8 countries, 106 nights: 2025 in travel

travels in 2025

2025 has been another GREAT year of travel adventures! Although since I’ve been back at Uni, I’ve definitely had to put the brakes on my travel habit.

Credit as ever must go to Home Exchange, which allows us to travel without spending a fortune on hotels and Airbnb rentals. Friends, we simply could not afford to do HALF the travel we’ve done without exchanging. It’s allowed a single parent family to travel so far beyond our means. AND it’s introduced us to amazing people from all over the world, who have hosted or stayed with us. Exchanging doesn’t just make travel affordable. It changes the way you travel, and lets you step into someone else’s home and life for a little while. It’s pretty magical.

This year, I’ve travelled to eight countries (with one more planned) for 106 nights. Also, I’ve only paid for accommodation for a couple of nights. Pretty cool, right?

If this post doesn’t inspire you to start exchanging I don’t know what will! (As an aside, if you use my referral code when you join Home Exchange, then you’ll get bonus guest points you can put towards your first trip)

Here’s a quick round-up of our 2025 adventures.

January – Saint-Gingolph, France

home exchange ski trip

We started the year skiing in France over Christmas and New Year. Apart from the skiing and the mind blowing scenery, my very favourite thing about this particular trip was meeting our hosts. They came home on our final night, and we got to share a family meal with them.

I love spending Christmas in the mountains. I’m always telling friends that it’s the perfect way to keep Christmas magical when your kids get past the nativity/santa/new toys stage of life. The mountains are always magical. Rather than waiting for your teens to wake up on Christmas Day, why not spend the day skiing, snowboarding and drinking a few limoncello spritzes together?

Thanks to our lovely host Lois for lending us his car for the week. Lois also drove us to the station to get our train back to the airport at 5am. Fabulous! It’s also worth knowing that Thollon (the resort we visited) is small, family-friendly and very cost-effective. It’s a great option for beginner families and short trips. The ski passes there are half the price of the bigger, more well-known resorts.

February – Grone, Switzerland

Crans Montana

We had an amazing 5 days in February skiing near Crans Montana in Switzerland. I took some lessons and got much more confident in my skiing. Well, unless you count that one time that Flea asked me to ski down a bigger slope with her, and immediately zoomed off ahead of me, disappearing out of sight about halfway down the mountain. Obviously after 2 minutes I was stuck, so I had a little sit down and a stress cry until a kind instructor took pity on me. He carried my skis down while I did the walk of shame back to the bar…

For this trip, Flea brought along her flatmate so she didn’t have to be my emotional support animal for the entire trip. That was a lot of fun, and it was a lovely way for both girls to spend reading week. Not much reading happened (sorry to their university teachers) but there WAS an amazing sauna with views over the mountains!

March – Saint-Gingolph, France (again)

Having spotted that Lois and his wife were away, we took the opportunity to do a flying trip to ski for a weekend. See what I mean about home exchange being amazing?

We flew to Geneva from Scotland around 6am Friday. We arrived at our home exchange in time for lunch. After collecting our ski gear, we were free to ski all day Saturday and Sunday. Then we dropped our skis back on Monday morning, and were back in the UK for early afternoon. We spent less than £100 on flights, so we managed to do the whole weekend for around £250. It was SO perfect, we’re doing the trip again in 2026.

April – Paris

paris

Springtime in Paris? Why not?

Flea has had Paris on her wishlist for years now. For one reason and another, our plans to visit had never quite worked out before.

So we took the opportunity to visit a home exchange that I’d actually stayed in 2024 with my friends Judith and Kirsty. I LOVE home exchanging in Paris. We were in a little neighbourhood with its own bakery and restaurants and just a 15 minute metro ride from the central sights.

This time, Flea brought along her good friend Ben. The two of them had an awesome few days exploring Paris and seeing all the best exhibitions and the big sights. We took a boat tour and wandered for miles. Of course, I ate ALL the croissants. It was such a fun trip, and all the more special because Flea was able to get out and enjoy it with one of her friends, rather than being stuck with her old Mum all the time!

May – Norway

Norway fjord road trip

After the success of my solo trip to Cape Cod for May last year (which of course I wrote all about in this post – A Month in Cape Cod) I wanted to do something similar.

So for May 2025, I took a road trip through Norway and Sweden for four weeks. You can read more about this year’s adventure in this post about my Norway road trip solo adventure.

The trip kicked off with a not-solo few days with Sarah and Lindy in Bergen. One of the absolute joys of all of our kids getting older is the ability to take trips with friends. We honestly had the most fun exploring the city, cooking together and getting lost.

Then I took my hire car and headed off on a solo road trip up Norway’s West coast from Bergen to Ulstenveik and Aukrasanden. Let me tell you, Norway is HUGE. What looked on paper like a series of short drives between home exchanges turned into epic road trips with equally epic views.

I got to see the famous Geirangerfjord but the entire trip was spectacular. So many of the less famous fjords are just as beautiful and far less crowded. After 20 days, I ended my exploration of Norway by taking the famous train from Bergen to Oslo. I stayed overnight in a hotel in Oslo before heading into Sweden.

