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December was one of my biggest travel months in quite some time, taking me to seven different countries — nine if you include France and the Netherlands.
From the beaches of St. Vincent to the snowbanks of Vermont, let’s take a look at December 2025!
Destinations Visited
- Willemstad and Sint Michiel, Curaçao
- Oistins, Bridgetown, Worthing, Speightstown, St. Lucy, Cherry Tree Hill Reserve, Bathsheba, Church Hill, and Welchman Hall, 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 National Park, Toucari, Savanne Paille, Morne Trois Pitons National Park (including the Emerald Pool and the Middleham Falls trail), 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 a lot.
Highlights
The month began with two more days in Curaçao. While we had one rainy day, we used that to visit the Curaçao Liquor Distillery and the next day, we visited beautiful Blue Bay, which was located in a gated community and kind of reminded me of The Villages in Florida…but with a spectacular beach.
Next, we spent a few days in Barbados. My impression of Barbados? It’s a great Caribbean island if you want to DO ALL THE THINGS. There are all kinds of tours — historic, food, water-based — and tons of great restaurants and bars. Lots of different towns, each with a different vibe.
I loved the white sand beaches in Barbados (Dover Beach was where we camped out one afternoon) and we did a lot of cool tours, including the Barbados food tour, a drive into Harrison’s Cave, and I did a round-the-island tour that gave me a good overview of the island.
And we were happily on the island on a Friday, so we got to experience the Oistins Friday Night Fish Fry, which is a fun night out with music, camaraderie, and great food.
Up next was our Star Clippers cruise through several Caribbean islands. Star Clippers hosted me and Charlie for a week on the Royal Clipper, which was a fantastic experience I haven’t stopped thinking about.
The Royal Clipper is the star of the show. As I talked to the other guests, I learned that everyone here comes for the ship specifically. It’s so elegant, and retro in the best way. Every night, you set sail and people go up to the sun deck to just watch the sails in motion.
This was Charlie’s first cruise ever (!) and my third small ship cruise, after Antarctica and Eastern Canada. But being on a clipper ship is a completely different experience. You feel like you’re sailing in Pirates of the Caribbean. Plus, you can do cool stuff like climbing the mast and sitting in the net on the bow.
Our cruise departed from Barbados and visited Grenada, several islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (this is what drew me to this particular itinerary), Martinique, and St. Lucia. Every island had something I liked about it, but I especially loved the castaway feel of the Grenadines and the lush beauty of St. Lucia.
Stay tuned for a full post on the Royal Clipper experience. There is SO much to share.
Next up was Dominica. I’ll admit that we had a much tougher experience here than on other islands, which I went into in my worst travel moments of 2025 post, but there were some activities we enjoyed, like the hot springs of Ti Kwan Glo Cho in the town of Wotten Waven, and the boat ride we took down the Indian River.
Dominica is not the place for me, but I think some of you would enjoy it, especially if you love places that have very little tourism.
Our final Caribbean destination was Grand Case, St. Martin — a town on the French side famous for its culinary scene. There are a LOT of good restaurants and cocktail bars in this town, along with small guesthouses, high end boutiques, and a few small but nice beaches.
And to be honest, Grand Case was the perfect end to our trip. We lounged. We ate. We briefly ventured to the resort-filled Dutch side for a catamaran ride, which was super fun, but confirmed that we massively preferred the French side. Did I mention the grocery stores have French products for French prices?
We’ll probably go back to St. Martin at some point, as the island is well-connected to both Boston and Europe and makes a good stopover. And you can visit so many islands by ferry from St. Martin/St. Maarten, including Anguilla, St. Barth’s, Saba, and St. Eustacius.
Next we headed to the States to spend time with my family for Christmas. Three Christmas dinners with various family members, and trips to Maine and Vermont! It was so good to spend time with family, though we were up and down and all over the place!
This was my first time in Vermont in about 20 years — but right away I fell back in love with the mountains, the small towns, and the quiet atmosphere. Charlie’s impression? “New Hampshire is Temu Vermont.” I mean…
And we got back to Prague just in time to throw our annual low-key New Year’s dinner party with friends.
Challenges
I went into this in depth in my worst travel moments of 2025 post, but Dominica was a tough destination for us. Dominica is very different from other Caribbean islands — it is not a beach destination, the island is very undeveloped across the board (made worse after severe hurricane damage in 2017), and the tourism industry is thus at its nascent stage.
The toughest thing about Dominica was the roads — they were in horrible condition, especially in the north of the island, and driving them was so terrifying that my heart was in my throat the whole time. And when we overnighted near the airport in Marigot, we had to drive all over to just find a place where we could buy food. The last place closed at 5:50 PM.
I don’t say this to be critical of Dominica, nor would it be fair to compare it to more-developed islands. But I think it’s important to share what it was like so you can determine whether you want to spend your trip dealing with stuff like this.
I do think it would have been a lot better if we had hired a driver, come in by ferry rather than by plane, did tours out of Roseau, and brought a stash of protein bars for when there was nowhere to eat.
Damn, Barbados was expensive!! Well, much of the Caribbean is expensive, but Barbados left me aghast at some of its prices. Particularly when Charlie and I went to a cafe for one order of waffles, one breakfast sandwich, and two cappuccinos and the bill was $50 USD.
