2025 recap: the final year of the road to 197

2025 recap: the final year of the road to 197

2025 was my last year on my road to 197. On September 23, 2025, I achieved the goal I had been working toward for the past 10-11 years. On that date, I entered Iceland, my 197th and final country.

As in previous years, I am writing a short summary of this year with all the highlights and lowlights. In 2025, I visited no fewer than 32 countries, 18 of which were new to me. 32 is probably a new record, although many of these countries were only transit points with one or two overnight stays to get tp the next (new) country.

I started 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. About four hours before midnight, I landed in the Thai capital from Bhutan. Bankgok was one of the transit points I just mentioned. I spent the night with friends from Switzerland before flying on to the Maldives, my country 180/197, on January 2.

Maldives was a disaster, there’s no other way to put it. I had three days there and it rained almost continuously – mind you, in the month when it usually rains the least in Maldives. Since the Indian Ocean wasn’t generally kind to me weather-wise – even in the Seychelles and Mauritius, the weather was only okay-ish – I took it with a sense of humor. I spent two days on Maafushi, a local island, and one day in the capital Malé. All in all, it was a trip to forget.

To be honest, the next trip wasn’t much better. In November 2024, I had probably my biggest defeat on my entire road to 197. I had to cancel Niger one day before my arrival. You can read about the reasons here. In January 2025, I made up for this trip. Niger became my country 181/197. My stay in the capital Niamey was not particularly exciting in terms of activities and was marked by a lot of stress caused by the police… Somehow, it was a pretty bizarre trip!

In February, I traveled to Nuremberg, Germany for a weekend, one of the few major German cities I had not been to yet. It’s a cool city with exciting historical sights. With a five-hour journey there and back, it was easy to do by train from Switzerland. I also spent a weekend in Valencia, Spain, an awesome city, maybe even my favorite city in Spain.

In March, my last trip to North America was on the agenda. I flew to Miami, USA for the third time in my life, which then served as my hub for the Caribbean. During the first week of this trip, I visited Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Dominica, my countries 182-185/197. all small island nations. I liked St. Lucia and Dominica the best.

I spent the second week of this trip in Cuba, my country 186/197. I saved Cuba for last in North America and was not disappointed. Cuba is a country like no other and one that is very polarizing. Travelers either love it or hate it. I thought it was fantastic and would go back anytime. For me, it was one of the highlights of 2025.

Country 187/197 was one of the more difficult ones. After a stopover in Egypt, I flew to Yemen in April, my last country in the Middle East. As Yemen is still at war, only part of the country can be visited. I spent six days in the country, perhaps two too many for the itinerary, but I had a good time and look forward to seeing the whole country when it is possible again.

My last trip to Africa took place in May. Four countries in Central Africa were still missing: Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Chad.

I really liked Gabon, my country 188/197. It seemed more developed than many other African countries, offered beautiful nature, and would have had other places worth seeing, but there wasn’t enough time.

The Republic of the Congo followed as country 189/197. A country with a fairly relaxed capital city. in ROC, I saw gorillas in the wild (well, sort of) for the third time. Not a bad country, but quite an expensive one to travel in.

The second Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (country 190/197), was almost certainly the most epic border crossing of all time. Never before on a trip have I been so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to enter a country. This story deserves its own article. My stay in the capital Kinshasa was rather weak, although the city is not exactly known for its tourist friendliness.

Chad was then my country 191/197 and also my last country in Africa. It was not a visit marked by fireworks or anything like that. I spent one day in the capital N’djamena, which was enough for this city. I would have needed a week or more to see the real highlights of Chad. That was time I did not want to spend in this country.

In June, I flew to Slovenia for a long weekend. Slovenia was my 24th country, which I visited the first time in 2014. I hardly have any photos from that trip. Besides, I only visited Ljubljana at the time. This time, I also visited Lake Bled and the coastal region in the south. Slovenia is a beautiful country that I enjoyed on both visits.

After Valencia, I flew to Spain again in July, this time to Murcia, a less touristy region of Spain, but still beautiful. Murcia ultimately offers everything Spain has to offer: good food, beautiful nature, great weather, a relaxed lifestyle – just without the tourists. In the same month, I took a day trip to Nancy, France. This city is only two hours away from my home.

