25 for '25

Baby Allaira, ready to set out from Guam on her big adventure.

25 memories from 2025. Things I’m proud of, happy about, or that just stuck out and were worth it.

1. Spending hours learning bike maintenance and driving to Utah for a final round job interview. I didn’t get the job, but felt resolved in my effort.

2. Taking my first motorcycle lessons!

   

   My friend Jenna used her JCPenney photo studio skills to pose party guests. The results were deliciously awkward.

3. Overcoming my social anxiety and throwing a Galentine’s party.

4. Staring up at the stars from my parents’ seawall in Guam. Guam is a transitional place for me; I find myself there before any new life chapter and am grateful for that moment of pause.

   

5. Stumbling into the Palauan President’s office. I was wandering around the capital, very much a tourist, when a worker asked if I’d like to see the President’s office. “Uhhh…. Yes?” In we went. No security check. The furniture was stately, dark wood. The President, Surangel S. Whipps, Jr, was in Japan at the time.

6. Waking up alone on my first day of solo travel. My dad left our shared hotel room in the middle of the night to go to work. What an empty, thrilling feeling.

   

7. Breakfasts at Barracuda in Palau. I would order sparkling water with calamansi every morning and peruse my Lonely Planet guide to New Zealand. For months before the trip, I hated looking at that book because I was so anxious to leave. This is when I finally thawed.

   

8. Meeting the family of my Dad’s long-time mechanic, Shabaz. He had saved for nine years to bring his wife and children to Palau from Pakistan. When his daughters heard I was in Palau, they were so eager to meet me. They brought a home-cooked meal to our meeting. I was confused and touched. They had been learning English for less than a year and were already speaking so confidently.

9. Landing in rainy, humid Auckland. Sleeping in a hostel for the first time. Being excited by every little thing. I’d made it.

10. Buying my beloved van, Bessie!!!! The van buying process was stressful. Getting it inspected, test driving it, negotiating, and all the initial tune-ups… By the end of the process, I felt very self-sufficient.

    

11. Beginning my “Postcards from New Zealand” painting series. Having the gumption to post them online!! Big news for me.

    

12. Completing my 200-hour yoga teacher training with Asia Pacific Yoga in Taupō. I was depressed for half of it, and movement and friends and good food and having something to study really helped. Yoga is for everyone, yoga is for everyone.

    

13. Going back to Portland for my little brother’s graduation. Hearing the happiness in his voice during phone calls from his first year at Oregon State University.

14. Making excellent travel friends. Kim and Lolo at yoga teacher training, Sean at Rarebirds, Cami at my hostel in Bali, Kat and Itia at Gibbston… The list goes on.

15. Interning with Rarebirds Interiors in Auckland.

16. Moving to the South Island in winter. I cried on the ferry ride down, I felt so relieved. From what, I couldn’t tell you. I had this deep feeling that there were people for me down south. I watched jellyfish swirl through the water.

17. A frenemies-to-friends arc with Jash of yoga teacher training fame. One of the biggest surprises of the year. He — an Aries, and I — a Cancer, had our share of tension in the beginning. We are now good pals and have excellent conversations.

    

18. Surf lessons with Claudia in Uluwatu, Indonesia. Getting absolutely bodied and still taking smiling photos after.

    

19. Skydiving for the second time in Guam, and third time in Twizel. Realizing that, oh no, I really like skydiving.

    

20. Getting my job at Gibbston Valley Winery and all the many, many things I learned about wine (and cheese). I have a budding bottle collection and am excited to start building my cellar. For the rest of your life, I will be that friend who brings the good wine.

21. Saunaing with Kim at Lake Hāwea in the snow.

    

22. Meeting a French guy, falling in love. Merci, Ange.

23. Playing house with Ange. Eating meals in courses, doing each other’s laundry.

24. Being gifted pounamu. Pounamu jade is a sacred gift in Māori culture, and it is common for Kiwis to wear and pass it down through generations. Traditionally, you are not supposed to buy it for yourself — you must be gifted it. My boss, Eliza, gifted me a bracelet, and Ange gave me a necklace for Christmas. It made me tear up — I didn’t think I’d get one (let alone two).

25. Finding my favorite spots around Cromwell, Queenstown, and Wanaka. Settling in and then one day driving down and realizing: this feels like home.

Happy travels,

Allaira