Our 2025 Travel Ideas after visiting 26 cities in 14 countries on 4 continents in 1 year

[@Midlifewanders]

We just had 1 day in Lake Como as a day trip from Milan. But it is a top 10 day we’ve ever had. Absolutely loved Villa Monastero and Varenna. Thanks for sharing your highlight reel. Many of your 2024 spots are on our list for the future!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Ailie, We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed Lake Como, too! We'll be sharing our 2025 plans with you next Saturday, so you'll hopefully have even more ideas to consider. Of course, the year is going to be way too short and there are places we wish we could get to but won't. But right there is the absolute joy of full-time travel: we don't have to wait for our next vacation! Thank you so much for watching! -Judy

[@Fernwehexpat]

I think we are going to become Gelato members soon…. Have you all considered Serbia, Columbia, Iceland, Turkey?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

We'd love to have you join our Gelato Membership when the time is right. And we added some cool new perks a few months ago. We actually visited Belgrade, Serbia in the fall of 2023 (and Kevin even had a hernia surgery while we were there!). We had hoped to visit Colombia in early 2025, but we detoured to Central America in order to get a cheaper flight back to the US this spring for our annual visit. Turkey has been on our list since before we even started traveling. It was supposed to be one of our earliest destinations in 2023, but it had that terrible earthquake and we opted to give the country a little time to recover. One of the challenges with Turkey is that it's non-Schengen. That's not a problem at all, but we want to save it for a time when we need to escape Schengen. We strongly considered it for 2025 (and we may revert to it again if we feel like we have any safety concerns with one of our other non-Schengen countries we are visiting next year). An additional complication right now in Turkey is that they have gotten rid of Airbnb for certain length stays, which makes it slightly less affordable and more complicated to book because we know a lot of people who have had their accommodations canceled at the last minute and it has blown their budgets finding an alternative. That hasn't deterred us, but it has made it a tiny bit harder. Iceland is a bucket list destination, but it hasn't made it to the top quarter of our list yet (in part because it's expensive), but I'm sure we'll get there eventually. We want to visit some of the Nordic countries first, which also aren't cheap. So many places we want to see. We encourage anyone who's thinking about this lifestyle to start when they're younger than we were (and we retired early!). -Judy 🎥 Impressions of Belgrade: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKGumZ1sZad5m5o 🎥 Surgery in Serbia: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2PTpGV4ltysfdk

[@joannekelleher3496]

After watching the video, I'm thinking of adding Lake Como and Albania to my list of places to visit. Thanks!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Joanne, Lake Como was beautiful. We have some tips in our full video you may want to watch. Our video from Tirana is also linked below. Tirana is not the most beautiful place and its people sometimes take a little while to warm up, but some of them are extremely friendly and kind. And there are plenty of Italian influences in Tirana-in fact, one sweet woman who sold us some fruit and veggies was trying to communicate with me and we ended up speaking a bit of Italian together, which was such a fun surprise. Not sure if you know any Italian, it's not required for sure, but it is fun when you discover that there's a common language to communicate in! If you go to either of those places, we'd love to hear what you think! -Judy 🎥 Lake Como and Verona: Two of the Most Charming Places in Italy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKXOY3qCd7Obnsk 🎥 TIRANA: Dive into Albania's Rich Culture & History | COMPLETE Travel Guide: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZi3aoxmgLmFqbM

[@sophiabarger22]

Yes, beautiful. You guys had a lot of fun. I'm jealous it was and I hope to do it soon and just beautiful. Have fun guys Bello bello. And thank you for showing us all those beautiful places.😮❤

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much for watching, Sophia! We did have a lot of fun. Someone asked us to talk about the cons of traveling like this and we will have to think long and hard about those drawbacks! This was an especially incredible year, but we are looking forward to our plans for 2025 and we will be sharing those next week! -Judy

[@enriquesanchez2001]

What a wonderful overview! And to say that I watched all of those wonderful videos - looking forward to Argentina! ♥ HEALTHY NEW YEAR to you BOTH, JUDY AND KEVIN!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much, Enrique! We are so honored to have you traveling alongside us for so much of our journeys. By the way, did you see all the snow in Madrid right now?! Brrrr!

