2025 is a year that really seems to have zipped by – how did we get to December already? This year has seen some epic travels and I have been BUSY. But it’s been great nonetheless, and it’s nice to take some time to see what I’ve been up to these past 12 months.
Total number of days travelled in 2025 – 36 days
This year I took just 4 trips, less than last year but these were longer trips so I spent about the same amount of time travelling at 36 days. I have a few days of leave to carry over to next year.
Central Asia
My work is busy in Jan and Feb, so the earliest I could take off was in mid March, and this year was quite an epic trip as I visited 3 brand new countries and an entirely new region, Central Asia!
Ashgabat & Darvaza & Merv, Turkmenistan
My first step on Central Asia soil was in Turkmenistan with some friends. Now Turkmenistan is not a typical destination, notoriously closed off with an autocratic dictator. But it was also a really intriguing place to see, from the hyper-modern Ashgabat, to the eerie Gates of Hell in Darvaza and the forlorn remains of past dynasties in Merv.
We had to take a guided tour around Turkmenistan, and there were lots of long bumpy car rides, and the immigration process was a real pain both getting in and out, but it was definitely a memorable trip.
Bukhara & Samarkand & Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Finally ticked off another bucket list destination by spending 10 days in Uzbekistan, independently travelling around with my friends after our time in Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan was surprisingly easy to navigate, thanks to the Yandex app for transport and food delivery and high speed trains between cities.
I saw and loved all the Islamic architecture. We joked that this was a trip of M’s – Madrasahs, Mosque, Mausoleums, Markets and more! We crossed the border from Turkmenistan into Bukhara on Nowruz, with lots of ancient structures in the old city. Then we headed over to Samarkand which was still beautiful despite getting rained on a lot. The last stop was capital Tashkent, surprisingly modern with its own subway a fantastic local market and where I spent my birthday! We did a day trip out of Tashkent to see the Solar Furnace, unfortunately on the absolute coldest rainiest (snowiest!) day of our trip.
7 Lakes & Khujand, Tajikistan
We took two day trips in our time in Uzbekistan to neighbouring Tajikistan, known for its extensive mountain ranges. First we went to the 7 Lakes from Samarkand, we only saw 6 out of 7 lakes because of the weather but it was absolutely beautiful. Over in Tashkent, we took a trip out to Khujand, one of Tajikistan’s main cities.
Labuan Bajo, Indonesia
In April, I head over to Labuan Bajo for a writing assignment for ST Life. It’s the second time I’m visiting Labuan Bajo, 9 years after my first visit with Skyscanner during my career break. Unfortunately this was a pretty last minute trip between two longer planned trips so I couldn’t extend my diving days, but I still got to stay in an absolutely beautiful resort and spend a day diving, so I can’t complain!
Alor, Indonesia
I went on a dedicated dive trip with my sister and some of her dive buddies to the far eastern end of Indonesia in Alor. It took 3 flights to get from Singapore to Alor, but it was home to some of the most beautiful dive sites that I’ve seen in all my years diving! Such beautiful clear waters and colourful abundant coral, scuba diving in Alor was epic and definitely worth the effort to get there.
Vienna & Linz, Austria
In late September I had a last minute ask by Scoot to check out their new direct route from Singapore to Vienna. It was a short trip but I still managed to see quite a lot, visiting the city of Linz and spending a bit more time in artsy Vienna. I was last in Vienna almost a decade ago on a backpacker budget, so this was quite a different experience, but I’m glad I got to see more museums in Vienna this time around.
Travel Writing
I wrote a couple of articles for Straits Times Life this year which you can check out in my portfolio – besides the Labuan Bajo article, my Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongsangnam trip article from late 2024 also got published, as well as my Yakushima trip article.
I spent a lot of time doing travel guide updates for Lonely Planet, and also wrote a separate piece exploring the newly rebranded and expanded Singapore Oceanarium.
Tour guiding in Singapore
I got my tour guiding license last year, so 2025 was my first full year of guiding in Singapore! It’s been a pretty interesting experience – I’ve met people from all walks of life and doing all sorts of trips. The majority of my tours were fabulous and I met amazing people, others were more of a learning experience but ultimately it’s been a pretty fun year.
As December draws to an end, I showed 56 groups and about 340 people my Singapore! If you are coming to Singapore and looking for a local perspective, come check out my Singapore tourist guiding page for more.
What’s next in 2026
Here’s the thing about 2025 – I didn’t do a solo trip this year! My last solo trip was in early 2024 before I started my current job, spending a few days in Hanoi and Ninh Binh, so it’s high time I find some time travelling on my own again.
As of this time, I haven’t firmed up any trips, but I do want to see more new countries and have a general plan to head to the Caucasus and see Armenia and Georgia (and maybe Azerbaijan?), and I do want to go back to Eastern Taiwan – it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Lanyu…
Hopefully everyone had a great 2025, and here’s to an even better 2026!
