My Year in Travel 2025: “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing”

So, I started this early, and I hope to finish before the holidays – when we all fall into several days of contemplation, reflection – or plan the new trips. And now it is already Boxing Day, and I have not made much progress with this. I haven’t blogged much in the last weeks, and I doubt the Twelve Nights of Christmas will turn into a blogging frenzy … not during this special time of the year, where I have to work a little bit, but mostly will take some time to rest, do nothing, and mentally set up for the New Year.

A Short Overview of my Travel Year

I work a full time job and travel during my annual leave. So, this is a hobby blog. Real working person budget conscious advice. So, in a few numbers, this was my travel year:

• Leave Days taken: 35, consisting of 31 days annual leave plus one from last year, plus three days overtime
• Countries visited: Just 3: Japan, Indonesia and the United Kingdom – and no new country.
• Flights taken: 23 – mostly because my airport does not do direct flights well. So, every flight to Japan, that’s at least four flights. So, to put more perspective onto it, six round trips and one one way flight.
• Long Distance train journeys (>200km): At least 19. Of which 17 were on Japan Rail and punctual and two were on Deutsche Bahn, both were over an hour delayed/train was canceled. Which was rubbish because it was a work trip. I hope you understand why I have resigned on trains in Europe.
• Hotels: 28. That’s 5 in Central Japan, 3 on my Kyoto Hanami trip, 1 in Bremen, 7 in Java and Bali, 2 in London, 7 on the Tohoku trip, 3 in Kyoto
• Blog posts published: 37. Of these, there were 33 brand-new posts, and 4 edits. However, I tend to do smaller updates without changing date stamp, so all posts gets updated over time. That translates to one new post every 1,5 weeks, which is not bad considering my posts are usually quite wordy and full of photos

The Theme Song

As every year, I pick a song by the Pet Shop Boys, a band I have followed since I was in Middle School. “I wouldn’t normally do this kind of Thing” , a 1993 upbeat song from their album “Very” which to me, at the time, was a somewhat disappointing Follow-on to “Behaviour” which came out in 1990 and which I loved instantly – and was also able to buy freely with my own money rather than relying on family to smuggle it back from Western Germany. So, this “Very” with its too cheerful songs and cheese videos didn’t do it for me at first, but it grew on me. I may not have danced to the Rite of Spring yet, but the lyrics are very fitting to this past year! and it has “Absolutely Fabulous” on the bonus disc, a hilarious mashup of the TV series snippets and house music samples – just genius.

A Central Japan Winter Trip

Instead of giving each other gifts, my husband and I bought all the food and wine we wanted for the festive season last year and went to a few nice restaurant, and I practically “gifted” myself this trip since I had been working extra hard over the holidays. I had initially planned to dive in Okinawa, but that would have involved four extra flights, which, even for me, was pushing it a bit, so I flew to Kansai and visited Nagoya, Gero Onsen, Takayama, Toyama, Fukui and Kyoto.

Other than coinciding with a major Chinese holiday and Takayama and Shirakawago being really busy, I loved this winter trip. Toyama and Fukui are basically off the beaten track. Kyoto seemed a lot quieter.

I was able to walk around Kyoto without a jacket and basked in the sun, and was able to enjoy most of Kyoto without big crowds. Of course, some of Kyoto’s famous gardens look less attractive in winter, but you can pick a place with many evergreen gardens, like the beautiful Zen gardens of Daitokuji.

I have one post from that trip so far, on visiting Eiheiji. Big recommendation. I was so impressed I started Zen Meditation classes at home after visiting Eiheiji. Eiheiji is in Fukui Prefecture, a shockingly undervisited prefecture, which has a lot to offer – but about half of the great places there can be a bit tricky on public transport. I also have been composing a post on visiting less visited prefectures of Japan forever.

Hanami with my Mum

A trip very long in the planning, nine months, to be exact. Since we are both more into culture and gardens, but did not want to be without easy transport options, we chose Kyoto as our base. This worked out really well, and although we were a little early for peak cherry blossom, we saw plenty of them and the only really bad crowds we encountered were at Kyoto Station.

This was by far my most expensive trip of the year, due to the fact it was a high season for tourism, reflected by higher hotel and flight prices, flying Premium Economy and having a decent taxi budget due to limited mobility.

I wrote a lot more about that trip, mostly because it was my mum’s first trip to Japan, and I wanted things to be perfect, whereas when I travel by myself, things are a lot more spontaneous and subject to change. Also, those cherry blossoms don’t necessarily keep to your schedule, so I researched a lot of places and looked for alternatives should the weather be unfavourable or the crowds too big.