[@RRSS2009]

Born and raised in Argentina here, living in the USA since 2000. Been back to visit friends and family there but next time I'm going as a tourist too! Iguazu falls and Patagonia are in my bucket list. And since I am there, I may add Peru as well. I thought you guys went to Machu Picchu already? And Colombia as well, but were not included in this video. Happy travels!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@RRSS2009 Prices in Argentina have skyrocketed. We had two canceled flights and rescheduling them was frustrating. We had intended to visit Perito Moreno Glacier, but rescheduling the flight in peak season was too expensive for us. We were super bummed. The only upside is that we definitely plan to return to Argentina when the economy has stablized a bit. We had Machu Picchu on our list for February but had taken it off when we did trip planning during our time in Buenos Aires. After hearing everyone's comments about it, though, we decided to shortchange/skip (we're still figuring it out) Lima, but we have definitely added back in Machu Picchu. It will be the rainy season, but we think it will still be worth doing. We tossed around the idea of Colombia, but it never made it to our schedule. Instead, we found a way to get get back to the US by way of Costa Rica and Mexico City, so we're doing that instead. Our video next week will walk you through all our travel plans for 2025, including how we put our plans together. We'll also be sharing our projected budget for 2025 as well! -Judy

[@joecowan3719]

What a great 2024 recap video! My dad was in the navy in the late 60s and has been recommending Trieste for our next trip to Italy, so we added it as our last week of our yearly July trip. All the research we have been doing it seems to hit all the boxes we love about the north of Italy, with a really unique blend of 3 different cultures. We will gladly share our experiences in this unique region. Happy 2025 planning and travels! Joe and Karan Cowan

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Joe and Karan, We have had Trieste on our list of places to visit for the last couple of years. We tried to throw it onto 2025, but we don't have enough Schengen time (drats). We definitely are interested in hearing your thoughts about it! Thank you so much for watching and for sharing this with us! -Judy

[@utubeaf3c0]

I would recommend adding Jordan to your list. We visited earlier this year and were pleasantly surprised; this may have been influenced by the fact that we had just visited Egypt immediately prior to our Jordan trip. While you'll obviously encounter sales pitches around major tourist sites, they didn't seem as pervasive or high-pressure as they did in Egypt. It's not necessarily a discount travel destination; however, some locales warrant the cost. We stayed a few nights at the Marriott Dead Sea Resort & Spa, where you can stay for around $135 USD per night-cheaper than many hotels in the U.S. Our whirlwind trip included Amman (the Citadel, museums, etc.), the Gilead Mountains (Mountain Breeze Resort), Wadi Rum (Memories Aicha Luxury Camp), Aqaba (Red Sea), Petra/Wadi Musa, Madaba, and the Dead Sea, with many stops along the way. The people were the real gem of our visit-very hospitable and accepting of Westerners, in our opinion.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @utubeaf3c0, We would LOVE to visit Jordan. We're getting some sense that it's still not quite stable there right now or it would definitely be on our 2025 travel plans. Wow. Sounds like you had an amazing trip. Thanks for all this extra detail. I'm putting your sightseeing on our wishlist. -Judy

[@robertspanjers7888]

​@@FindingGinaMarie if you happen to visit Jordan, I highly recommend to buy a Jordan Pass. It includes entry into Petra (if you like to do some hikes there, I would buy the pass with two day entry), your Visa and some other entrances to attractions. It is really worth it as you already save about 30dollar if you would only go to Petra and pay separate for Visa on arrival.

