Six years after starting our original blog, ReviewSteak, we launched ReviewTrip in 2023 to focus purely on the journey itself—moving with dogs, trains, logistics, and the real experience of travel. After a slow start, 2025 became our breakthrough year.
While Spanish residency paperwork kept us grounded for nearly a year, that limitation became an unexpected gift. We discovered hidden Roman ruins, explored medieval cities by train, and created resources to help other travelers navigate the complex world of international pet relocation.
Here's what we built, learned, and explored this year—plus the free tools and guides we created for you.
The ReviewTrip Impact: 2025 BY THE NUMBERS
- 📝 18 blog posts published - Our first full year of consistent weekly content
- 👀 35,000 views reached - Thank you for reading!
- 🎥 YouTube Channel - Celebrating our 1-year anniversary! (Launched Dec 2024)
- 📱 Social media expansion - TikTok, Instagram, Facebook all launched
- 💼 1 Business Launched - Agency helping small businesses build their online presence
- 🐕 3 dogs, 3 countries documented - Our 2023 move from Colorado to Spain
- 🐕 Adopted dog #4 - A rescue who joined our pack this year
- 🏛️ 8 Roman ruins explored across Spain (2019-2025)
- 🚂 Multiple Spanish city escapes - All by train, naturally
- 🇪🇸 Physical residency IDs received - November 2025, after 11 months of waiting
- 🗓️ 2 full years living in Spain - Arrived December 19, 2023
- ✈️ International trips taken: 0 (travel freedom returns in 2026!)
RESOURCES WE CREATED IN 2025
The Traveler's Toolkit: Free Guides and Maps
This year wasn't just about traveling—it was about building tools to help YOU travel better.
Pet Relocation Guides
After successfully moving three dogs from the US to Spain (and documenting every painful bureaucratic step), we created comprehensive guides to help you skip the expensive pet relocation services and do it yourself.
- 📘 NEW: 2026 DIY Pet Relocation Roadmap - Available now on Gumroad! Everything we learned moving dogs domestically: how to pack for pet travel, vet requirements, what you don't need to buy, booking hotels, and stress-saving strategies.
- Coming 2026: DIY International Pet Relocation Roadmap (for moves beyond the US)
Interactive Travel Maps
- 🗺️ Roman Ruins of Spain Map - Launching January 2026! An interactive Google Map pinpointing every major Roman site we've visited across Spain, with visiting tips, costs, and insider details. Perfect for history lovers planning a Spain trip.
- 🏨 Pet-Friendly Hotels Map - Available now! Years of pet-friendly accommodations across multiple countries, all mapped for easy trip planning.
The ReviewTrip Library Now Includes:
- Multi-country rail journey guides
- Pet relocation expertise (helping others move cross country and internationally with dogs)
- City deep-dives (Venice, Vienna, and more coming)
- Travel strategy posts (carry-on only, point-to-point tickets)
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Spain by Rail: 11 Months of Slow Travel Discovery
When Spanish bureaucracy kept us grounded for 11 months waiting for residency cards, we turned our attention to Spain itself. Every weekend became an opportunity to explore by rail—Spain's network makes spontaneous city breaks ridiculously easy.
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| Plaza de España, Seville |
- Seville: Second Time's the Charm. Our first visit in June 2023 was unbearable (heat, crowds). We returned in January 2025, and winter transformed everything. The Plaza de España was peaceful, the air crisp. Travel lesson: Timing matters more than you think.
- Madrid: Our Reliable Escape. Madrid became our go-to city, including our 10-year anniversary celebration. There's something special about having a "familiar city" in a foreign country—favorite cafés, walking routes, the comfort of knowing where you're going.
- Toledo: Medieval Magic in the Rain. The first weekend of March brought us to Toledo in a downpour. But rain couldn't dampen the breathtaking Cathedral or hours spent with friendly locals. Thanks to our Spanish classes, those conversations were finally possible. Sometimes the best travel moments aren't the monuments—they're the people.
- Quick Escapes Close to Home. Lunch in Granada, pink flamingos at Fuente de Piedra lake, spontaneous train rides to coastal towns. Living in southern Spain means endless day-trip possibilities.
ROMAN SPAIN: The Ancient Ruins Rivaling Italy (That Nobody Talks About)
Before 2019, I had no idea Spain held world-class Roman ruins. My mental map of the Roman Empire stopped at Italy.
My awakening came during a spontaneous road trip. In Mérida, we found the perfectly preserved theater, the massive amphitheater, the Temple of Diana standing casually in the middle of a modern city. I was stunned. Why doesn't anyone talk about this?
That visit sparked a six-year quest. Between 2019 and 2025, we explored seven major Roman sites across Spain:
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| Roman complex in Mérida Spain |
The Sites We've Visited:
- Mérida (2019) - Spain's crown jewel. UNESCO World Heritage Site with theater, amphitheater, and temples.
