AK Month-to-month Recap: September 2025

September 2025 is without doubt one of the most adventurous months I’ve had in years! My long-awaited journey to Mauritius, Réunion, and Madagascar passed off — and this journey had the very best highs and lowest lows of the entire 12 months.

It is a BIG month-to-month recap and fairly a bit occurred, so prepare for a prolonged learn!

Locations Visited

• Prague, Czech Republic
• Flic en Flac, Tamarin, Chamarel, Bois Cheri, Curepipe, Port Louis, Pamlemousses, Cap Malheureux, and Grand Baie, Mauritius
• Saint-Gilles, Saint-Leu, Cilaos, L’Étang-Salé, Langevin, Saint-Philippe, Saint Joseph, and Saint Pierre, Réunion
• Antananarivo, Antsirabe, Lac Tritiva, Maromandray, Miandrivazo, Anosinampela Waterfall, Begidro, Tsaraotana, Belo Tsiribihina, Mahajanga, Bekopaka, Tsingy de Bemaraha Nationwide Park, Kirindy, Morondava, Betania, Nosy Be, Nosy Sakatia, and Nosy Tanikely, Madagascar

Highlights

Good occasions in Prague. My buddy Mike, certainly one of my oldest mates from the world of journey running a blog, got here to stick with us in Prague for a couple of days, and we bought to indicate him the best possible that Prague has to supply.

Altogether, there have been meats at Kantýna, a wine pageant on the sting of Prague Fortress, a burger pageant, a brewery cease, and simply having fun with the unimaginable place that’s Prague within the month of September. And OF COURSE Charlie and Mike bought alongside like a home on hearth!

Ending 75 Exhausting. I haven’t talked about something about it on the weblog but, however from June 24 by means of September 6, I accomplished 75 Exhausting — a health and psychological toughness program.

Every day, you will need to do two exercises of not less than 45 minutes every; observe a eating regimen of your alternative (I did no sugar and no junk meals); learn 10 pages of a private growth guide; drink completely zero alcohol; drink one gallon (3.8 liters) of water per day; take a progress picture; and ZERO CHEATS WHATSOEVER. Should you miss something, you begin over.

I wrote about it in a submit on the Adventurous Kate Fb web page, and gained’t reiterate what I stated there. Right here’s a quote about why 75 days is a lot extra transformational than 30:

30 days is just not sufficient for a problem to be transformative. I’ve achieved a LOT of 30-day challenges through the years: Whole30s, sober challenges, health tune-ups. 30 days seems like loads whenever you’re getting began. It isn’t. 

This time, I didn’t really hit my groove till 40+ days in. I didn’t begin trying totally different to my mates till the 50s. And 75 days of social engagements provides you much more observe not consuming round drinkers, which you want.

General, this has been a tricky 12 months for health for me partly resulting from my hip damage in March, however 75 Exhausting helped me turbo-charge my well being and get again into fairly first rate form.

Additionally, the man who created 75 Exhausting, Andy Frisella, is a homophobic and transphobic right-wing nut job, so I made certain to donate $75 in his title to the Metro Trans Umbrella Group in his hometown of St. Louis.

The problem could also be over now, however I’m sticking to 90 minutes of understanding per day, sticking to the identical eating regimen 90% of the time, and I haven’t had a single alcoholic drink since. I plan on solely consuming on particular events going ahead.

A style of Mauritius. For my journey to Madagascar, I had simply sufficient further time to do a couple of days every in each Mauritius and Réunion. They’re every concerning the measurement of Rhode Island, the smallest state within the US. Whereas three days isn’t sufficient for both vacation spot, I assumed it might be sufficient time to get a taster and see if I wished to return for extra.

Mauritius is an attention-grabbing place — an island within the Indian Ocean that was uninhabited till 1638 (!!), and at present has a inhabitants descended largely from Indian visitor employees and enslaved Africans (not not like Guyana, minus their Indigenous inhabitants). The island is a lush paradise, with waterfalls, craggy mountains, and fairly seashores.

I loved touring across the island and seeing the sights — I particularly cherished the waterfalls, the large tortoises, an interesting Hindu temple on a sacred lake, and the bustling market in Port-Louis. The seaside in Flic en Flac was pretty.

Mauritius is ideally explored by automotive, however as a result of they drive on the left aspect of the highway and I used to be flying in a single day (i.e. a sleepless evening), I didn’t suppose I’d be a protected driver below these situations. However I used to be capable of finding taxi drivers for 83 euros that may take you on excursions for round six hours or so. I did that on two days.