[@annetterobinson3213]

What a great video….so many amazing memories for you both! It’s made me so jealous that we haven’t videoed our first year of travel….maybe I need to somehow make some photos into a kind of video as a memory for us. You did a fantastic job and can’t wait to follow along on your 2025 travels and hope to cross paths again ❤

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Annette & Pete, we would love it if our paths could cross again! And quite honestly, I don’t know if we would’ve thought to do something like this if we didn’t have a KZbin channel, so don’t beat yourself up too hard for not thinking of it for yourselves. But honestly, you totally could combine all of your photos into a retrospective, and I’m sure it would be absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for being along on the ride for us this year. -Judy

[@cindybeasley6706]

Last week I planned a 2-week vacation starting in Okinawa, then Kyoto, then Tokyo. I will rewatch your videos on Japan. Happy Holidays to you both and I’m looking forward to seeing your 2025 travel videos 😀

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @cindybeasley6706, That sounds like it will be a fun trip! We are trying to see if there's a way to get back to Japan in 2026. It's tricky because there's so much of the world we want to see. We're looking at potentially Fukuoka, but it's still very early days for us to sort it out. -Judy 🎥 Japan travel series: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF0V4Brx4J0uWJdQENFZKWBT

[@tammyvig8253]

Heading to Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong and a 2 week Viking cruise from Tokyo to HK in the fall and Andalucia in February.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @tammyvig8253, Wow, that will be a wonderful trip! We found Hong Kong to be fairly expensive, but if you're spending the bulk of your time on a cruise, that should be amazing! We'd love to hear about your adventures when you return. We're curious about Andalucia. Will you have a vehicle or will you be getting around via train? -Judy

[@tammyvig8253]

@ yes, it will be expensive, especially the Viking cruise! We are doing train and some private transfers in Andalucia. We fly in and out of Malaga, then we are doing the Caminito del Rey hike, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Ronda for a total of 16 nights.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@@tammyvig8253 Oh wow, that sounds amazing. There is so much of Spain we want to see...and never, ever enough time! -Judy

[@vickie3237]

Thanks yes Argentina

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Yes, Argentina has been an interesting country in November/December 2024. We are eager to let you know our thoughts! -Judy

[@Fell214]

What an amazing year you folks had. Appreciate your bravery in visiting diverse locations. We are still a little nervous about SE Asia. It’s such a privilege to be retired nomads.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi M&T, Let us know how we can relieve your worries about SE Asia. We had some fears of our own and they really ended up being unjustified. We were overwhelmed with what to see and do because we had never done research before deciding to go to those places, but food, language, and navigation was better than we could have imagined. I think the hardest place for us to visit was South Korea because all of their navigation was in Korean and it made it trickier than we would have liked, but it was overall great. You are right about the privilege. We are SO incredibly grateful to be living this way (especially when we saw SE Asians working up in their 80s in a field as a laborer). We feel shamefully entitled and try not to take this lifestyle for granted. Thanks so much for watching! -Judy

[@Fell214]

@ Language and safety are our main concerns about SE Asia, especially in Vietnam and Cambodia (which are the two most interesting countries to us). Agree that it’s important not to take retired travel for granted and strive to travel ethically and be good ambassadors. Slow travel gives us a chance to contribute to local economies and local causes (monetarily or volunteer). We spend a lot of time in the Lake District in the UK and in Croatia. So, we support and volunteer for a conservation group in the Lake District and volunteer for a group that maintains a small neighborhood park in Split. Small steps, but hopefully helpful.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

I think whatever you give back is worthwhile. We love hearing that you volunteer. At some point we would like to do that while traveling abroad, but we're still at a stage where we aren't ready to slow down enough to carve out time for it. While language is more of a concern when you are volunteering in Southeast Asia, there are people who do speak English and we use Google Translate a TON! As far as safety, I don't think there is very much to worry about except possibly in remote areas (which we did not visit). We found the people of both countries to be extremely friendly. I think you need to mind your property more with fellow tourists than with locals. -Judy

[@Fell214]

@ Thanks for your insight. We are planning SE Asia next January.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

There is an extremely high likelihood (100%?!) that we'll be in Southeast Asia as well. We likely will be taking a look at Penang, Malaysia and a few other destinations, but we are just sorting out our high-priority destinations right now on a wish list. -Judy

[@louisedasilva6046]