So, this trip involved a lot of research, and subsequently, blog posts, starting with Cherry Blossom sites in Kyoto with comparably fewer crowds, travelling a packed Hanami Itinerary with Mobility issues, reviewed our hotels Gion Shinmonso and Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Urushitei, and you could say, my Komeda’s Coffee post was born out of the universal enthusiasm of my travel companions for this cool retro coffee shop. I wrote about Kyukyodo, one of my favourite Kyoto shops, after several visits, and one could say my “Buying Matcha” post was borne out of finding matcha fairly easily in unusual places. The only unenthusiastic post was about us getting to Japan, which was, despite our best efforts, unnecessarily stressful.

Java and short Diving trip to Bali

Ever since I flying visit to Bali two years ago, where I ate Nasi Goreng, bought some batik and had a massage then had to work, I vowed to return. After reading a couple guide books and asking the internet, I quickly diverted to Java, where I visited Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Surakarta and its associated heritage sites, climbed both Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen, putting my new hip to the test, and went diving in Northern Bali.

Basically, I did a fairly touristy itinerary on an island that does not appear to suffer from much overtourism yet, and I planned my trip completely independently, so here are some tips on my itinerary and planning. I also reviewed my journey there, which was on Turkish Airlines and, as always, was pretty solid.

In terms of cost, it was good value for money. Homestay accommodation of hostels with private rooms in Java were very low priced, I did one splurge stay at a historical home-hotel, and diving was more expensive than in Jordan. Also, foreigners usually get charged higher fees for sights, which I am okay with.

Would I visit again? Well. I spent my last day in Bali in a car and at some select touristic attractions I wanted to see – but ran out of time due to traffic. Bali was a bit too busy for me, and while the diving was nice, I felt it was nothing I could not see closer to home, at the Red Sea, for example. I am definitely interested in seeing more of Indonesia, though, Java was a very nice and easy introduction, and if I visit again, I would love to see more of Java, and venture on to Sumatra or Sulawesi, and maybe go diving off Sulawesi.

A Weekend in London

I never go away much in summer, since I much prefer spending the good weather days in my garden than roasting in the sun but had vaguely planned a couple days in Italy for my birthday.

Then I watched “Too Much” and although I found the TV show quite boring and cliched, I loved the set, so before I knew it, I had booked a flight to London. I basically spent my time catching up with old friends, eating stereotypical English food and visiting some good exhibitions, museums, and yet more sources of fabrics. Since I love jewellery (who doesn’t) I also wanted to see the Cartier Exhibition at the V and A… it was super crowded and therefore a bit overwhelming, but I am glad I saw it.

When I look at my photos, I see a lot of fabric and British Art / Arts and Craft, which is not the worst way to spend a weekend in London. Maybe it’s my hint to finally write that post on my favourite fabric shops in London.

My impressions are all over the place and full of rather personal photos, so I have not sorted through it all yet and no posts on that yet. A William Morris-related post and one on fabric shopping in London are brewing, though.

So I walked around a lot, rode the Underground, buses, ate more than one English breakfast and some Malaysian and South Indian food hard to come by in Germany, visited the V&A, William Morris Gallery, Design Museum, Tate Britain and the V&A again, and finally bought one of a few pieces of clothing this year, an Old Town wrap dress. That’s my way to counterbalance the fabric shopping, I rarely buy clothes now!

Tohoku Autumn Trip

We alternate between “smaller” Europe-centric and a long distance one, and this year was definitely the year we made good on our cancelled 2020 trip.

My husband is not into big cities and requested ” smaller places, some nature, seeing how people live” then left the rest of the planning to me, so I considered most of Kyushu we hadn’t seen, Shikoku, parts of Tohoku or Central Japan. Given that we wanted to use public transport and taking the season into consideration, we decided on a part of Tohoku well served by trains. And lo and behold, Yamagata was hailed as “one of Japan’s best kept secrets” by National Geographic, thankfully well after we had booked everything.

So we went to Sendai on the Shinkansen, then on a fairly small loop seeing parts of Miyagi, Iwate, Yamagata, Fukushima and Tochigi by local train, before spending a couple of days in Tokyo. I don’t really have favourites, but again, Tokyo and I didn’t gel despite my best effort, booking a good hotel in Nippori Fabric Town and keeping those purse strings quite loose.

In terms of cost, I would say it was one of the less costly trips if you compare Japan trips – flights well under 1000 Euro (on Qatar Airways), a mostly used local trains, hotel prices were middling due to a couple national holidays and the Autumn Leaves Season starting, which was reflected in higher hotel prices in Nikko and Tokyo.

Also, where there’s two of us travelling, there are few supermarket dinners, but we rather go out to local restaurants – something we walk by or I check Tabelog and sometimes Google. And those premium desserts don’t come cheap, either. No specific posts on Tohoku, yet, but I have a lot of ideas in my head. Tohoku, apart from some famous sights, is definitely not overtouristed, and a great destination – and it’s so big, you can take twenty trips and still not see all of it.

