My final word of 2025
“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.”
photo out the window of a flight landing at PTY this afternoon
I’ve got adventure on the brain. I’ve been sharing reflections on my six words of 2025 in the Aetheria Movement newsletters.
I didn’t start 2025 intent on having that many words of the year, but those are what came - the word of the year is like an intention setting for the new year vs a resolution. This Libra Moon/Aquarius Sun figured why choose between them or heck even just have one word, when your heart is feeling called equally to them all, then you’re six-sided this year.
Adventure is the final word of the group. It’s both aspirational and in most of my adulthood and in particular this past year, very embodied. I’ve been doing the digital nomad thing with my family — add a 50lb dog and more than two suitcases — since October 2024. This has been a year of home having a big meaning, and not one attached to a single location or domicile. You can read more about my reflections on that here.
a herd of cows free roaming in the neighborhood of Surfside, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Of the famous white men out there, Bourdain is one of the few I’ve admired for years, from the Travel Channel to CNN days to his books. I’ve read all of the posthumous biographies (including Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, which I read during a few days stay in Kansas City during the pandemic and loved) and was gifted Roadrunner for a birthday – highly recommend. Another white guy also comes to mind – Rick Steves. Honestly, I would have associated him less with adventure before reading his On the Hippie Trail that was gifted by a dear friend earlier this year.
photo of my Jan 2025 tattoo “home” - to remind me that home is both everywhere and within
A starry-eyed somewhat-traveled 20 something year old found Bourdain’s brand of travel appealing, as a way to experience the world, to be a part of it, to let history come alive, not just consume it or take pretty pictures of it.
I took my first international trip as part of a high school student ambassador trip, which my Mom and I fund-raised for to cover my expenses. (I did not grow up traveling outside of car trips around the South, for dance competitions, or annual visits to family within four hours’ drive away.) This high school trip was about a week and a half each in Australia and New Zealand – we traveled by bus once in country, mostly, and did a combination of sightseeing and cultural exchange. It was incredible, and I came back the summer before my senior year of high school even more ready to bust out of my small suburban, Southern town. I was ready to experience the world beyond this region and the US.
Since then, I’ve traveled to nearly 60 countries. Having seen so much, there is still so much more of the world I’ve not seen or experienced, which is why I love the Bourdain quote above. It’s like the adage about getting older, getting wiser - you realize just how much you don’t know. The hubris of youth (I know it all) gets replaced by “I know a lot, and I still have so much more to learn, see, and experience.”
As my husband often says, and I echo - “I want to see it all.” Not for an Instagram post but for the knowledge and wonder that travel brings, the empathy, compassion, loving-kindness, and more.
I wish for all people to experience uninhibited travel and migration, free from war, genocide, colonization, and displacement. Travel, adventure, and freedom of movement shouldn’t just be for the privileged few, dictated by country of passport issuance; they should be accessible to all.