You guys have really accomplished a lot in 2024, so many adventures and special memories. I’m from Nova Scotia, Canada. There’s lots to see in eastern Canada including Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Les Iles de la Madeleine and Nova Scotia. My husband is from the Azores and we visited three of the islands last year and really enjoyed it. Happy Travels

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @louisedasilva6046, We honestly did not realize how many cool things we did until we did a look backwards. I mean of course we were having a blast, but we definitely checked some things off our bucket list this year. Of course, that list keeps growing and growing! We have never been to Nova Scotia. We grew up a stone's throw from Ontario, Canada-we used to get gasoline in the 1970s by crossing the New York State border! We've been to Montreal, but there is a lot of Canada we have yet to explore! We just have to find a time of year when it's warm enough! It may actually be worthwhile in summer when we are trying to get out of Europe. I wonder how the crowds are in that part of the world at that time of year. Thanks so much for reaching out! We've been to Lisbon, Porto, and Cascais, but we have a lot more of Portugal to explore as well. -Judy

[@louisedasilva6046]

@ I would recommend visiting eastern Canada in late June or early September. The weather should be good and it won’t be as busy as the summer. Make sure that you book everything early especially a rental car. 😊

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Ugh, the dreaded rental car. We try to avoid renting vehicles as much as possible when we're traveling, except in the US when we have no choice because we want to see family. We'll see what we can do without having to rent a vehicle if that's even possible. -Judy

[@EvolveMoore]

Love your content! My husband and I are excited to start our journey and you guys are such an inspiration! We’re planning the reverse… starting in South America with a visit with my family in Brazil! 6-7 months there starting in September. Heading to Argentina next and hopping around. Then Europe for the warmer months and then Asia!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

How awesome, @EvolveMoore! We'll be sharing our 2025 travel plans this Saturday, so we hope you'll stay tuned for that. We encourage you to be mindful about Argentina. We'll have a video coming out soon that talks more about it, but right now the prices are out of sight. They may improve by later in the year, but right now they gave us serious sticker shock. We hope to be in Asia again in early 2026. Not sure if your timeline shows it as 2027 when you'll be there, but we'd love our paths to cross! Have you seen our downsizing series or our full-time travel content? I'll link both below if they're helpful for you. -Judy 🎥 Downsizing for Retirement or Full-Time Travel Series: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF2xRusfMEQvN-5LZZqdnQIf ✅ Downsizing Prep Worksheet: findingginamarie.com/request-downsizing-prep-worksheet FULL-TIME TRAVEL: 🎥 Preparing for Full-Time Travel: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF0Hm94IeHJksaTV37AcdchX 🎥 Navigating Full-Time Travel: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF1PzikjO5wvLLMtOE1UkdvH 🔗 Here's a link to our ever-growing articles for full-time travelers (you can find it by going to our travel tips and then filtering by Nomads): 📝 Articles for Full-Time Travelers: findingginamarie.com/travel-tips/?category=nomads

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Now that I am looking again at your profile, I'm pretty sure I already shared our resources with you. I like your therapist resources and watched a few of your videos! -Judy

[@EvolveMoore]

@@FindingGinaMarie yes, we have connected!!! And your content is super helpful! Yes, I have watched all of the downsizing videos!! 😆 We’ve been doing some research on Argentina… we’ll see if the plans remain the same. We have till September to decide for good! How far in advance do you book your stays? We should be in Brazil with my family for about 2-3 weeks.

[@EvolveMoore]

