A Homer's Travel's Look Back At 2025

2025 was a mix. On the negative side there was politics. It sucked. This year successfully destroyed my news-junky nature.  By the fall, I was no longer paying that much attention to news.  I kept myself informed but I didn't dive deep into it.  An early year, low-grade prostate cancer diagnosis was a cherry on top of the crappy part of the year.

The positive side included a return to Guatemala where I spent my teenage years, the completion of the Wife's Camino, and a trip to the Balkans and Malta.  In general, these trips, and my life in general, were pleasant.  No major drama, no major issues, and a smooth year was a nice change from the last few years of turmoil. 

Let's look back at 2025, shall we:

• January:  Our Christmas cactus bloomed for the first time, weeks later than usual.  It's time sense, like mine, has been way off.  This would persist throughout 2025.  I had disappointing medical test results.  I explained how I rate books.  I avoided news on inauguration day ... but it still happened.
• February:  Despite avoiding the inauguration, I still Doom scrolled, which also persisted throughout the year.  We went to Guatemala for two weeks, a sort of homecoming for me (I documented the trip in March posts).  
• March:  While we were in Guatemala, the first snow and cold of Winter arrived and was missed.  I had a kidney stone removed.  The prostate biopsy done during the stone removal found the presence of low grade prostate cancer.  For some reason, this really didn't bother me.
• April:  Tariffs were announced and we divested.  I kind of regret doing that.  I thought about forming an escape plan.  Our roof finally had the hail damage from last July repaired.  I added more metal sheeting on the she-shed wall to hold our ever-growing travel magnet collection.
• May:  We spent a long weekend in Minneapolis celebrating family and antiquing.  I finally photographed the Great Britain and Guatemalan magnets.  We got a new Pope.  We had a houseguest.  We returned to Spain to finish the Wife's Camino.  The day we started walking would have been my Mom's ninetieth birthday.
• June:  We walked the Camino the entire month of June.  The Wife had no foot issues and we never took a break.  I worked through some issues that darkened my mood and surrendered to the experience.  This was the first month since I started Homer's Travels that I've never posted even once.
• July:  We finished the Wife's Camino including walking to Finistere and a visit to Muxia.  I decided not to document every day of the Camino.  We had a low-key twenty-eighth anniversary celebration as we were too tired to do anything.  Our dog-friend Cooper stayed with us for a week.  I turned sixty-two.
• August:   We went to an underwhelming Santa Lucia Festival procession.  The anniversary of my Mom's death came and went.  I celebrated my faithful backpack and its retiring.  I had another bad blood test and am now on diabetes medication.  An unwanted vole was found in a planter.  Starting in late July and through August and some of September I really didn't do much.  I had a period of powering down, quiet, and a lot of television watching.
• September:  Another doctor's appointment.  No bad news so that's good.  I posted about our Camino magnets. Another autumn arrived.  Another rapture did not arrive.  We prepared for another adventure.
• October: We traveled most of this month in Greece, Albania, Northern Macedonia, and Malta.
• November: I started documenting our Balkan and Malta travels this month.  Iago got a proper burial.  We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with family.  I had my last doctor's appointment for the year and I seem to be doing ok.  We had our first snow.
• December: 
• Hiking: 2025 was a good year for walking.  This year was my third highest number of miles walked at 1,043 miles (1,678.6 km) over 115 hikes, the second highest number of hikes since I started keeping records.  The Wife's Camino contributed a large chunk of those miles.
  
• Books: I set a goal to read fifteen books this year and, unlike last year, I met my goal.  I read nearly everyday including while we were traveling (which is odd for me) though I slowed down a lot near the end of the year.   Here are my Goodreads Stats for 2025.
• Concerts, Shows & Music :  We went to a few concerts this year. With the Wife, I went to Bob Dylan. I also went to Kansas and Rilo Kiley by myself.
  
  I listened to a lot of music this year - mostly during naps and on long airplane trips. According to Spotify I listened to 2,184 songs from 1,075 artists for 44,358 minutes, so I listened to fewer songs, from fewer artists, for more time than in 2024.  Spotify thinks I am sixty-nine years old.  This actually makes some sense since my taste in music came from my brother who was five years older than me.  Here is my Spotify 2025 Wrapped if you want to explore what the shuffle button did music-wise this year.
• I posted 93 times this year. Not as many as 2024 but good enough I guess.  As usual, I think I need to write more. 

What will 2026 bring? We are going on a southwest road trip which will include visiting with friends.  We are planning a Cape Town, South Africa trip in the summer and a northern European trip including northern France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in the fall.  Other than that we will be trying to keep our sanity intact and brace ourselves for what 2026 has in store for us.

Here's to a Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year for all.  May you all find happiness in 2026.