That stated — Mauritius and I didn’t actually vibe. It felt a bit shabby general, public areas have been poorly cared for, most sights have been a bit underwhelming, and I discovered the Indian-influenced meals fairly bland regardless of begging everybody to make it spicy, native spicy.

I’m completely happy I visited Mauritius, and loved what I noticed, however I don’t have the necessity to return. I contemplate my go to a hit. Not each vacation spot needs to be a house run.

A whirlwind go to to Réunion. Réunion Island, technically a part of France, completely blew me away. I discovered the island spectacular in its pure magnificence, exceedingly properly maintained (the roads have been LIKE BUTTER), coated with recent flowers, and stuffed with pleasant individuals who thoughtfully helped me discover the suitable French phrase as a substitute of rolling their eyes and switching to English like the standard Parisian.

And albeit, I barely noticed a fraction of what the island needed to provide. My massive day journey was a personal tour to Cilaos, an nearly unspeakably stunning little village set amongst the mountains.

The surroundings was so gorgeous, it almost made me cry. (And properly value costing 4 occasions what I paid for a day journey in Mauritius — yikes!! You’re very a lot in France right here!)

So sure, I’m fairly desperate to return to Réunion and see MUCH MORE! The energetic volcano and the opposite cirques of Salazie and Maïdo are on the prime of my checklist. I’d additionally like to spend a number of days in Cilaos and use it as a base for climbing.

I’ll be writing extra about my time in Réunion, so keep tuned for an even bigger submit!

The journey of a lifetime in Madagascar. After which got here the BIG occasion — my Madagascar journey with Rock My Journey. Probably the most adventurous journey I’ve had in years, and certainly one of my favourite journeys EVER.

Madagascar has been excessive on my checklist for years — nevertheless it’s a little bit of a tough vacation spot with restricted infrastructure, even by African requirements, so I at all times knew I wished to go to Madagascar on a gaggle tour. And as quickly as I noticed the itinerary coated ALL the locations I wished to go to in Madagascar, I knew I needed to do it!

Sure, Madagascar could be very a lot a difficult place to go to, nevertheless it’s additionally stuffed with gorgeous pure magnificence and wildlife, and residential to among the warmest, most fantastic folks ever. Moreover, there may be zero overtourism right here, which is refreshing.

So what have been my favourite elements?

A 3-day journey down the Tsiribihina River. This was very tough — we camped, our boat didn’t have a rest room, we went days with out showering, and once we wanted to pee, we pulled over to shore to pee behind a bush (and typically MORE THAN PEE). However this was such a enjoyable journey. We swam in waterfalls, sang songs across the hearth, and stopped in cities alongside the best way.

Climbing within the Grand Tsingy. The Grand Tsingy is an intimidating rock forest, and exploring it was some of the intense hikes I’ve ever achieved. That is the primary time I’ve achieved a By way of Ferrata-style hike the place you put on a harness and clip in to cables all through the route. Regardless of that, it really wasn’t scary in any respect!

Experiencing the wildlife. We bought to see SO many lemurs! And in Kirindy, we bought to see some uncommon animals just like the foussa, mouse lemurs, and a few cool chameleons.

Island time in Nosy Be. We completed our journey with time in Madagascar’s most touristy space: the northern islands. We bought to snorkel with monumental sea turtles, and lemurs really crawled on our heads!

And the folks of Madagascar have been an absolute spotlight. The warmest, most welcoming folks. The youngsters have been incredible and lovely, at all times wanting to carry our fingers. We randomly stopped in a village and the ladies launched us to a child who had been born only some hours in the past!!

However this tour was SO nice, and I can’t advocate it extra extremely. The subsequent Madagascar tour is happening in October 2026, and you may study it right here.

Keep tuned for way more about Madagascar. I can’t wait to jot down about it.

For now, you may get £100 off any Rock My Journey tour with the code KATE100. And I had a lot enjoyable on this tour, I’m already choosing out my subsequent tour for 2026!

Talking French for 3 weeks. Regardless of visiting Paris yearly, I don’t get to talk French fairly often — partly as a result of if Parisians sense you’re international, they mechanically swap to English. However BOY, DID I SPEAK A TON OF FRENCH throughout this journey!

In Mauritius, you may get by simply with English, however many locals solely converse French. In Réunion, French is the one and solely language. And in Madagascar, most Malagasy folks study French for “official” communication and English is a decrease precedence, so we normally defaulted to French in our conversations.

I really rescheduled a canceled flight on the telephone solely in French with Air Austral. I took a personal tour with a information who solely spoke French in Réunion.

I took over speaking with the French-speaking employees of our guesthouse once we have been caught in Antananarivo and Helen was on the airport making an attempt to get us new flights. I made native mates in Madagascar that don’t converse English.

