“How’ve you been?” people ask.
“Not bad at all,” I reply. “If I don’t look at the headlines, this year feels pretty great.”
For me personally, 2025 has been a powerhouse year. My mid-40s are unfolding gracefully—a pleasant surprise. Even as I gray, wrinkle, and bald, the changes have been merciful. My household downsized, by adament choice, from a three-bedroom house in the suburbs to a two-bedroom condo in the city, and it’s been a relief on every level. I spend a fraction of the time driving, and my step-count has circumstantially doubled. In many ways, I feel fitter and happier than I did in my prime, blessings that extend into professional life.
2025 has been a potpourri of successes, each a small part of a satisfying whole. As always, I owe so much of these achievements to my editors, patrons, and collaborators, who keep giving me opportunities and/or help them come to fruition. From my most esteemed publisher to my most fastidious copy-editor and brilliant co-authors, these people are the real reason all of this work gets done. So, as 2025 draws to a close, here are a few highlights from a firmly mid-career year.
Lonely Planet
I’ve continued to write for my favorite publisher, a dream that once seemed too lofty to even imagine. No visits to far-flung locations this year, but I did have the chance to visit Québec Province—not once, not twice, but three times. Each assignment was different, spanning two different travel guides. The latter, Best Bike Rides in Canada, is perhaps the best-suited assignment I’ve ever received, and I’m ecstatic to have served not only as contributor, but also as coordinating author.
One of the joys of writing books is the slowness of the publishing process, so the emotional surge of submitting your final draft has long subsided by the time you hold a physical copy in your hands—and all those emotions are suddenly revived. Books have hit shelves this year that I put to bed back in 2024, including guides to China and Central America—for which I also served as coordinating author—and flipping through my complimentary copies is like reliving those experiences all over again. There’s really nothing like it.
Meanwhile, much of this work has been adapted as online excerpts, which has catered to LP’s global family of readers. I’m delighted to see, for example, my “10 Best Things to Do in Tianjin, China” appear in Italian.
Explore & Islands
During the daylight hours, I continue to write stories for Static Media, one of the most stabilizing forces in my freelance career. I love the near-limitless need for new content, the daily task of writing them, and the care and dedication of my editors.
After penning well over 300 articles for Explore—over the past couple of years—Static transferred me over to Islands. I appreciate both publications, and I had certainly hit my stride with Explore, yet Islands has a certain cachet that I have really appreciated: It started as a glossy magazine back in 1981. I actually pitched a (terrible idea) to their editors about 17 years ago and (deservedly) never got a response. Landing this role has been a smile-inducing twist of fate.
As a bonus, many of these stories are syndicated on other news platforms, like Yahoo and MSN, which pleases me to no end.
You Are Here
At the end of 2024, I finally resolved to start a new, independent project. I’ve noodled around with concepts for years: I wanted to make something personal and episodic, but the themes and delivery system kept changing. A podcast about cycling? A photographic blog about arts and travel? A Substack on the writing life? Flashes of excitement quickly dwindled. Either the demand felt limited, or the subject itself didn’t merit the time.
The winning combination hit me like a thunderbolt:
- (1) A video series about my life and interests.
- (2) Presented in the second person.
In short, I love how this has turned out; each of these 34 episodes (so far) has been an absolute pleasure to put together. You Are Here is exactly what I hoped it would be, and although viewership remains low, certain benchmarks have surpassed expectations:
- One episode, “How to Write a Travel Guide,” has screened at seven film festivals, including 9 Central Film Festival in nearby Newport, Rhode Island, and it won Best Experimental Short at the Gothamite Film Awards, among other nods.
- A couple of episodes have performed extremely well: “Bike Jam” was viewed nearly 3,000 times on Instagram, (mostly by fans and followers of the PVD Bike Jam), and “Cliff Walk” somehow attracted more than 4,000 views on TikTok, a long with many kind comments.
In the meantime, You Are Here has been my universal excuse to practice my camera and editing skills, visit bucket-list locations, and generally celebrate daily life.
WBUR’s “Cognoscenti”
As a lifelong NPR listener—and veteran host and assistant producer—I was ecstatic to contribute an essay to WBUR’s “Cognoscenti,” which one of my favorite features in the entire public media universe. The topic feels a little goofy at face value, but I was happy to see how many people responded well to it.
The Providence Eye
The newest publication in Rhode Island is The Providence Eye, a burgeoning news source focused (shall we say) on the state’s capital. The publication is great, and I was ecstatic to correspond with the Eye’s op-ed editor, Phil Eli, a local journalist and author I deeply respect (and profiled last year). The Eye ran an essay I’ve been eager to write for years, about the unsung importance of maintenance workers in the preservation of bicycle infrastructure.
Jewish Rhode Island
While work for the Dwares JCC has taken a backseat this year, I’ve continued to freelance a little for Jewish Rhode Island. Imagine my surprise when my editor offered an interview with genre-defying hiphop artist Matisyahu. Complicated character, but a really nice conversation.
Commercial Video Work
Producing video for clients is a bit of a rollercoaster—sometimes you’re in demand, sometimes work is slow, and you’re never sure who will pop out of the woodwork and ask for promotional content. I got to work with several fun clients this year, including the Wild Colonial’s Grog & Dog Jog.
Also, the AAPI Museum, in honor of its grand opening.
As well as the Hattie Ide Chaffee nursing home.
And, most random of all, the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
I already have large and brewing plans for 2026, including a makeover for this very website. This year has been dramatic on the grand scale—I can’t say I’ll miss the general atmosphere—but this humble writer has had a lot to be grateful for.
ROBERT ISENBERG 