- Almuñécar (2023) - Roman fish-salting factory on the Costa Tropical. Industrial archaeology at its finest.
- Córdoba (2024) - The Roman Bridge spanning the Guadalquivir River and striking Temple columns.
- Málaga Roman Theater (2024) - Hidden in the modern city, discovered accidentally during construction in 1951.
- Carmona (2024) - Underground necropolis with elaborate tombs. Eerie, fascinating, almost empty of tourists.
- Antequera (2024) - Prehistoric dolmens predating Rome, showing Spain's deep historical roots.
- Cádiz (2024) - The oldest Roman theatre hidden in Western Europe's oldest inhabited city.
- Segovia (2025) - The iconic Roman aqueduct. Two thousand years old, built without mortar, still standing. Engineering genius in stone.
What We Learned:
Spain's Roman heritage rivals Italy's—and you'll often have these ancient sites almost entirely to yourself. You can walk in contemplation with no fighting for photos. No endless tour groups. Just you, 2,000 years of history, and the quiet realization that the Roman Empire reached farther than most realize.
📍 Coming January 2026: Our comprehensive guide to Roman Spain with detailed visiting tips, costs, best times to visit, and our interactive map pinpointing every site. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
WHAT WE LEARNED IN 2025
About Travel Blogging
- Consistency beats perfection. I spent too much time in 2023-24 overthinking. In 2025, I committed to showing up every week. 35,000 views later, the lesson is clear: done is better than perfect.
- Pages aren't posts. All that work in 2024 creating beautiful pages barely helped with traffic. Posts are what Google sees and what readers find.
- Finding your voice takes time. My early posts were stiff—all facts, no personality. Now I write like I talk. The posts I almost didn't publish because they felt "too casual" are the ones people love most.
About Spain & Expat Realities
- Bureaucracy requires patience. Nearly a year waiting for ID cards taught us that frustration doesn't speed things up. Patience (and humor) are survival skills.
- Living somewhere reveals what visiting never can. Finding favorite bakeries, recognizing faces at the market, running into friends—that's when a place stops being a destination and becomes home.
About Travel Itself
- You don't need international trips to explore. Forced to stay within Spain's borders, we discovered more in one year than in all our previous visits combined. Sometimes constraints are gifts.
- The best moments are unplanned. The locals we met in Toledo. The flamingos near Fuente de Piedra. You can't schedule these. You can only show up and stay open.
- The luxury of returning. Living here means we don't have to cram a city's entire history into 48 hours. We can return. The frantic tourist checklist is gone.
EXPANDING BEYOND THE BLOG
YouTube: 1 Year Anniversary
We launched our YouTube channel in December 2024, starting with a video close to our hearts: driving through downtown Rio de Janeiro. Mauricio is Brazilian (a Carioca—Rio native), and I've been visiting for 12 years.
The channel is still small, but it's growing. In November 2025, we created a detailed video tutorial to help pet parents plan a road trip with pets in Europe. We're embedding videos in blog posts because some things just need to be seen—navigating busy train stations, traveling with dogs, the reality of European train travel.
Social Media Launch
In December 2025, we took the plunge: TikTok, refreshed Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest presence. We're sharing behind-the-scenes travel moments—including the chaotic dog-travel reality that doesn't always make it to polished blog posts.
LOOKING AHEAD: 2026 - THE FREEDOM YEAR
Our residency cards arrived in November 2025, giving us both travel freedom AND the legal right to work. We immediately launched our business helping small local companies build their online presence—putting down deeper roots in the community we love.
Where 2026 Might Take Us:
With our IDs in hand and our business growing, we're balancing entrepreneurship with wanderlust. We're eyeing returns to Italy, Germany, and Rio (finally!), continuing our Spanish Roman ruins quest, and possibly a special train journey for a milestone celebration.
Content Coming in 2026:
- January: Spain's Roman Ruins comprehensive guide + interactive map
- Spring: New rail journey series
- Mid-2026: DIY International Pet Relocation Roadmap
- Throughout: More city guides, travel tips, expat life insights, YouTube expansion
JOIN THE JOURNEY
Thirty-five thousand views might not sound like much in the world of mega-influencers, but to us? It's everything. Every view represents someone planning their own adventure, learning from our experiences, or laughing at our mistakes.
Stay Connected
📧 Subscribe to our Substack - Weekly travel guides, practical tips, and honest stories about life abroad delivered to your inbox. Subscribe here
🛍️ Shop Our Guides - 2026 DIY Pet Relocation Roadmap now available
🗺️ Free Resources - Pet-friendly hotels map, Roman ruins guide (coming January 2026)
📱 Follow Our Adventures:
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Big things are coming in 2026. Let's explore together.
— Nisha
ReviewTrip: Where every journey tells a story.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing!