Oh, the Places We've Gone - 2025 Edition

 

Oh, the Places We've Gone - 2025 Edition

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

We added one more country, Tunisia to our lists in 2025, so we'll update a post we last published in 2024. 

Here's what we wrote back in December 2017.

We once ran into a couple on a cruise who were strangely proud of having visited 130 "countries" and realized we never wanted to be "those people." It's more common (and a more difficult question) to be asked about our favorite region, country, or city. Still, people do ask us "How Many?" from time to time.

We still don't want to be "those people," but just recently our oldest grandchild, having memorized all of the countries in the world for fun (!), quizzed us. As he went through the list with us (an impressive feat on Jake's part), we realized how many places we still haven't been. 

As we've often written, but who's counting? Well, we are, but only once a year or less. The US and Canadian immigration officers who check our passports as part of our Nexus and Global Entry renewal interviews (a list of the countries visited within the previous five or so years is required) appear both impressed and amused by our list.  

We have met, or know of, frequent travelers who keep every boarding pass for every flight they've ever taken. Some folks keep track of the identification code of every plane they've flown on. As for us, we can't even differentiate between, say, an Airbus 320 and 321. Counting up countries is our limit.

 For sovereign countries we base our list on this website, which lists 195 sovereign states in the world. As of December 2025, we've visited 83 of them:

 

Antigua

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Barbados

Belgium

Belize

Brazil

Cambodia

Canada

Cape Verde
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia

Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark

Dominica 

Dominican Republic
Egypt
Estonia

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)

Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Holy See (Vatican City)
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India

Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Korea (North) - DMZ tour only
Korea (South)
Lesotho
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Monaco

Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Panama
Peru
Poland
Portugal

Qatar
Russia
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar - did not formally enter)
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand

Tunisia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Vietnam
Zimbabwe 

 

Based on the Travelers' Century Club, which currently lists a generous total of 330 countries and territories, we've visited a total of 112  as of December 2025. Wanna count 'em all?

Pacific Ocean (6/40)
Australia

Fiji Islands
French Polynesia (Tahiti,Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier)
Hawaiian Islands
New Zealand
Tasmania

North America (4/6)

Alaska
Canada
Mexico
U.S. (continental)

Central America (5/7)
Belize (British Honduras)
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Honduras
Panama
 

South America (6/14)
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia

Peru
Uruguay
 

Caribbean (17/31)
Antigua & Deps. (Barbuda, Redonda)
Bahamas
Barbados
Cayman Islands

Dominica 
Dominican Republic
Jamaica
Leeward Islands, French (St. Martin)
Puerto Rico
St. Barts
St. Kitts
St. Lucia

St. Martin (France)
Sint Maarten (Netherlands - formerly Netherlands Antilles)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Virgin Islands, U.S. (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas)
Virgin Islands, British (Tortola, etc.)
 

Atlantic Ocean (6/14)
Azores Islands
Bermuda
Canary Islands
Cape Verde Islands
Iceland
Madeira
 

Europe and Mediterranean (41/68)
Austria
Belgium
Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca)

Corsica
Croatia

Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany

Gibraltar
Greece

Greek Aegean Islands (Patmos)

Greek Ionian Islands (Corfu, etc.)
Hungary
Ireland (Eire)
Ireland, Northern (Ulster)
Italy

Liechtenstein 

Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco

Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Sicily
Scotland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey in Europe (Istanbul)
Vatican City
Wales

 

Antarctica (0/7)

None

Africa (8/55)
Egypt in Africa

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
Lesotho
Morocco
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar)
South Africa

Tunisia
Zimbabwe

 
Middle East (2/21)

Qatar 
United Arab Emirates
 

Indian Ocean (1/15)
The Maldives   

 

Asia (16/52) 

Cambodia 

China, People's Rep. 

Hong Kong 

India 

Indonesia (Java)

Japan 

Korea, North (DMZ tour only) 

Korea, South 

Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Timor, Indonesia)

Malaysia 

Singapore 

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)  

Taiwan 

Thailand 

Turkey in Asia 

Vietnam

 

As we look ahead to 2026, we wish everyone Happy New Year and Happy Travels!

 

Reminiscing: Travel Highlights and Lowlights of 2025

A splendid start to our recent twelve months of travel was our January flight to Rome and four-night stay in one of our favorite places, the walled Old Town of Lucca, the birthplace of Puccini and the location of several excellent restaurants.

February and March in Prague and Vienna gave us the opportunity to watch one of our favorite operas, The Magic Flute, in an historic Prague opera house in which Mozart himself conducted. We'd seen it before on film while watching the classic movie Amadeus, which was largely filmed in Prague.