Norway fjord road trip

May – Sweden

After Oslo, I took a train to Gothenburg. I stayed overnight in another hotel before going on to an exchange in Tradet.

This is a tiny village in the middle of Sweden, staying in a simple cabin next to a lake. Again, this was a trip made so special by my exchange hosts. They lived just next door and invited me to join them for several meals, and even spend a traditional Swedish evening in the sauna drinking their home made cider. They also wrote down all the best places for me to go to, where to eat, where to buy souvenirs and where the best hikes were to be found. Exchanging is just amazing for making trips special like this.

amazing hosts in sweden

After a fabulous 5 days, I headed further East to a converted farm house in Nykopings. It was a relaxing kind of adventure. I took care of my hosts’ chickens and generally chilled out, before meeting Flea in Stockholm to end my trip. Flea was a great companion for my last few days, hunting out the best photgraphy exhibitions, art galleries and cool shopping districts in the city.

After four weeks on the road, I flew home with my teen. Then I think I slept for a week! But it was an awesome trip, and some of the best scenery I’ve seen in my whole life.

July – Kent

June was definitely a home month, recovering after a full month of travel. We had a lot going on with general family stuff over the summer. Flea was also busy job hunting. I took the opportunity to catch up on some client meetings, and spend time visiting friends.

broadstairs home exchange

But by July, I was ready for another adventure. I arranged a short trip with my friend Jeanette to stay in a home exchange in Broadstairs. Having never been to Kent, I was blown away by how pretty the coastline there was. We stayed in a 300 year old cottage that was packed with character. It was so nice to have company after the long solo trip.

Jeanette was the perfect companion because she loves to walk just as much as me. She also actually knows the names of all the plants you see along the way. Finally, she’s just as competitive as me – so there were some fierce Uno and air hockey battles.

July – Prague

Immediately after Broadstairs, I went to the airport to meet my friends Judith and Cathy. We all headed off for a few days in Prague, Czech Republic. If you’re interested, read about our trip to Prague in more detail here.

But we got so lucky with our exchange apartment here. It was a two storey apartment with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and a huge balcony that overlooked the city skyline and the castle. There was also a really fluffy cat, which is an occasional bonus found on a home exchange. You don’t get THAT in a hotel or an Airbnb.

prague

The city was so hectic, despite it being early summer. But the buildings and streets here are so beautiful that it was well worth the visit.

We marched for miles! Judith has a real talent for planning a travel itinerary so we got to do some really cool things like tour behind the scenes of the famous clock tower, and visit the highest restaurant in the city. Judith also found a particularly amazing cocktail bar that also served cake. Winning at life!
Prague was spectacular. I loved the bridges and the ancient castle, and compared to so many European cities, ancient history here has been preserved incredibly well.

August – New York

I travelled for most of August. It kicked off with 2 weeks in New York visiting my old friend Britt and her family. I’ve written a lot about New York over the years. You can find some of our top tips for family visits in this post.

new york central park boating lake

Flea was working a summer job, so it was a fantastic opportunity for me to spend time with Britt. We used to work together more than 20 years ago in London and it’s always such fun to catch up. I spent lots of days just walking the city and exploring, but we also met up with other friends for dinners, card games and theatre shows. It was low key and relaxing, and just far enough away from home that I could ignore a lot of the drama going on at home!

brooklyn dumbo

In the middle of the month, Flea flew out just in time to celebrate her birthday, and then we collected a rental car to head 10 hours South for a beach adventure.

August – North Carolina

After a hectic few days in New York, it was fun to head to the beach town of Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina. We stayed in a home exchange we first stayed in two years’ earlier when we took a road trip around the American South. You can read about THAT road trip here.

north carolina

We had a few days of lounging on the beach, playing arcade games on the boardwalk and eating Southern food. That said, we headed back to New York early when a hurricane landed! Fortunately it wasn’t too destructive but the beaches were all closed, so our trip was shorter than we’d hoped.

August – London

We rounded out the summer with a week in London. This gave Flea another opportunity to spend time with her friend Ben. We hung out at Camden market, went to see movies in Leicester Square and spent too much money on Carnaby Street. I love home exchanging in London because you get to do the proper living in London thing. Our exchange home in Crouch End was actually not far from where I did live in London in my 20s, so it’s fun to explore old haunts and see how things have changed.

carnaby st

September – Scotland

My final trip before starting my university course was again cut short by bad weather. What’s going on with all the storms this year? But I took a solo trip for a few days break. I wrote about my escape to Scotland but basically? It was a perfect excuse for more quality dog + beach time.

weekend in scotland

I’m sad the weather wasn’t good enough to get my kayak out and get on the water, though. This has been the first year in AGES that I haven’t had the chance to go kayaking. I miss it… a LOT.

December – Austria

We have one more trip to look forward to this year. Although once again, it’s fitting around Flea’s work commitments. She has a part-time job in Glasgow, and will need to work some of her Christmas holidays. But as soon as she’s finished with work, we are flying out to another exchange in Austria. This means we can spend our Christmas break skiing! Hurrah!

This will be my first time in Austria in the winter. Although I was in Vienna and then St Wolfgang last summer. It’s also my first time skiing since our last trip at the start of the year. Here’s hoping I haven’t forgotten the basics since this lesson in March!