Reflections on 2025
There’s something about the end of the year that invites both looking back and leaning forward at the same time. Here are our reflections on 2025 and a sneak peek on the new year.
A sparkling start (and a quiet goodbye)
For us, the year started with a bang, quite literally. We rang in 2025 on the top deck of the Disney Wonder, watching fireworks bloom over the River Derwent in Hobart while the crew handed out commemorative New Year’s cups filled with bubbly and everyone filmed the colourful sky. We didn’t know it at the time, but this would be one of the final opportunities to experience this special event in Australia as Disney later announced that this would be their final season down under. We had hoped to make this cruise our New Year’s tradition because we love it so much, but it wasn’t meant to be. That will make our 2025/26 Disney Wonder New Year’s Eve celebration feel both special and a little sad.
Read our Disney Wonder guide here, the news about the Wonder leaving here and some DCL trivia here
South Korea, A first visit with lasting impressions
Our big trip of the year was to South Korea, visiting Seoul and Busan. It was our first time there, but it definitely won’t be our last. When we plan a trip, we do our usual thing: build a Google Map and start pinning vegetarian restaurants, galleries, oddities from Atlas Obscura, public transport stops, and anything else that catches our eye. Once there’s a critical mass of pins, that’s where we start looking for somewhere to stay. In Seoul, that landed us in Insadong, and honestly, it was the best place we could have chosen. Central and buzzy, yet in a city famous for jam-packed alleyways, Insadong still felt like it had room to breathe. We found locally owned restaurants, small shops, and artisans tucked just off the main streets. Perfection for our first visit.
One of the most moving experiences of the trip was our tour of the DMZ. Our guide walked us through the history of this highly contested strip of land with care and clarity. I knew some of this history through my high school teacher’s lens, but standing there, surrounded by baby-faced soldiers and barbed wire, it landed differently. Seeing the battle scars on a metal train engine, walking down the damp third tunnel, looking out toward North Korea in the haze. I’m not the same person I was before. And yet, we were surprised to see how much of the land within the DMZ has returned to a natural state, alive with birds, water, and trees. That left me with a note of hope. The day was a reminder that travel isn’t only about pretty vistas or finding the best local dish. It’s about perspective, and growth. Growth can be hard.
Read more about our DMZ adventure here, a Seoul Beer Trail here, and our picks for plant-based foodies visiting Korea.
Crossing the ditch for Beervana
To change tacks a little, ok, a lot… we attended Beervana for the first time this year. After being let down by GABS, we crossed the ditch to Wellington, a city that’s quickly becoming one of our favourites. We’ve been to more than a few beer festivals over the years, but Beervana had somehow never made the calendar. The venue initially perplexed me. It’s held in the apron around the inside of Sky Stadium, not quite indoors and not quite outdoors. And in a city known for its challenging weather. We paid extra for early entry, and if we go again, we’ll absolutely do that again. It gave us time to chat with brewers before the crowds hit, get our bearings, and sample the most in-demand beers before the lines grew long. It did get busy and overwhelming later on, so I was glad we’d had that quieter window. And we tasted some genuinely brilliant Kiwi beers. In a strange twist of fate, Seoul Brewery was the international guest at Beervana 2025. The stars clearly had a sense of humour this year.
Read about Beervana highlights here
Halloween on the High Seas
We managed a double first in 2025, if that’s a thing. We did our very first back-to-back Disney cruise and experienced Halloween on the High Seas. I’ve always loved Halloween, something I miss from living in the US. Australia is only just starting to embrace the darker holiday, so when the opportunity came up, we booked it. Seeing the characters in full Halloween garb was a delight, and I think I’ve only just finished the candy from the trick-or-treating the cast organised in Cabanas. The creativity of our fellow sailors was off the hook: cabin doors, costumes, generosity. It really made for a special sailing. One afternoon, while waiting for a show to start in the atrium, I felt a gentle tug on the hem of my dress. A little girl in full princess costume stood there, holding an orange jack-o-lantern almost as big as she was. She handed me a few lollies and whispered shyly, “Trick or treat.” I caught her mum’s eye and smiled, and she smiled back, clearly proud. My heart melted. That tiny interaction perfectly captured the Disney cruise community: generous, deeply themed, and always passing the joy along.
Read more about our back-to-back DCL experience here.
Melbourne discoveries
Of course, we went to Melbourne in 2025. We’re lucky enough to visit once or twice a year for a variety of reasons: an exhibition at the NGV, theatre, or a cruise departure. It feels like our second home. This year, one of my favourite bands, The Flaming Lips, toured Australia. I briefly entertained the idea of going to every show, but reality intervened, and we settled on Melbourne and Sydney. Both were incredible, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. While in town, we spent time visiting breweries in South Melbourne. Not a big pub crawl, just a compact afternoon loop. We also discovered a shared affection for Australian sculptor Tom Bass. He has a piece in Melbourne’s CBD and, as it turns out, several works scattered around Sydney as well. There’s something about his work that evokes the same sensibility we love in Disney’s Mary Blair.
Read about the South Mebourne brewery loop here and Tom Bass here
Final thoughts and looking forward to 2026
The final months of the year have been consumed by planning for 2026. We have a world trip on the horizon, and bookings are now well underway. We’ve started calling it our “gap quarter.” Neither of us had a gap year at 18, and this version is less about hostels and late nights and more about longer stays … with some responsible daytime drinking sprinkled in there. Planning and funding a trip of more than two months is no small task, so there are spreadsheets on spreadsheets and many, many Google Maps keeping us on track and helping us make good decisions.
2026 already feels big and a little intimidating, but that’s part of the appeal. What is it that they say about doing one thing that scares you every year? If this year has shown us anything, it’s that our curiosity (and our many map pins) still lead us to great places, whether that’s ordering a craft beer in broken English at Seoul taphouse, spending time with a sculpture we have passed a hundred times, or a generous candy-filled pumpkin held out by a shy stranger. Those are the moments that we value now more than ever, and are looking for more of in 2026.
