2025 Travel Highlights – Europe, North Africa And The Middle East
What a mad year for me and Teddy. My 2025 Travel Highlights were honestly mental. I was only back for a day from Fuerteventura in December last year (2024) when I booked to go to Agadir, Morocco and this will be where I will start.
January – Morocco Agadir and Marrakech
To the annoyance of my 2 friends who had planned a holiday to Morocco several months before – on the 3rd of January I arrived in Agadir. It was bad of me really – what was supposed to be a romantic break for these two – I decided to book a flight after seeing how cheap it was to come here in January.
It was only £14 from Luton to Agadir and really this was the deciding factor for me. They must have had the last laugh though. It was a bit of a nightmare for me – the place I booked was an apartment 2 hours away in Awrir (Aourir).
I spent a combined 2 weeks across here, back in the city in Adrar and then Marrakech.
The highlight for me (I would say) would have been my first time going to Ouzoud Waterfall and meeting the Barbary Macaques.
It was a trip with its good and bad moments but ultimately I must have liked it there because before I even left the country I booked another flight back out for March.
February – A Month In England
It was fair to say that in February I wanted a much needed break from my travels. The Intensity was definitely weighing on my mind considering all the travelling I did at the end of 2024 when I travelled to 9 countries in 11 days – plus my stay in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
So, I didn’t go away In February but one flight I did book was for a friend to come with me back to Morocco. It was a good choice I think and the same flight was still available for £15 each way.
March – Back To Agadir, and Marrakech
The funny thing was that this was during Ramadan. I am guessing this was why the flights were so cheap. It was good to come back here and know what I was doing. Me and my friend were able to rent an apartment in Agadir from my contact from last time but what was better was this time it was much nearer to the main strip.
We got an amazing deal £110 for 7 days, a bedroom each and the location was good I thought – it took us an hour walking to get to central Agadir. We did use a couple of taxis with the InDrive App but its fair to say we did our fair share of walking.
After leaving Agadir, It was off to Marrakech and I was very happy to come back here to the Sun Hostel and to bring my friend to Ouzoud. Of course, we see the monkeys and the waterfall. I didn’t see the rainbow last time which was cool. My friend told me after this was a special moment for her too.
It was a good feeling to back overall and I would say like January coming here again was probably the highlight of my whole stay.
April – Malaga, Gibratar and Back to Gibraltar, Tangier and Back to Marrakech
I think I actually got to Malaga at the end of March and got to Gibraltar I think on the 1st or 2nd of April.
This was a crazy chain of events because my original plan was to stay on after my friend left and actually head to Gibraltar from Tangier but in the end I decided to fly back with my friend on the same day. I didn’t really feel right not doing so but before I actually left Morocco I booked my flight to Malaga for 2 weeks later.
I didn’t have the best time in Malaga for the 2 days I stayed. My place here I really didn’t like but it was good to be back in Gibraltar after this. It was my 3rd time in the country and this was a really a nice continuation of me and my friends holiday.
Although, I must have not been too happy to leave because I was back on a plane 8 days later and it was kind of like things coming full circle as I finally got round to getting the ferry to Tangier.
The crazy part I think was going back to Marrakech and Ouzoud yet again.
My highlights were getting drunk with Crazy Steve, walking to the top of the rock after several failed attempts and ONCE AGAIN going back to Ouzoud to see the monkeys. I must have seen monkeys nearly every during this month – it was mental.
May – Prague, Czech Republic
I booked to fly to Malta the day after I made the mad decision to go back to Gibraltar in April (for the 2nd time). It was quite funny because I was told explicitly NOT to book the Malta flight because of the group from my town that was going to be here.
They definitely made their feeling clear when I did finally get here – but before I did there was a matter of going to 2 other countries.
I’d originally just booked to go to Malta with a stop over on the day at Warsaw airport but I ultimately decided that I would Instead come to Poland a bit earlier.
I actually had a dream about this – this was the mad thing – and on the 27th of May I instead flew into Prague with the Intention of making my way to Poland from here.
My highlights were The Prague To Venis Boat Trip (my 3rd time), getting up close to the Beavers on the River Bank and a day trip to Prague Zoo (also my 3rd time).
May / June -Warsaw and Malta
I think it must have been on the 2nd of June when I left Prague for Malta. It was a long trip on the coach and it took a lot of rushing around to get here. I was drinking the night before and it was a rough morning.
It was a shame really because the reason I wanted to come earlier was to spend longer in Warsaw but this didn’t exactly happen. I only spent one night here and then I had to get moving to the airport.
My original flight from Luton to Warsaw I got a message about whilst on the way to the airport to say it was delayed for a whole 8 hours.
This was actually so funny because If I hadn’t come to Prague then I never would have made it to Malta.
