Happy New Year! As I’ve mentioned before, 2025 was a strange year for me. The live I had slowly established over the course of this blog—living in Madrid, traveling around Europe, with plenty of time to read—got upended in a very big way. And my writing certainly suffered in the process, if only for lack of time, as my usual routine fell apart.

So my biggest resolution is to get back on track with my writing. As my new life in New York slowly settles into place, I aim to get into the grove again, and get through some of the large backlog of travel pieces I hope to write up. This list includes:

• Return to Dublin
• Near Dublin: Brú na Bóinne & Glendalough
• Galway & Inishmore
• The Cliffs of Moher & The Burren
• The Rock of Cashel & Kilkenny
• Cobh & Kells Priory
• Dresden: Out of the Flames
• Leipzig: Bach & Battle
• Washed up in Hamburg
• Chongqing: the Megalopolis
• Chongqing: Day Trips

Now that I’m based in New York, I hope to do more domestic travel, and to finally see my own native land. For example: if you can believe it, I have never even set foot in a national park in my own country! This has got to change.

Still, the future of this blog is somewhat nebulous at this point. Its original raison d’être—to catalogue my exploration of Europe—is no longer relevant. Any suggestions? Perhaps I should start doing movie reviews?

Whatever happens, I just hope 2026 is a calmer year for me than the previous one. Cheers to that!