In late March and early April we took advantage of a bargain business class fare to Paris on Aer Lingus. We experienced the theft of Kathy's purse while riding a TGV train from Paris CDG Airport to Tours. Fortunately, the loss was small. We had done some things right, but we learned a couple of valuable train travel tips from a sympathetic policeman in Tours.

In late May we made our nineteenth trip to Australia and again attended the annual Oz Fest hosted by Australian members of FlyerTalk. It was thoroughly enjoyable, despite a diversion back to LAX and a one-day delay in arriving. It's safe to say it was one of those travel experiences in which getting there was definitely NOT half the fun.

In June we sailed on a seven-night Seabourn cruise from Juneau Alaska to Vancouver British Columbia, taking in some magnificent scenery along the way, and visiting towns both memorable and forgettable.

In July we both managed to renew our passports online with lightning speed. Isn't it a good feeling when things work efficiently?

The Labor Day weekend saw us flying to Honolulu on a bargain fare,  our first visit there since 2022. We entertained ourselves by seeking out some reasonably priced Waikiki dining options.

Later in September we visited Kathy's home town of Durango, Colorado, to attend her sixtieth high school reunion.

During this trip, we managed to attend a fantastic luncheon hosted by Kathy's youngest brother and his wife in their beautiful home in Farmington, New Mexico. An up-and-coming young chef, Justin Pioche (he was a 2023 James Beard Southwest Finalist) prepared and presented a unique feast to twelve lucky guests with the assistance of his mother and sister. 

We also were fortunate enough to finally meet Gil and Kim Garduno. Gil is a superb writer about food and restaurants. We love to read Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, which features his reviews of restaurants in the southwest and occasionally beyond. They are not just reviews, but beautifully written essays filled with humor, insights, and fascinating details. He writes about our shared luncheon here.

We capped off our travel year by wandering around parts of France and Italy with Kathy's brother Tom and his wife Ellyn. We savored the cuisine of Alsace before traveling onward to Italy, capped off with our visit to Bergamo, which instantly became one of our favorite Old Towns in Italy, perhaps even surpassing Lucca.

We concluded that trip by flying to Athens with Tom and Ellyn and embarking on Oceania's Marina for an eleven-day voyage to Barcelona. 

One of the several countries we visited on the cruise was one new  to us, the North African nation of Tunisia. By our calculations, that's the 83rd sovereign country we've visited together. As we always hastily add, "but who's counting?"

We had both caught viruses on the ship that left us with annoying coughs for a month after returning home. To ease our trip, we checked our rollaboards on the Lufthansa flight from Barcelona to Frankfurt. Kathy's bag arrived late on the carousel with the handle destroyed, making it virtually unusable. 

In the course of obtaining a replacement bag from Lufthansa, Brian was threatened with arrest by a suddenly irate Lufthansa employee, simply for taking a photo of the suitcases on display. The employee suspected Brian of taking a photo of him and exploded almost hysterically, retreating quickly when shown the innocent actual photo Brian had taken. 

We left with a quite decent German-made suitcase, unfortunately too large to be a carry-on, and an understanding that in a similar situation it would be a good idea to ask permission to take a photo in advance.

We've  qualified for another year of  top-tier Titanium Atmos Rewards status on Alaska Airlines. Bob, our engineer friend, questions why titanium sits above silver and gold levels, given that titanium is less valuable than either. All we can think of to tell Bob is that titanium is known for its qualities of durability and low maintenance. We ourselves hope to be durable and we always try to be low maintenance.

And there we have it, a year of travel with numerous highlights and just enough lowlights to keep things interesting. As we look forward to family time during the holidays, and our first trip of 2026 in early January, we wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

Getting in a Lather About Hotel Soap Dispensers

We stayed in a pleasant Seattle area Hilton Garden Inn Thanksgiving night after a family dinner. We noticed that the hotel had posted a sign in the corridor proclaiming that rooms were cleaned every other day. That's okay with us, as we generally don't create a big mess in our lodgings. 

Was it done in the name of environmental consciousness ("We only use half as many supplies as before to clean your room") or as a cost saver for the hotel that would be passed along to the customers? We didn't stop to read the fine print, but realized we had been enhanced again.

Frequent travelers of our acquaintance are wryly amused when encountering the words "enhanced" and "enhancement" in the announcements of airlines and hotel chains. The travel industry has long utilized them to announce changes in their programs. The punch line is that, more often than not, the changes aren't in the best interests of consumers, despite the claims.

Let's talk about the recent enhancements to soap and shampoo, the amenities that virtually all hotels now provide. Have you heard of Ellsworth Statler, the founder of the chain of Statler Hotels? We hadn't either. Statler not only was one of the first American hoteliers to introduce private en suite bathrooms to hotel rooms, but he supplied individual bars of soap to guests starting around 1910. 