I’ve at all times wished to make use of my French abilities extra on my travels, and I’m so delighted that I bought to talk a ton of French on this journey. Lesson? If you wish to converse extra French, go to francophone Africa!

Challenges

Unrest in Madagascar. I’ve talked about this extra extensively on Fb, however I’ll give the fundamental factors right here: on the day we flew from Morondava again to Antananarivo, protests started in cities all through Madagascar. Persons are protesting energy cuts, water shortages, and a corrupt authorities.

Let me be clear: I absolutely assist the protestors. They’re asking for very basic items that we as westerners take with no consideration.

I’ve been in areas with unrest earlier than, and it’s normally fairly simple to keep away from. However this time, our resort was proper in the course of the fray — a lot that we have been herded inside in a panic, principally barricaded in our resort, and the police tear gassed the neighborhood, which damage our eyes and throat even throughout the resort courtyard.

Our flight to Nosy Be the following day was canceled, and we moved to a small guesthouse in a protected space in a gated group. By this time town was below curfew and all outlets have been alleged to be closed (we discovered a couple of that have been open).

Our flight the day after that was canceled as soon as once more, however we have been lastly capable of get to Nosy Be two days later than scheduled.

On prime of that, as soon as I bought to Nosy Be’s airport to go away, my flight was canceled for the following two days. Boy was I completely happy after I lastly made it out of Madagascar.

So sure, it was loads to cope with — notably the scary arrival day in Madagascar once we have been surrounded by violent clashes — however finally, it was simply an inconvenience. My coronary heart is with the Malagasy folks, who’re residing this every single day.

Our lease went up. By a LOT. Charlie has lived in our residence since 2009, and our neighborhood of Karlín has gentrified enormously since then. Because of this, our lease has been beneath market price for fairly a while, and solely raised a bit at a time.

However this 12 months they raised it a very surprising quantity, which hit me laborious as the previous renter of a sponsored residence in New York whose lease by no means went up greater than $50 at a time. YIKES.

That stated — we will work with this. It’s not as dangerous because it might be.

(No, we’re not going to purchase a spot in Prague. We do hope to purchase a spot in Italy within the subsequent few years.)

What I Listened To This Month

I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Best Albums of All Time, which I’m having fun with immensely. I’m loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve in some way missed my whole life till now!

In September, I listened to albums 249-228. Listed here are the highlights:

Favourite Discovery: Anti by Rihanna. I’ve been a fan of Rihanna’s music because the starting, however I’ve by no means sat down and listened to Anti begin to end. And now I understand how Rihanna followers lose it over this album.

This album is attractive and futuristic, robotic and intense, and has such a transparent viewpoint. The manufacturing is on level and every little thing is completely attuned to Rihanna’s distinctive voice.

Yep, that is an album I’ll be blasting for a very long time.

Different Favourite Discoveries: Discovery by Daft Punk, American Fool by Inexperienced Day, Love Deluxe by Sade, Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, Heaven or Las Vegas by the Cocteau Twins.

Favourite Revisited Album: Every thing was new to me in September — I had hoped I’d get to #218, CrazySexyCool by TLC, however that must wait till subsequent month!

Favourite Songs: “Kiss It Higher” by Rihanna, “Voyager” by Daft Punk, “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” by De La Soul, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Vacation/Boulevard of Damaged Desires” by Inexperienced Day, “Jingling Child” by LL Cool J and Marley Marl, “Naima” by John Coltrane.

Get the playlist: I’m making a playlist of my favourite songs from the five hundred albums — most one per album — on Spotify. You may take heed to it right here.

Lowlight of the Month: I don’t perceive the purpose of Kraftwerk. Their album Trans-Europe Specific could be very “bleep bleep, bloop bloop, I’m a pc and I make music.”

Random Music Ideas: This month I had maybe the most effective mixture of vacation spot/expertise and music, as I listened to Daft Punk’s Discovery whereas driving round Réunion Island.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. Listening to immaculate French dance music whereas driving these buttery-smooth roads curving round volcanic hills, with probably the most excellent light heat climate and large fluffy clouds up within the sky? FANTASTIC.

It’s the greatest driving I’ve achieved because the Loire Valley final 12 months, and maybe the most effective driving I’ve achieved, ever.

This was my first month actually listening to Patsy Cline, and I discovered her voice so compelling. She actually has a distinct high quality, so trendy, that’s distinctive on this planet of nation.

And eventually, it was attention-grabbing revisiting Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak this month. I listened to the album again when it got here out, and like all Kanye followers on the time (I’m not a fan anymore, his conduct is reprehensible), I used to be shocked at how unusual this album was. Autotuned, susceptible, melodic rap. “I miss the previous Kanye,” certainly.