Generally, I felt quite happy with my planning, going North to coincide with autumn leaves and using Sendai and Yamagata as a base to visit local sights like Matsushima, Geibikai Gorge, Mogami River Valley, Yamadera and the Nikko Distillery (Sendai site). I would have ventured further into the countryside, but these places were the best we could do without public transport, and there simply wasn’t time to see more places on my checklist like Naruko Gorge, Ginzan Onsen, Zao Onsen and Dewa Sanzan. Even to see the famous sights of Tohoku, you’ll need at least four to six weeks.

Koyo on Repeat, Kyoto

This was a bonus trip when I discovered, this summer, that I had taken off extended weekends on December, presumably to visit Christmas Markets, but somehow got other ideas. Before my work schedule closed, I quickly booked off another couple days, and… headed to Japan again. I was taking a gamble on colourful autumn leaves, but I wanted to visit Kyoto, a city I had grown to love so much.

I enjoyed just the end of the Kyoto autumn leaves season, but on the up side, flights and accommodation were extremely reasonably priced, and I had a lot of choice. In a toss-up between Guesthouse Soi and Gallery Nozawa Inn, I stayed at Gallery Nozawa again, enjoying the detailed attention of the owners of this beautiful Kyoto Townhouse.

I got a few days of good autumn leaves, and revisited Konkai Komyo-ji, one of my favourite places for crowd-free Kyoto autumn Leaves, and took a hike in the Mount Takao area.

This trip was to be slower paced, where I based myself in Kyoto, but I know myself, I was out touristing hard every day, mostly by bicycle, sometimes by train. I made trips to complete my Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage bingo card by visiting Kozan-ji and Ujigami Jinja. I also revisited Ryoan-ji and Byodo-in. Now I just have Nijo Castle, Enryaku-ji, Kamigamo-jinja and Tenryu-ji left… and I am taking my time. There is no hurry.

Of course, I made sure to visit my favourite shops Kyukyodo, Nomura Tailor, Kungyokudo and many more, and had at least one meal at Komeda’s Coffee.

In terms of value for money, this was the most reasonably priced trip together with my winter Tokai trip in January. Low season for Japan unless you ski, cheap-ish flights (both on Finnair) which were half empty which made for a relaxing flight due to tons of room to stretch out. I was too lazy to have my touristing schedule dictated by solo dinner reservations, soo food was cheap and mostly from supermarkets, so that just leaves the usual shopping, but I did well, too, because I did not bother to buy checked luggage.

Plans for 2026

Quite shockingly, I only have one trip planned so far. I am going to spend time in Japan again,surprise, surprise. This time, I will upgrade my lessons from Duolingo and the Learning Annexe with actual language school in one of my favourite cities ever, kyoto. I am going to spend the maximum leave I can take at a time, two full weeks, going to language school in Kyoto.

I have to plan my leave more than a year ahead, so there are pockets of leave that have not been filled yet. Which is unusual for me, but I am comfortable with it. There was the possibility of attending a travel fair in January, but since I don’t know if and when this will happen, I made some vague ideas for a sunny warm holiday, ideally with a bit of diving involved, but unfortunately, my favourite diving destination, Jordan, is a bit tricky to reach from Central Europe right now.

This year, we will spend our holidays in Europe, even thinking of driving or taking the train there. I also try to visit one new country every year, but I didn’t in 2025, so I am not giving myself any pressure or spend a ton of money just to make it happen.

Plans for the Blog

This year is the first year where I actually made any money with this blog thanks to switching to Stay22. My intention was never to earn an income with this blog,I rather saw it as a hobby, and I only links to Booking.com on the blog, but I think Stay22 is doing its own thing a bit – but I always prided myself in only recommending accommodations experiences I had tried and tested myself, and I shall stick to that. I am please that hosting is now paying for itself, and there is even budget for upgrades here and there, and I don’t know yet of I can go on a little trip paid for by blog income this year – we will see. As for ads, hate them, won’t do them, this is mainly why I continue to self publish.

Right now, I have a lot of posts to update due to spending most of my holidays in Japan, and little by little I will update and fine tune any post I see relevant. This blog will definitely stay a hobby, and feature individual, self-organised modest budget travel while working a regular full time job, and I intend to include more practical information including prices. So more of the same, more Japan… this is the only trip I have planned so far.

The Small Print

This is my review of my travel year, where I organised and paid for every single trip myself. This post contains no direct affiliate links, but some of the links lead to my hotel reviews, which do contain affiliate links. The only monetisation in this post is my referral link to Stay 22. I started using them in August 2025 and started to get bookings right away. The account was easy to get up and even with a small blog, you are likely to generate some bookings. I am not going to go into much detail, because I am still learning myself, and marketing is not my top priority, but so far, the links are discreet, and I did not have too much crap popping up when I checked. You can sign up, too easily, and if you use my link, we may both earn some extra commission.

And with that, I return to my New Year’s Cleaning, and resting a bit, setting the right tone for 2026. Have a good festive period, and a great start into the New Year!