@@FindingGinaMarie thank you for the compliment on my content ☺️

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@@EvolveMoore We juggle several elements for how we book our travel. If you haven't seen our travel planning video from a few weeks ago, I'll link it below. This Saturday's video will also go through our 2025 planning. So for instance, we knew the major cities we wanted to visit and the countries we wanted to see for several months, but we ended up using a chunk of time when we were in Argentina to book ourselves through June 2025. We had a few things on the books in Europe, but not our time in South and Central America because those places needed more research. We thought we had a plan, but then when we put numbers to it all, we had to unravel it and tighten it up a bit. A week before Christmas (2024) we laid out our plans for the latter half of 2025. We had a few destinations we wanted to hit, but we had to look at pricing for everything. So far we haven't booked anything formally yet, but we'll be looking at doing that probably closer to the end of this week and determine what we need to book now and what we can wait to book. If we only see a few cheap accommodations in our selected cities, we'll book those first and try to stretch out payments (some Airbnbs allow us to pay in two or three payments without interest). If we are going to be in hotels that don't require payment until arrival, we'll book those straight away. In both instances, we try to book things that have a good amount of flexibility in case we need to adjust our plans. And then we will book flights based on how good the pricing is and how confident we are that those plans are fully solid, since airfare isn't nearly as flexible and we don't ever pay for refundable flights. Hopefully this helps! -Judy 🎥How We Planned Our 2024 Trips as Full-Time Travelers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/honPeIqGrrqhd6M

[@GlobetrotterGranny]

This was a fun recap of your travels in 2024!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks for watching, Rebecca! We did some fun adventures this year and it's hard to believe the year is nearly over. We are excited about our travel plans for 2025, but as we hear everyone else's we have a bit of FOMO! I wish we could do it all at once! I'm already compiling my 2026 wish list! -Judy

[@OurSweetTravels]

Wow, what an amazing year you two had. We have been enjoying your videos and can't wait to start our adventure! We are in the midst of cleaning out our house to sell it so that we can travel the world too. We've already been to 14 countries but look forward to spending time in many more and it was great to see all of the beautiful and exciting places you have visited. We enjoy visiting less traveled places and suggest a stop in Friedrichshafen, Germany to go on a Zepplin (blimp) ride! It's a uniquely fun experience.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

We have to pinch ourselves, @OurSweetTravels! You will be SO thrilled to have all the burden of your stuff behind you. I can't imagine ever owning even a fraction of what we got rid of. There is so much freedom in downsizing. You may be far enough along that you don't need our downsizing series, but I'll link it below if it is helpful for you. We aren't sure how we keep skipping Germany. We really want to get there at some point, but there are never, ever enough Schengen days. We may try to save up some points towards accommodations, which is one of the more challenging aspects of visiting there. And with Germany's train system, Friedrichshafen seems like it could be combined into the same trip. Thanks for the recommendation! That Zeppelin ride had to have been amazing! When we lived in Houston, one of the Goodyear Blimps had its home base in a nearby town and it was always fun to drive by and see it up close! I can't imagine flying in one though. Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing! -Judy 🎥 Downsizing for Retirement or Full-Time Travel Series: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF2xRusfMEQvN-5LZZqdnQIf ✅ Downsizing Prep Worksheet: findingginamarie.com/request-downsizing-prep-worksheet

[@OurSweetTravels]

@@FindingGinaMarie Cleaning out so much stuff has felt so good. I watched all of your downsizing videos and they were very helpful. We've been planning this for a while and have spent a few years selling off items but there is still so much left. While in Friedrichshafen, you can take a quick ferry or train to Austria and Switzerland. It's a beautiful part of Germany.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

We appreciate the recommendation. It's a huge gap in our travel experiences and we are very eager to get to Germany. Perhaps Friedrichshafen will be a worthwhile detour. We want to see Berlin, but every KZbinr in our space has probably covered it and we're not sure what new we can add. We'd love to give it the old college try and combining it with a more affordable destination like Friedrichshafen could be great! -Judy

[@bw5911]

Oh, I’m so excited for this video as I go make some popcorn to buckle down and watch.🥰

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@bw5911 It was a fun video to make! Gosh we made some awesome memories in 2024. We are really looking forward to the year ahead. I hope our travels in 2025 will be able to match up with yours at some point! -Judy

[@bw5911]

@@FindingGinaMarie I only made it to two continents in 2024 so you surpassed me by a bazillion. You guys are definitely one of the best KZbinr content creators out there. Thank you so much because you give me so many ideas of where to go.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@@bw5911 It wasn't our intention to see so many continents this year (at least I don't think it was!-although maybe!). We are very excited for our plans in 2025. Still a few places we've had to wait on due to finances, but we're at least going to be hitting some destinations that have been on our bucket list for a while. Thank you so much for watching, BW! -Judy