Believe it or not, it was as recently as 1970 that the Four Seasons London Hotel at Park Lane supposedly became the first hotel to offer shampoo, albeit packaged in those little plastic packets that are so annoying to rip open.  

Years after those innovations, hotel guests are now stuck with dispensers affixed to the wall of the shower. How did that happen? Lawmakers in a number of jurisdictions, including California, having solved all of the major problems they faced, found time to pass laws outlawing the distribution of "single-use" toiletries, legislation encouraged and welcomed by the hotel industry.

Along with the references to "sustainability" and "reduction of plastic waste", soap-dispenser manufacturers have advised hotel owners that they can start to see a return on their investment (ROI periods) in dispensers in as little as six months. Getting accolades for improving the environment while increasing profitability: what's not to like about that?

Well, for the record, we do dislike the liquid soap that one finds in the dispensers. Liquid soap contains much less soap and more additives, which may include stabilizers, thickeners, and preservatives. We find it watery and greasy - it's often labeled "shower gel" -  and have begun to carry our own soap, which adds a little bulk and the potential of some messiness in our rollaboards.  

There are other concerns. Although sealed container systems are available at a greater cost, in our experience most hotels use refillable bottles. It's a common practice to "top up" dispensers, rather than emptying them and cleaning them before putting them back in use. We've noticed moldy smells in the vicinity of the bottles more than once. 

Popular travel blogger Gary Leff of View From the Wing is a self-admitted germophobe who has been railing against dispensers for years. Most recently, he learned from a reader of a Hyatt property in Arizona with bulk toiletries on a housekeeping cart in condiment containers.

Take it from a manufacturer of sealed soap refill systems: Refillable soap dispensers are very labor-intensive to maintain properly, and that includes monthly sanitizing, which seems to us like minimal maintenance. One in four dispensers is contaminated with bacteria, leaving hands with up to 25 times more germs after washing than before. You can read about this in greater detail in a summary of a National Institute of Health study.

We learned of one final irony in regard to protecting the environment. The manufacturing and distributing of liquid soap carry a larger carbon footprint than that of bar soap because of its heavy water content. Analyses suggest that liquid soap can have about a 25% higher carbon footprint than bar soap on a per-wash basis.  

As for us, we'll continue to carry a bar of soap with us on our travels. Maybe we'll add a mini-bottle of shampoo or two to make it a clean break from those hotel dispensers. 

No TSA Real ID? You Can Soon Pay a Fee and Make Your Flight

THOUGH the mills of God grind slowly,

Yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience he stands waiting,

With exactness grinds he all.

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Congress enacted the REAL ID Act in 2005, in response to the 2001 9/11 attacks. It was finally implemented May 7, 2025, after numerous delays. 

In November 2025, one of our relatives thought she had lost her passport a few days before a planned domestic flight. She made the mistake of canceling it immediately. A short while later her husband found the passport, but the damage was done. 

She discovered she could not cancel her cancellation, She had not upgraded her state driver's license to meet Real ID requirements, and that's impossible to do on short notice. She managed to apply immediately for a new passport. However, as part of that application procedure, the expired (or cancelled) passport must be surrendered, so she lost that form of ID (the TSA will accept recently expired ID, but we could find no definitive statement about cancelled ID). What to do? 

With some research help from us, she discovered it wasn't that big a deal. We learned she would be well advised to arrive at the checkpoint early, to carry whatever photo ID she had, and to be prepared to spend some extra time. Along with her driver's license, she had government-employee photo ID, which might help and definitely wouldn't hurt.

After all of the stress and concern she experienced in the days leading up to the flight, the anti-climactic reality was that the TSA employees checked her ID, swabbed her hands, and quickly cleared her. The return trip proved even simpler, with no hand-swabbing.

The TSA has now decided to monetize such situations by charging a rather hefty $45 fee to process travelers lacking REAL ID as of February 1. The original fee proposed was $18, so we might consider the new fee both punitive and profitable.

On the other hand, knowing well in advance she'd be cleared to fly would have alleviated her worries, making such a fee a cost-effective, if pricey, investment in peace of mind. 

Years ago there was talk of chip implants to facilitate ID - they do work for dogs and other pets. It turns out facial recognition technology seems to have eliminated any such need. As we proceed through the US Immigration Global Entry line upon returning from abroad, we no longer have to physically present our passports to the kiosk machines, but only our faces for a photo. The immigration officers match our photos to our faces and so far have let us through without any delay.

It greatly simplifies the process, while being a somewhat eerie and, yes, unsettling experience. Longfellow's "mills of God" - or government - may grind slowly, but we're no doubt dinosaurs for worrying about being ground up in the process.