — and she or he’s trans. She’s instructed nobody. However then she will’t maintain it in anymore and comes out to Abigail, an out trans woman at her faculty, and the one trans individual she is aware of. They develop an unlikely friendship that quickly attracts the scrutiny of the group.

Emily St. James is a TV critic and Yellowjackets author whose work I’ve lengthy loved, and her first novel is a improbable debut. The characters are so richly drawn, and I appreciated a narrative about trans folks going down in rural America fairly than an enormous metropolis (one motive why I like Any person Someplace).

Although actually, I had a lot dread all through the ebook as I knew a detailed friendship between a male-presenting instructor and feminine pupil would NOT go unnoticed.

All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025) — When Elizabeth Gilbert’s greatest good friend Rayya Elias was identified with terminal most cancers, Gilbert had a realization: she was in love with Rayya, she wanted to go away her husband, and she or he wanted to make the remainder of Rayya’s days great. However that’s only one a part of the story.

Throughout her most cancers journey, Rayya returned to drug dependancy, and Gilbert realized she herself was a intercourse and love addict who was inflicting lots of harm to Rayya along with her earlier companions.

There isn’t a lot that HASN’T been mentioned about this ebook — particularly the half the place Gilbert contemplates murdering Rayya. A LOT of individuals hate Elizabeth Gilbert, it doesn’t matter what she does, and I feel some (however not all) of that’s rooted in misogyny.

That mentioned — I don’t assume individuals are speaking sufficient in regards to the accountability Gilbert goes by way of later within the ebook, discovering how far her intercourse and love dependancy has damage folks, and her excruciating efforts to get sober and keep sober going ahead.

(I imply, most of us have performed some loopy issues for intercourse and love…she’s received some good suggestions in right here.)

Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk (2022) — Bob Odenkirk has had fairly an fascinating profession in leisure, rising from the comedy golf equipment and improv exhibits of Chicago to writing for Saturday Night time Reside, creating the unusual area of interest comedy present Mr. Present with David Cross, getting solid as Saul Goodman on Breaking Unhealthy, and getting tons of Emmy nominations for drama on Higher Name Saul.

I actually loved this sort of memoir as a result of Bob has been barely or reasonably well-known for many of his profession — it wasn’t actually till Breaking Unhealthy that he grew to become tremendous well-known. And I cherished studying about his group with comedians of the 90s, particularly the great issues he says about Janeane Garofalo.

As an SNL superfan who would like to see Bob host in the future, this ebook sadly made me notice that it’s in all probability by no means going to occur. Bob didn’t love working at SNL; he form of phoned it in and secretly labored for Second Metropolis in Chicago concurrently and had his buddies cowl for him. Lorne holds grudges. The truth that Bob put that in print means Lorne isn’t going to let him host.

Coming Up in October 2025

We’re heading to Piemonte! Charlie and I truly haven’t been to Italy but this 12 months, which is wild (we normally go to 3 times or so), so we needed to squeeze in a protracted weekend journey earlier than the 12 months ends.

This month we shall be visiting Piemonte for a couple of days. Piemonte is within the north and residential to a few of the greatest meals and wine within the nation. Whereas we’ve visited Piemonte a couple of instances earlier than, this time we shall be visiting a couple of totally different areas which might be new to us.

And sure, this shall be thought of a “special day” and I shall be ending my 100+ day sober streak and treating myself to a glass of Barolo, my favourite wine on the planet.

Any plans for October? Share away!