[@SnapCrackleRetirement]

Fantastic video recapping your journey and the incredible memories of your travels. Looking to include Albania and France in our 2025 travels. Off to Thailand in a few weeks!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Albania was a dark horse and we are glad we included it. It's a great destination for escaping the Schengen zone, so we anticipate exploring more of it when we want to stay in Europe but be out of Schengen! -Judy

[@mahtin]

Great year-end wrap up. You convinced me to add Morocco (Marrakesh & Fez) to our future travels!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks so much for watching, @mahtin! We really were very glad we went! If you haven't done a Sahara Desert tour, it's an absolute must. But give it four days and specifically request some time with a Berber family. We missed out because we weren't communicating well enough exactly what we wanted. We tried to walk you through exactly how to book a tour there so you have the best experience-and learn from our mistakes! Both Morocco and Fes were very different, but we enjoyed both (Fes a bit more)-Judy

[@TrekkingwithDebandMike]

What a year😊

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Truly, it has been! We did NOT expect to see and do everything we did! It was pretty sweet! Thanks for following along with us! -Judy

[@bw5911]

I just got done watching your wonderful video of 2024. I absolutely cannot wait to see all your wonderful travels for 2025. Will you be going to Southeast Asia in 2025 because I think I’m gonna head over there sometime mid next year?😊

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @bw5911, We won't be in Southeast Asia in 2025 unfortunately, but we will be there in early 2026! Are there specific places you think we should visit? We are tossing around Penang, Malaysia, potentially Laos, possibly more of Japan, and ideally India if we can find a way that makes sense! But of course, we could go back and see more of anyplace we've been. Shockingly, we missed Bangkok and are curious about it. There is so much to see and not enough time to do it all! -Judy

[@Cotswolds1913]

Bordeaux or Brittany would be my recommendations for a future France trip. Both are incredible (basically anywhere in Brittany). There are also lots of great, smaller medieval towns in the south, and not just Eze.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks so much for these suggestions. We have Bordeaux on our list, but we'll add Brittany as well. We'd love to visit more of France. It's such a beautiful country! -Judy

[@Cotswolds1913]

@@FindingGinaMarie You helped in my discovery of Verona so it's my pleasure:) Lyon is lovely but Bordeaux city center is more pedestrian-oriented (while still maxing out on the beauty scale), and I feel like that's more up your alley. Pun not intended lol. Brittany has a distinct stone style architecture + Mont Saint-Michel right on the border so its easy to combine both. Great rural areas too. The detached housing there doesn't have that Mediterranean-style gating you see in most of France, but again will use stone kinda like the posh parts of England.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

People have recommended Mont Saint-Michel to us, but I didn't realize that Brittany was so close by. And we absolutely love a pedestrian-oriented city, so you have that 100% accurate! Truly, thank you for the recommendations. We have no desire to slow down, so we are always on the hunt for worthwhile destinations to visit! -Judy

[@2010katak]

Great wrap up. How about coastal Puglia, Italy?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @2010katak, While not quite coastal Puglia, we have been to Lecce, but it was in February and we froze! We'd love to go back and explore more. Our primary destination in Italy in 2025 will be Sardinia. What are your thoughts about the Marche region, which doesn't get a lot of attention but also is interesting. It actually isn't too early for us to be thinking about 2026 planning, so we'd love to know your thoughts on where we should head. We've also had Trieste on our short list. Thoughts? -Judy

[@2010katak]

@ Hi Judy, Marche is lovely. Housing is much more expensive than Puglia as you may know. Sardinia I found to feel less Italian than Sicily, as if there is another cultural Influence. Have a great time wherever you journey. It’s always so interesting to watch your videos.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks for this insight. I actually wasn't aware that Marche was more expensive. For a while I had read that it was this undiscovered gem and we briefly looked into it as a place to retire, but it didn't hit our criteria. Fascinating information to hear about Sardinia. We know it's not as well traveled, so we've been curious about it. We'll definitely be on the lookout for these other influences, which I'm reading now are very diverse. Thanks for sharing and for your kind words! -Judy