In August, it was time for the final boss of my road to 197: my last trip to Oceania, a logistically difficult region where things can always go wrong. My journey began in Bali, Indonesia, where I spent one night before continuing on to my next new country.

Timor-Leste was my last country in Asia, my country 192/197. I went to one of the least visited countries on the continent with fairly low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. The friendliness of the locals contributed a lot to this. And otherwise, my days in the capital Dili and the surrounding area were quite fun.

From Timor-Leste, I flew to Australia‘s Northern Territory, specifically to Darwin. Not a particularly interesting city, to be honest, but the logical route on the way to the Pacific countries. A flight cancellation the following day resulted in an unplanned stay in Brisbane, a city I had already visited in 2022 and liked quite a bit then, as I did this year.

Nauru was my first Pacific country on this trip. My country 193/197. The third smallest country in the world can be walked around in four hours – which is exactly what I did. There isn’t really much for tourists to see here, but the 1.5 days still passed very quickly. Nevertheless, Nauru is a country I would not visit again.

Fiji was another transit country. I spent two nights in Nadi. As I had a bad cold at the time, I didn’t leave my resort once during my stay. After the two nights, I flew to Kiribati, my country 194/197.

Kiribati was a mixture of terrible and world class. I found Betio, my first stop on the country’s main atoll, to be one of the most horrible places in Oceania. However, this was followed by one of the best places in the entire Pacific: Abaiang. All in all, it was a trip with highs and lows and an extremely stressful last day, when I almost didn’t make it off Abaiang Island…

My country 195/197 was Marshall Islands, also a very small country, and a rather unspectacular one at that. The two days I spent there felt somehow long, and it’s not a country I would want to visit a second time.

In contrast, my country 196/197 was pretty cool: the Federated States of Micronesia. The country consists of four islands/states, one of which I visited, namely Pohnpei. The island was very beautiful and I wouldn’t mind seeing more states of this country at some point.

In Micronesia, I kind of finished my road to 197. I mean, at that time, I was 100% sure I’m going to make it. Before and during this trip, I was nervous at times. What if I didn’t get to see one of the new countries due to a flight cancellation, a cyclone, or something else? Would I have traveled to the other end of the world again just to see this (presumably uninteresting) country?

However, these worries were unfounded. On my way home, I stopped in Guam, an overseas territory of the USA, where the country’s largest military base in the Pacific region is located. After that, I spent four more days in Japan. I had already spent 2.5 weeks in Japan in 2012 and subsequently declared it my favorite country. This country retains this title even after my second visit in 2025, and I am already looking forward to returning.

Then, in September, came the grand finale: Iceland was my final country. The road to 197 was completed. Over the past ten years, I had to hear several times that I would never achieve my goal. And especially at the beginning, I also had my doubts from time to time. But I did it. I am one of only a few people in the world to have seen every country.

Iceland was the worthy big final, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and the week-long trip was also epic. I saw so many beautiful things in this country that it’s difficult to name a highlight. All in all, however, Iceland is a top 10 country for me and also the best new country I visited in 2025.

What followed was almost a little absurd. An Instagram post I made on the third day of my trip went viral and received over 435,000 likes. While I was still in the country, I received a request from Icelandic television asking if I had time for an interview. This interview was on air that same evening.

In the 30 days after my last country, my Instagram profile had 190 million views. To put that into perspective: Instagram has 3 billion users… I was then contacted by various media outlets in Switzerland. I gave interviews to four newspapers, three of which were major publications. There were even more requests, including from radio stations, but at some point I simply didn’t have time for it anymore.

Until the end of the year, things remained more or less quiet for me in terms of travel. I spent weekends in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Istanbul, Türkiye. And as I post this, I’m about to head to Bangkok. The place where I started in 2024 and will also end in 2025. It will be the start of a 2.5-week trip to Southeast Asia.

2025 was not a year in which I traveled one country extensively. That’s just how it is in the final stretch. Starting in 2026, there will be a few longer trips to some countries again. I would also like to visit a few territories, i.e., countries that are not independent, like Northern Ireland.

I wish you all a happy New Year and a wonderful 2026 full of travel!

Nicolai