Having an allergic reaction to Elf on a Shelf cereal. Yeah, this was so ridiculous it was funny. The cereal is made with food dyes that come with warning labels in the EU, and my cheeks turned so red, I looked like an actual elf.
What I Watched This Month
Down Cemetery Road is a creepy British thriller on Apple TV+ starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. It’s a limited series — just eight episodes — and since it’s based on a book series, they’re making more than one season.
Now, I’ll be honest. This started SO strong, with the kind of cliffhangers that freak you out and make you want to binge straight through. The series is shot beautifully (I love how much money they throw at Apple TV+ series), and there is so much gorgeous UK scenery on screen, especially in Oxford.
And Emma Thomson and Ruth Wilson are a joy to watch, as they always are.
But as the series goes on, it begins to strain credulity — way too many plot holes and coincidences. The tone kind of jumps around between seriousness and comic relief; it almost feels like two shows.
A lot of viewers say that Down Cemetery Road is the weakest of the author’s novels, so I’m hoping that they iron out these issues in the next series. If you love thrillers, UK scenery, and Emma and Ruth, I still recommend it, though!
What I Listened To This Month
I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which I am enjoying immensely. I am loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve somehow missed my entire life until now!
In December, I listened to albums number 175-163. Only 13 albums — not great, but still something. It’s hard for me to keep up when on busy trips like this one.
Favorite Discovery: There are two new albums that I loved this month — but it kind of felt like I had listened to them both before, as they both have so many famous songs!
The first is the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Obviously an iconic album — it’s one of the best-selling albums of all time, the only disco album to win Album of the Year at the Grammy’s, and it’s even in the Library of Congress!
And of course I knew so many of the Bee Gees’s hit songs from the soundtrack. But I absolutely adored David Shire’s score for the film, which is about as good as disco gets. And I LOVE disco.
The second is Billy Joel’s The Stranger. This album is INSANE. How did Billy Joel write so many perfect songs, all of them different from each other, on a single album?! “Vienna,” “Movin’ Out,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”?! I knew every single one of them, despite never listening to the album before!
I feel like he doesn’t get the songwriting credit he deserves. He’s absolutely one of the greats.
If you’ve never listened to the full albums before, start to finish, I highly recommend you give both a listen!
Other Favorite Discoveries: Folklore by Taylor Swift, Murmur by R.E.M., Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash.
Favorite Revisited Album: DAMN by Kendrick Lamar. You probably know by now that I’m a big Kendrick fan — and DAMN is a special album to me because it’s a hip-hop album I related to quite a bit.
This album is an existential walk through the mind of a man infatuated with death. He makes a choice and is either saved or damned, depending on the order you listen to the songs.
What I love most is that there are recurring themes about being a creative at the top of your game, the toll it takes on you, and the constant terror that you’re going to lose it. That is what I relate to, especially “FEEL” and “FEAR.”
“DUCKWORTH” is one of the wildest too-coincidental-to-be-true stories ever told in a rap song. Oh, and this album was the first non-classical non-jazz album to win the Pulitzer Prize. How about that!
Favorite Songs: “Manhattan Skyline” by David Shire, “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel, “DUCKWORTH” by Kendrick Lamar, “Kissability” by Sonic Youth, “The Only Living Boy in New York” by Simon & Garfunkel.
Get the playlist: I’m creating a playlist of my favorite songs from the 500 albums — maximum one per album — on Spotify. You can listen to it here.
Lowlight of the Month: The soundtrack to The Harder They Come. This was basically several versions of the same song, which is a decent but not amazing reggae tune, and while I admit it was influential in popularizing reggae in the US, I have no idea why it’s on this list.
What I Read This Month
The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Beha (2020) — After predicting every 2008 election outcome correctly and attracting a following, statistician and blogger Sam Waxworth is hired to be a writer at a magazine and ends up getting entwined with a rich New York family, each member on their way to their downfall.
I enjoy novels that focus on several different characters throughout the book, having everything converge at the end. And this book was like watching a car crash, especially since you soon learn that all but one character are terrible people (though very entertaining to read).
Overall, I couldn’t put it down. And the ending was pretty satisfying.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995) — The novel that inspired the musical, Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, a young green-skinned girl in Oz who was the victim of a propaganda machine and turned into the Wicked Witch of the West.
Guys, I won’t say I hated this book, but I disliked it enormously. HOW ON EARTH DID THEY TURN THIS INTO THE MUSICAL?! It is so different, it was like they plucked three small plot points and then ran in a completely different direction!
But yes. The entire book was written in a way that felt harsh and discomfiting, with some weird sex stuff thrown in for shock value. Plus, Elphaba is a miserable person, while Glinda has no personality. You know how some books you just want to stay in forever? This was the opposite.
I am genuinely stunned that this book became a bestseller. I can see which niche fantasy fans would like it, but if you’re not into that…phew. I won’t be reading the sequels.
Coming Up in January 2026
Each year, I keep January free of travel plans and spend the month working. I feel a lot of productive New Year’s energy each year, and I love riding it out.
We’ve been enjoying a lengthy period of subzero temperatures, which means that the snow has been sticking around much more than usual! It’s such a nice upgrade from the usual gray days of January.
And it’s so good to be home after being away for a month, cuddled up with the cats. Murray is sleeping in front of my keyboard as I write this.
The rest of the month will be quiet and cozy.
What was your favorite moment from December? Share away!