[@kathleenkalt3852]

We're returning to Thailand and plan to check out Chiang Mai for retirement.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @kathleenkalt3852, Are you managing to visit Bangkok? We skipped it in 2024, but we're hoping to visit in early 2026. Chiang Mai is such a great place! Have an awesome time! -Judy

[@agasque]

Great video! Your videos on Italy have been particularly helpful for us. We're heading to Rome next spring on a repositioning cruise and after a short trip to Montenegro to meet up with friends, we plan to stay in Italy for about 2 months. Still working out where we want to stay (1 month each in 2 places is our plan). Otherwise, it clearly seems like we are just missing you everywhere else you traveled this year! Here's hoping we can make a meet up work in San Miguel de Allende in February!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@agasque We also are planning a trip to Montenegro in 2025! We definitely will make plans to meet you in San Miguel de Allende in February/early March. Where will you be in Italy? You are definitely going to be giving us FOMO. Our only time in 2025 in Italy will be in Sardinia. Thank you so much for watching and for all your support and encouragement! -Judy

[@agasque]

@@FindingGinaMarie OK, then we clearly need to coordinate our travel plans! We'll be in Kotor, Montenegro in early May. From there, we are still thinking about where we want to go in Italy - top of the list currently is Genoa and Palermo, but my husband is into paramotoring/paragliding so we may end up going somewhere closer to the mountains where he can fly. And your comments about Verona have me thinking about that city as an option! We'll get serious about our plans in the next month or so... we have to get ourselves back north out of Argentina first!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

We won't be in Montenegro until later in the year, so SMA will be a better meetup location. Genoa and Palermo both are great cities. Palermo is fascinating, but it's not for everyone. I recently refreshed this article about Palermo you might enjoy, even if you don't head there. And we also loved Torino if you want or need one more city to consider! I'm looking forward to meeting your husband, so hopefully he keeps safe in the meantime! 🦅 -Judy 📝 Defying the Mafia in Palermo: findingginamarie.com/articles/no-mafia-tour 🎥 Why You MUST Go to Torino, Italy!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/joeXfpWjgMZ9d9U

[@agasque]

@@FindingGinaMarie THANK YOU for these resources!!! Putting your video on Torino in our queue to watch now and we'll definitely follow your Palermo guidance!

[@thetravelingfoodshow]

Forza Italia‼️🤌🏻🇮🇹🍕

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks so much for watching! 🇮🇹🍕🍝🇮🇹

[@lindadorman2869]

After having been to 40 countries since 1990, I'm more interested in visiting places I might want to retire rather than see the sights. But I'd like to go back to Lyon and Verona for longer stays. And Tirana would be a new city for me. My short list for 2025 includes Nice France, Philippines, Kuala Lumpur & Penang Malaysia and possibly a return to Shanghai or Hong Kong.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

This is very useful information for us to hear, @lindadorman2869! I love hearing your list of cities for 2025. We won't be in Southeast Asia in 2025, but we really would love to get to Penang in early 2026. We primarily stayed in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 2023, but we did spend time in Nice and also Antibes, which we also recommend (although all three of those cities are not cheap being part of the French Riviera)! There's a ton of France we'd still love to visit. It's such a beautiful country! Thanks so much for watching! And 40 countries is fabulous. We are getting there slowly. It's hard to return to places when there is so much we want to see. We're curious to know the percentage of your time that you spend visiting new places versus revisiting old favorites. It's such a tradeoff for us! -Judy 🎥 French Riviera Travel Guide to Antibes, Nice, and Cagnes-sur-Mer ❤️ kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIqWXpl-p9-kl5o

[@robertspanjers7888]

I am planning to go to visit India for 3,5 weeks in a couple of months and later in the year either the Baltics or Morocco (not sure yet).

