I left Arizona on January 12th and didn’t return until April 7th, 2025, heading first to Vietnam and then bouncing across the globe. In order, I visited:
Vietnam → Cambodia → Thailand → London (twice) → Singapore → Greece → Turkey → Egypt → Italy → Spain
Eight of those ten countries were brand-new pins on my map, which made the whole thing feel even more unreal. 
I spent the first three months slowly moving through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. After that, I flipped the switch and went full chaos mode with my all-you-can-fly pass—whizzing (Wizz Air style) through London, Singapore, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and Spain.
Here’s the actual chain of planes, trains, ferries, and buses that somehow all worked:
Phoenix → Los Angeles Los Angeles → Singapore Singapore → Saigon (HCMC)
Saigon → Nha Trang Nha Trang → Huế Huế → Da Nang Da Nang → Hoi An Da Nang → Saigon
Saigon → Phú Quốc Phú Quốc → Saigon
Saigon → Phnom Penh Phnom Penh → Siem Reap Siem Reap → Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat → Bangkok Bangkok → Koh Tao Koh Tao → Koh Phangan Koh Phangan → Koh Samui
Koh Samui → Bangkok Bangkok → Singapore Singapore → Athens
Athens → Istanbul Istanbul → Princess Islands (day trip) Istanbul → London London → Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Sharm El Sheikh → London London → Naples Naples → Rome
Rome → Madrid Madrid → Barcelona Barcelona → Madrid Madrid → Rome Rome → Los Angeles LAX → Phoenix
(That doesn’t even include all the local buses, metros, tuk-tuks, and 25+ ride share ((Grab/Uber/Bolt/InDrive)) rides along the way.)
Three months in Southeast Asia.
Then a rapid-fire lap through Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
It sounds insane written out like this—and honestly, it kind of was.
But that’s part of the fun.
And after traveling like this for three straight months…
Sometimes all you can do is drop a blog and watch miserable people be jealous. 
This was, by far, the longest—and most expensive—trip of my life.
I blew through my budget. And once that happened, I made the call to keep going anyway, because I was already there. I ended up canceling my Eurail pass and coming home three weeks early to stop the financial bleeding.
At the time, I didn’t think I’d ever use my all-you-can-fly pass again, so I went into “see everything now” mode and stacked as many countries as I could. I still missed a few, which means there’s a pretty good chance I’ll give it one more run someday—especially since I’m not renewing the pass.
And here’s the truth:
I have zero regrets about spending money on travel.
Not at the end of this trip.
Not at the end of any trip.
What I do have is better awareness.
Travel is worth it.
The memories are worth it.
The experiences are worth it.
I just need to be smarter next time in Europe and use train travel—pace it better, plan a little tighter, and learn from the mistakes without losing the magic.
That’s not regret.
That’s learning and sharing.