The week I felt was a bit of a disappointment I had planned to go to both the Hal Safeni Hypogeum and Gjigantia temples but I lost both my bookings. One I booked for the next month and one was cancelled because they couldn’t take payment.
My highlight was maybe sitting in the sun reading my book and seeing all the lizards running around. That and maybe seeing the Parrots at the bird park – I think it was a Cockatoo that said “hello, how are you” – I never knew Parrots could say more than one word but I heard this with my own ears.
July – Another Month I Spent In England
It’s actually quite hard to believe this. Maybe I should have gone somewhere but I was worrying about the money. I suppose looking at all I done it would have been good to go away in July as well but I guess the break was much needed.
Highlight was actually making it to all the local car boot sales. I definitely missed a good few travelling, and I must have missed a few goodies on the way but I guess 10 months out of 12 is pretty impressive.
August – Estonia – Tallinn and Tartu
I actually spoke to my friend about this earlier in the year. March I believe it was when this first was discussed and it was a trip I thought I would give a miss but ultimately I decided to call my other friend to ask if he wanted me to arrange the flights. It was a good call – it wasn’t so cheap here but it was a nice country to visit.
My highlight was maybe Tallinn Zoo and the church in Tartu which I really couldn’t believe what I was looking at because for a modern rebuild it was very complex.
September – Rome, Milan, Across Italy
This was a trip that I was very iffy about because this was essentially me following my sister on her holiday to Tunisia. She was quite against the idea initially, but she did come round to the idea of me coming in the end.
My route here was quite mad really. I had to fly to Rome, then make my way to Salerno before getting the ferry to Tunis. I got to Rome on the 27th of September – I spent a whole day here on the 28th and left for Salerno on the 29th.
It was pretty traumatic really because I never made it to the ferry. Even though I was rushing around like a mad man I made a total mess of it. It meant in the end I had to go all the way from Salerno in the south to Milan in the North. I even went through San Marino and I arrived in Tunisia from Milan at about 9pm on the 30th.
Highlight of my few days in Italy. Definitely seeing the Colosseum but there was some other beautiful sights too such as the mountains and seascapes.
October – Tunisia and Turkey
It was so great to get to Tunisia after all the trouble I had with missing my ferry. Getting into my room was the best feeling. I felt so tired from the past week and it was just so nice to relax. The beach here was lovely, the food was great but sadly my sister didn’t make the holiday as her flights were cancelled.
I actually knew this before I came but I really wanted to go ahead with this and as expensive as this was to come here, and to make my way to Turkey – 2 days after I got back – to join my sister on her new holiday it was all worth it really.
My highlights were going to the beach in Tunisia and catching up with my family in Turkey. Some beautiful sights in Turkey but it was a bit too pricey for me really.
November – Georgia and Armenia
I booked to come to Georgia just after I got back from Estonia. I was talking to my friend I went to Estonia with about going away again. My suggestion was Georgia after hearing a waiter in Estonia talk about it. I looked up flights and I thought this was a good deal so I went for it and booked myself to go away for 10 days.
Armenia I went to for about a day and a half – going from Georgia by a transfer service. I had a bit of trouble getting here having no phone data but I sorted this out and I did quite like it here.
My highlights from the 10 days were Tbilisi Zoo, Matitoma Park and the day tour of Armenia. I would say this was my best trip of the year and I would love to come back. (Bring on February 2026).
December – Lanzarote and Fuerteventura
This was my 3rd year in a row coming to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Its kind of something I think I could just do every year. I’m sure December 2026 will be no different. It’s just nice here but it’s a bit naughty – if you are drinking which I found did cause my a few problems.
It was quite mad really because I went from going on a tour that day where they said how it rarely rains in Lanzarote to walking for miles lost and being stuck out in the rain. It stopped and it started and by the time I was catching the ferry to Fuerteventura it was basically a freak storm for the next 2 days.
My last day in Fuerteventura thankfully was good weather but it was a bit of a shame that after this it was already time to leave.
My highlights were I think the steak dinners and the 1.50 euro pints of beer. I did pretty much the same things as before really but it was cool – it was a nice end to the year. I went to a lot of places. Just to summarise;
- Morocco – Agadir, Marakech, Tangier and Casablanca
- Gibraltar, and Spain – Malaga and La Linea
- Italy and San Marino – Rome, Milan, Napoli, Salerno
- Czech Republic, Poland and Malta – Prague and Warsaw
- Estonia – Tallinn and Tartu
- Tunisia and Turkey
- Georgia and Armenia – Tbilisi and Yerevan
- The Canary Islands – Lanzarote and Fuerteventura
14 countries if you count Canary Islands as separate from Spain. I think it was less countries than the year before but still pretty impressive really.
I am off to Jordan and maybe Israel next I will I’m sure share all about this in my next blog.
Keen traveler and digital nomad looking to share my stories from my international trips.