However this album has since develop into the blueprint. EVERYONE in hip-hop at present seems like this album, from Drake to Child Cudi (granted, a Kanye protege) to J. Cole and Travis Scott. This isn’t Kanye’s greatest album by far, however I’d wager it’s probably the most influential.

What I Watched This Month

The Righteous Gems. It is a Danny McBride-created HBO collection I by no means bought round to watching till now, a few household of televangelists in South Carolina and all of the wild issues that occur behind the scenes. The solid is superb, every character is as fascinating as they’re vile, and the present is loads funnier than I anticipated it to be!

(Additionally, no new season of Beneath Deck to report on this month, however my Madagascar journey was FULL of Beneath Deck followers!! We stored saying issues like, “Captain Jason provides me the fanny flutters.”)

The Emmy Awards have been earlier this month, and I’m so happy that The Pitt, so many actors on The Pitt, and Jeff Hiller of Any individual Someplace gained Emmys! These reveals are each MARVELOUS and I extremely, extremely advocate them each.

What I Learn This Month

I bought by means of three books this month. Let’s have a look:

Woodworking by Emily St. James (2025) — Erica is a 35-year-old instructor in South Dakota — and he or she’s trans. She’s informed nobody. However then she will’t maintain it in anymore and comes out to Abigail, an out trans woman at her faculty, and the one trans individual she is aware of. They develop an unlikely friendship that quickly attracts the scrutiny of the group.

Emily St. James is a TV critic and Yellowjackets author whose work I’ve lengthy loved, and her first novel is a incredible debut. The characters are so richly drawn, and I appreciated a narrative about trans folks happening in rural America somewhat than a giant metropolis (one motive why I like Any individual Someplace).

Although actually, I had a lot dread all through the guide as I knew a detailed friendship between a male-presenting instructor and feminine pupil would NOT go unnoticed.

All of the Approach to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025) — When Elizabeth Gilbert’s greatest buddy Rayya Elias was recognized with terminal most cancers, Gilbert had a realization: she was in love with Rayya, she wanted to go away her husband, and he or she wanted to make the remainder of Rayya’s days fantastic. However that’s only one a part of the story.

Throughout her most cancers journey, Rayya returned to drug habit, and Gilbert realized she herself was a intercourse and love addict who was inflicting a whole lot of harm to Rayya along with her earlier companions.

There isn’t a lot that HASN’T been stated about this guide — particularly the half the place Gilbert contemplates murdering Rayya. A LOT of individuals hate Elizabeth Gilbert, it doesn’t matter what she does, and I believe some (however not all) of that’s rooted in misogyny.

That stated — I don’t suppose persons are speaking sufficient concerning the accountability Gilbert goes by means of later within the guide, discovering how far her intercourse and love habit has damage folks, and her excruciating efforts to get sober and keep sober going ahead.

(I imply, most of us have achieved some loopy issues for intercourse and love…she’s bought some good ideas in right here.)

Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk (2022) — Bob Odenkirk has had fairly an attention-grabbing profession in leisure, rising from the comedy golf equipment and improv reveals of Chicago to writing for Saturday Night time Dwell, creating the unusual area of interest comedy present Mr. Present with David Cross, getting solid as Saul Goodman on Breaking Dangerous, and getting tons of Emmy nominations for drama on Higher Name Saul.

I actually loved this type of memoir as a result of Bob has been barely or reasonably well-known for many of his profession — it wasn’t actually till Breaking Dangerous that he turned tremendous well-known. And I cherished studying about his group with comedians of the 90s, particularly the fantastic issues he says about Janeane Garofalo.

As an SNL superfan who would like to see Bob host someday, this guide sadly made me understand that it’s in all probability by no means going to occur. Bob didn’t love working at SNL; he type of phoned it in and secretly labored for Second Metropolis in Chicago concurrently and had his mates cowl for him. Lorne holds grudges. The truth that Bob put that in print means Lorne is rarely going to let him host.

Coming Up in October 2025

We’re heading to Piemonte! Charlie and I really haven’t been to Italy but this 12 months, which is wild (we normally go to 3 times or so), so we needed to squeeze in an extended weekend journey earlier than the 12 months ends.

This month we will likely be visiting Piemonte for a couple of days. Piemonte is within the north and residential to among the greatest meals and wine within the nation. Whereas we’ve visited Piemonte a couple of occasions earlier than, this time we will likely be visiting a couple of totally different areas which can be new to us.

And sure, this will likely be thought-about a “big day” and I will likely be ending my 100+ day sober streak and treating myself to a glass of Barolo, my favourite wine on this planet.

Any plans for October? Share away!