Last year I shared my first ‘Year in Review’ where I reviewed my year and publicly set some goals for 2024 (I’ll be honest… most of which I did not hit…). And well, to hold myself accountable and review 2024 – we’re back for another.
So if you’d love a peak into what travel I have planned for this year, and what my goals are, welcome! Let’s jump right in.
I thought 2023 was a busy year… but it turns out 2024 was even busier. And I have a feeling that 2025 might top them both. I wrote in my post in 2023 that I was entering the new year feeling discouraged and drained. I had so many things that I’ve wanted to do… that I haven’t.
My biggest goal for 2024 was to set more realistic goals and while I didn’t hit them all – I did learn a lot more about what my true priorities are and I’m entering 2025 feeling better than I did a year ago.
Let’s review.
Where I Traveled in 2024
January: We rang in the New Year with friends in London. In fact, we all had a late dinner at Dishoom – one of my favorite restaurants. So it was a good start to the year. We then quickly escaped the UK winter for sunny Thailand.
February: Spent the entire month diving in Koh Tao. My husband started his Eco Divemaster Program and I volunteered to do social media marketing for the dive center. I did a couple of diving courses with him and spent as much time as possible in the water.
March: Once again, we spent most of the month in Koh Tao with a quick escape to Cambodia and Bangkok. Cambodia has been on my list forever and it was amazing to finally see it. We explored Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Phnom Penh.
April: It was back to Koh Tao for another full month of diving. I did my 100th dive and it felt so good to have a base for a while. The sunsets were incredible, we were diving almost every day and had friends all around us.
May: It was time to leave the island. My husband finished his Divemaster and we celebrated with a couple of nights in Khao Sok National Park (another bucket list destination for me!) From there we traveled to Borneo for the most epic trip of the year. We stayed on a converted Oil Rig to dive the famous Sipidan Island and rented a car to explore the jungles of Borneo.
June: We finished our Borneo roadtrip, spent a night in Penang before exploring the pristine beaches of Koh Lipe in Thailand. This marked the end of our trip to Asia. We flew back to London just in time for Glastonbury.
July: Based in London, we went to more music festivals and concerts (seeing one of my favorite bands ever at a small venue in London). This month was spent catching up with friends and catching up on work.
August: Smashed our Drysuit Diving Certification in Kent. Went to our final music festival of the summer and spent time in Europe. We flew to Rome for a week with my mother-in-law where we had dinner with my parents in Rome. We then spent another week in Switzerland and roadtripped to Slovenia.
September: Took a weekend break to Suffolk before flying to Malta for two weeks of sunshine and diving. We also went to Paris for a friend’s weekend birthday at Disneyland!
October: Flew to Colorado to spend a couple of weeks with my family before returning to the UK for my sister-in-law’s wedding in Wales. It was my first time visiting and the weather was perfect. We said goodbye to friends because it was time to travel again.
November: Finally made our way to Vietnam. We explored Hanoi, Cat Ba, Ninh Binh and Sapa before making our way to Laos. We fell in love with Luang Prabang, swam in the swimming holes of Vang Vieng and explored the history in Vietianne.
December: Ended the year in the Philippines – back to doing what we love most, diving. We started in Panglao to dive Balicasag and Pamilican island and spent the New Year in Siquijor (an island I am definitely falling in love with).
My Biggest Achievement of 2024: Doing Over 100 Dives (and Becoming a Much Better Diver)
2024 instilled a real love of diving in myself and my husband. I already knew I loved diving – but it was always a “couple of times a year” kind of love. Now, it’s a “let’s travel there because of diving” kind of love.
While my husband was doing his divemaster I had the incredible opportunity to work with the dive center, doing their social media. This afforded me unlimited diving – most of which I did with my husband as my dive buddy and leader. We both gained so much confidence in the water and I can’t wait to do my own Divemaster.
I also fell in love with underwater videography during this time and invested in underwater housing for my Sony Rx100 camera. That’s the hobby I want to take into 2025.
After finishing our time in Koh Tao we traveled to Borneo to do some world class diving – but also to stay on the world’s first ‘diving rig’. An oil rig that’s been converted into a stationary diving liveaboard. This was a once in a lifetime experience and we both gained even more confidence as divers!
2024 in Business
My biggest business achievement in 2024 was growing this blog. I set a goal to post 52 blogs in 2024 – and posted 41 in total. While I didn’t quite hit that goal – I did get several blog collaborations and finally started making money through my affiliates.
While most people were hit by Google Core Updates, my blog seems to have weathered the storm. It also helps that my husband designed a new website for me that we launched in September. Since then I’ve been working on content updates and new guides that are helping my traffic daily.
It’s been amazing to finally see this blog grow after years of writing for a tiny audience. I can’t wait to see where it takes me in 2025.
My Pinterest business wasn’t quite as successful as my blog in 2024. While I have incredible dedicated clients, I also hardly gained any new clients in 2024 and Pinterest also made major core updates that made Q3-Q4 almost impossible to see growth.
Things are turning around and I hope to find creative ways to grow my freelancing business in 2025.
My Plans for 2025
My plan for 2025 is: Say yes, and figure it out later.
I want this year to be a year of saying YES. A year where I focus on my experiences, more than growth, making more money or spending more time with my computer.
At the end of last year I was feeling behind… with everything. My business seemed to be growing so much slower than people who’d just started. My Instagram growth was nonexistent and I was spending so much time comparing myself to others.
This came to a head on my birthday and I decided it was time to make a change. That’s why you haven’t seen me on social media in the last 6 weeks. It’s been the biggest relief for me. I’ve gotten back so much time and mental headspace.
For the time being, I’m going to be avoiding social media and focusing on other areas of my life. For example, this blog! Which I want to keep growing in 2025.
I also want to focus on unique travel experiences in 2025. My husband and I want to travel to off-the-beaten path diving destinations and hopefully save to do a couple of liveaboards throughout the year. Travel-wise, we’re hoping to spend the majority of this year in Asia.
A Few Goals for 2025
I’m making an effort to set fewer goals this year. I want to be more intentional with my time and I know that sometimes I get too wrapped up in my goals. That being said, I’m still highly motivated by goals!
Here are just a few of my goals for 2025:
- Read 36 books (but make sure 6 of them are nonfiction)
- Finally relaunch the Pinterest Playbook Course and Masterclass to teach strategy
- Relaunch my email marketing updates
- Go on one solo trip
- Do 2 liveaboards
- Post consistently on my blog (36 posts in 2025)
- Increase my income from affiliates and my shop
These are just a few of my goals! I’ll be keeping the rest to myself for now.
I hope you have an amazing year. I’d love to know what you get up too! If you want to keep up with my travels – I’ll be updating my Ko-Fi more regularly (while I’m taking a break from social media) and you can follow along and support me there.
I’ll be honest I got my first ko-fi supporter recently and my husband can attest to how excited I was about a $3 donation. Feel free to buy me a coffee – it’s definitely what fuels me.