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @robertspanjers7888, We have been trying to get to India, but so far it hasn't worked out. Will you be visiting the Golden Triangle, or somewhere else? We had Tallinn on our wish list for 2025, but we don't have enough Schengen time in good weather to make it work. But I've short listed it for 2026. Of course we're also trying to get to Riga. If you haven't seen our full series from Morocco, I'll link it below. Morocco will have more in common with India than the Baltics will. BIG decision! Let us know what you end up doing! -Judy 🎥 Morocco Travel Series: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF0_pL4S2LnqlBz2KBX9XMCc

[@robertspanjers7888]

@FindingGinaMarie yes I will be visiting the Golden Triangle (and also included Varanasi and Mumbai in my trip) but the main reason for my trip are Tigers. Therefore I will be joining a tour along 6 different parks to hopefully see a few 🤞. Thanks for the link to Morocco and Wishing you already a happy new year with lots of nice new places to explore in 2025.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Tigers are a great reason, Robert! We hope you have an amazing time. Sounds like a true bucket list trip in spades ♠️♠️♠️ -Judy

[@tammyjohnson6822]

Wow what a wonderful recap! Curious: why not Casablanca? No time? Too expensive? No interest?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Great question! Although Casablanca is famous for the movie, it’s a very industrialized city. All the locals we encountered told us to not bother with it because it doesn’t have the culture that is worth experiencing in Morocco. -Judy

[@tammyjohnson6822]

@ great to know! Thank you!

[@dojocho1894]

Love......Im a Cardiologist retiring this upcoming year, divorced...I have a plan to spend time in europe, I want to go to Vienna Budapest and Prague for 3 months.....any tips? thank you. Cheers from NYC

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @dojocho1894, We wish you all the best. Good luck on your retirement. We've heard it can be challenging for doctors to retire because of the hours they are used to keeping. We love that you have a plan! We have a video from Vienna that might be helpful to you that I've linked below. We've not been to Budapest, and we are heading to Prague ourselves this June, so we don't have a ton of recommendations for you yet except that Prague has been on our bucket list for a while. Happy to share any specific questions you have for it or Vienna though since we're deep in trip planning for 2025! -Judy 🎥 Vienna Travel Guide-Must Know Before You Visit: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3i8qZeNpp2ZfZY

[@JP7onEarth]

Did you post this video twice? Hanover 4,000 likes and very few views? Enjoyed the video.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi, JP, I have absolutely no idea why it keeps doing this! And for whatever reason, on our dashboard, our livestream shows only 300 views when we can get a different view and see that the number is well over 1K. This is the third video that it's showing too many likes. BUT it will adjust unfortunately. We wish it had that many likes, but sadly in a few days it will show a more accurate number. -Judy

[@JP7onEarth]

@ Software....K should know all about that. Software limps along a friend of mine told me...JP Porto

[@FindingGinaMarie]

It all makes no sense. We have been getting good information, so I'm not sure why the last three videos and this livestream have wrong info. BUT if it's helping our video get seen, we aren't going to complain. We aren't sure what's happening because these likes definitely disappear. -Judy

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Especially KZbin code. It's never feature consistent between platforms - and even on the website platform, the view counts are different for the same video on different pages. It's a bit weird that they can't clean those bugs up since they're so visible, but I've been on teams that were understaffed and can empathize if that's the case. - Kevin

[@chronic2023]

Just reading the title wore me out. I did Italy in April and Thailand in November. 6 weeks and two countries a year is enough for me. 😅

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@chronic2023 LOL. There's been a lot of fast travel, we'll certainly admit it. But we are loving our lives. The challenge is that we would LOVE to spend more time in Italy and there is more of Thailand we want to see as well. We're considering time in Bangkok in 2026. What were your thoughts about it if you visited? And as far as Italy, where do you recommend? We've seen a lot of Italy, but there's always more on our list. We've got Sardinia on our list for 2025, but we're wondering if we should visit certain parts of Puglia or Marche or Trieste instead. What resonates for you? I've sent Kevin some suggestions to weigh in as well! -Judy