DECEMBER 2025

Adventures With Carli

A monthly round of tips, travels, adventures and what's next

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Hello adventurers!

We've reached the end of 2025, finally 😅

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster for me in my personal life, but a banner year for traveling. I started the year watching fireworks in Sydney Australia and am wrapped up the year celebrating Christmas with my family in Minnesota for the first time in 3 years.

In 2025 I made it to every continent except Africa. I had the opportunity to visit 9 countries, including 4 new countries: Argentina, Sweden, Qatar and Jordan. I made dozens new travel friends from attending conferences in Quebec and Wichita and joining the group tour to Jordan.

One of the ways I was able to travel so much is with points and miles. I booked 11 flights with points (including my flight home from Australia and my trip to Sweden) as well as a companion fare ticket to Mexico thanks to my favorite airline card.

I'm doubtful I'll have as big of a travel year in 2026, but you never know. All I know is I'm looking forward to the upcoming year and putting 2025 behind me.

Where in the world is Carli San Diego?

I started December enjoying the second half of my Thailand trip with on of my best friends. She met me in Phuket, where we stayed in Kata, then moved on to Koh Phangan, and wrapped up in Koh Samui, before heading back to Bangkok to catch separate flights back to the US.

This trip to Phuket was night and day different from the first time around. I finally understood why it's so popular and I'm more inclined to go back again after this trip.

Highlights from Southern Thailand:

Island hopping - Thailand has beautiful beaches, but the country has over 1000 islands that you should definitely explore. In Phuket and Krabi especially there are incredible islands (including the famous Phi Phi Islands) located between the two provinces.
- Skip the big group tours and rent a longtail boat instead. You can either set up your own private island tour (like in the Hong Islands) for the same as a group tour OR you can just get a boat driver to take you to a designated island and set up a return pick up time.
- In Phuket, the best place to find longtail boats is at Rawai Beach. You can set up a trip to nearby Bon Island, Coral Island or Ko Lon. A private drop off and pick up to Banana Beach on Coral Island only cost $50 total, whereas as a group tour can cost $100 per person.

Old Phuket Town - On my first trip to Phuket I did not make it over to Phuket town. I didn't really understand why you would go to a city that's not on a beach. Well, I was wrong. This time I spent the afternoon and evening in Old Phuket Town before heading to the airport to pick up my friend. This city is incredible. It has beautiful colorful architecture that is reminiscent of the Caribbean and Southern US cities like Charleston. There are so many cute boutiques, rotating markets, and I found a soup restaurant where I ate for under $1 🙀 I would definitely go back for a night or two next time I'm in Phuket to explore more or the city.

Koh Phangan aka Full Moon Party island - If you watched S3 of the White Lotus, you may remember the Full Moon Party episode. This party takes place every full moon in Haad Rin on Koh Phangan. They also have parties before and after the full moon. We were there a few nights before the actual full moon party and had a blast. Everyone is super friendly and just looking to have a good time and meet cool people. The town itself is very low key during the day. We even had the most epic sunset on our second night.

Night Markets - If there's one thing that Thailand does really well throughout the country, it's a night market! Some are food only but most are a mix of food and shopping. This is where you go to find deals on souvenirs, get the best fresh produce at a crazy price, or have a full meal for under $5.
- Pro tip: In Kata, buy the $1 plastic picnic basket and you can use that to take all your snacks with you to the beach or on your private longtail boat trip. Then use it as your "personal item" for your flights. I promise it will make you very popular at the airport (in a good way).

On my way back to Seattle, I purposefully scheduled another long (10 hour) layover in Seoul. I had a similar layover 2 years ago and had a great time exploring Seoul for the first time. This time I focused on Korean beauty. While there, I went to Olive Young, kind of like a Korean Ulta, with hundreds of locations throughout the city. But my main priority was Botox!

Prior to this trip I'd never gotten Botox before, but I'd heard how much cheaper you can get these types of treatments, so I found a highly reviewed spot, that also speaks English. I got the 'tox in my forehead, around my eyes and my shoulders all for only $68 USD! I'm very happy with the results and honestly, it would be worth going to Seoul just for Botox.

Travel Lessons Learned

The last time I was home for Christmas was 2022. Part of the reason I decided to skip the holidays at home was because of snowstorms.

In 2021, a round of snow and ice storms rolled through Seattle and the western US cancelling flights across the country. My flight home was cancelled, then my my rebooked flight 2 days later was cancelled 36 hours BEFORE the flight. After a long time on the phone with the Delta agent and a lot of miles later, I found the only open seat (in first class) for the next 5 days.

Fast forward to 2022, and another snow storm rolled through Seattle just before Christmas. Thankfully it happened 1-2 days after I left, and was cleared up by the time I was booked to go home.

I decided after 2 years of snow in Seattle I'd just skip it all together and take an extended holiday internationally.

This year I took my big holiday trip at Thanksgiving, so I ended up going back to MN for Christmas due to lack of PTO 😅. Welp... the snow has come back to haunt me.

Of course, the day I'm flying back to Seattle, the Twin Cities gets their first snowfall in weeks causing major flight delays. I started getting delay notifications about 5 hours before my flight, and ever 2 hours it would push back later. By the time I'd already left for the airport, I got yet another delay. Thankfully, the "last" flight of the night still had open seats, so as soon as I got to the airport, I changed my flight. The flight I booked ended up being delayed 6.5 hours and landing at 3am.

Lesson: Skip the snow storms and cancelled flights and spend the holidays where you live or leave the country all together and go to the beach. Then celebrate with your family another time.

Need help with planning a trip?

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Blog Posts

Catch up on some of my blog posts below:

Long Haul Flights Tips: How to Survive the Long Distance Journey

These long haul flights tips from a travel expert will help you survive economy class and above for your extended travel journey.

Read Article

Phuket vs Krabi: How to Know Which is Best for You

Trying to decide how to choose between Phuket vs Krabi Thailand? Let me break down the differences between these two very different Thai provinces.

Read Article

How to take public transportation from Incheon Airport to Seoul

Traveling from Incheon Airport to Seoul can be complicated. With the tips below, you’ll be able to navigate the South Korean public transportation from Incheon to Seoul like a pro.

Read Article

Travel Must Haves

Travel Cable Pouch

I'm not going to lie, up until a few months ago, I threw all my cords into a large ziplock bag. It wasn't pretty, but it was cheap and it worked (for the most part). However, recently I got a cable pouch, and have converted. It really helps keep everything tidy, organized, and all in one place.

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