Okay this summer I'll be traveling like crazy!!! I have traveled a lot in the past but it's nothing compared to what I'm about to do this summer! Trust me, it'll be over-the-goddamn-top!
First, my itiniary is incredibly long and encompasses 10 countries (lol)!!! Can you believe that I'll be traveling through 10 countries in one trip?! And unlike a lot of backpackers, I'll do it in a glamorous, fashionable way which means I won't be carrying a huge backpack that will be too heavy and make my back crack and I won't be sleeping in trains and train stations all the time! I do consider sleeping in trains every now and then but as for the backpack: No Way Jose! I'll be gone for 7 weeks! Can you believe it?! It's so long! I'm leaving on June 30th (in two weeks) and coming back on August 13th! My parents will have the whole house to them since my brother's gone in Alberta for the summer! I guess it will spice up their relationship...!!!
I started out planning this huge trip back in March when I was sad and discouraged and needed something to prep me up and motivate me to go through the days lol! Since I kept in touch with my friend Nizza that I met in Nice last year and that we've become "cyber-friends" (chatting on Facebook and writing to each other quite often), I wanted to go to Norway to visit her and unravel this exquisite country of hers. That's why my first destination is Stavanger, Norway. As I've always dreamed of visiting the city of Stockholm in Sweden, I thought it was relevant to plan heading there after Norway as both countries are next to one another. I've also watched all the Millennium movies recently so it gave me an inviting avant-goût of Stockholm! Nizza will be traveling with me to Stockholm and we'll be meeting our friend Sultan whom we met in Nice last year.
With all the buzz 'n fuzz surrounding the newly-official union between Prince Williams and Kate Middleton, I felt like it was THE time to go visit England and so I planned on going to London after Stockholm. I'm planning to go out in the Brit capital everyday and to party with Terrine, Nizza and her brother!
As you've read it in my article "Baklavas", I'm getting litteraly "nuts" upon seeing a sexy Arab or Jew man! I first thought of going to Lebanon because I know a couple of people who are from there but then realized that it wasn't the safest country at all and that they weren't that gay-friendly! That's when it hit me: Israel was a much better pick and would be easier for Terrine and I to travel around since there are a lot more tourists there and they're more open-minded. Israel seems SOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!! I can't wait to visit that "berceau de l'humanité"!!! I'll be there for a whole week, striving through Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Watch out Baklavas!!! I'll eatchu up!
Next stop after Israël: Venice, Italy where Terrine and I will be making out with each other since the scenery will be too flawless, romantic and tense to stay single and not get wet. I want to walk through the city, see all the canals and ride a gondola! After Venice we're going to Florence because Terrine really wanted to go there and that almost everybody we know who went there said it was a "must-see" in Italy.
Right after Florence, we'll be heading to Nice, Monaco, Cannes and St-Tropez in the dear South of France. I'll be visiting my friend Erik who lives there and whom I met last summer. It'll be a reunion! I know for sure that no matter what happens throughout the trip, Nice will be a sureshot and that it will be obliviously entertaining, fun and enriching! We'll spend as much time in the Alpes-Côte d'Azur province as possible before heading to Catalognia in Barcelona! OMG I love archirecture, beaches, weird and flamboyant stuff, food and sexy accents so I'm guessing that Spain will be a win-win for me! Barcelona seems like a very pretty city and I truly intend to spend days in a dirty and heavily packed hostel to have the same vibe than in the French movie with Audrey Tautou "L'Auberge Espagnole"!
Terrine and I had thought about going to Ibiza after Barcelona but since she had a drepression last winter and is still under medication we thought it would be a fairly bad idea to plan attending raves every night and taking drugs! Plus Ibiza ain't cheap and it's very far from the rest of Spain. Especially since our next destination is Lisbon, Portugal after Barcelona! It's located at the complete opposite side; far West on the Atlantic Ocean. Lisbon sounds so exotic to me and I've never been to a country where they spoke Portuguese so I can't wait to hear that! It will prepare me for Brazil! Lisbon is very rich in history and extremely big with several cities located around the the river delta and kilometers and kilometers of sandy beaches.
Our last and final destination is Casablanca, Morrocco! How cool to land in Africa for the first time! Of course it's the Maghreb and not Black Africa but still, I'll be able to say that I've been to Africa! Terrine and I watched the movie of the same name recently, thinking that it would give us a good overview of the city but the truth is, it's a play taking place in the city but we hardly see it in the movie and it was shot in the '50s so the city evolved so much since then! I can't wait to go to the Great Mosquee and to bathe on the African coastline!
I calculated that I'll take about 12 different flights during that trip!!! It's unbelievable lol! At least we'll have a direct flight from Casablanca to Montreal! Terrine won't go to Norway and Sweden but will meet me in London. Some of the destinations we're headed are so far away from one another, we'll have to make stops in random cities like Paris, France, Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany lol.
We can't wait to see our friends, sleep at hostels, go to the beach, unravel new cities and historical places, eat local food, Couchsurf, learn new words in other languages, go out, flirt and go shopping! This will probably be the most memorable trip of our lives!!! Can't wait! Amen!
My calendar:
1. Stavanger, Norway + Preikestolen, Bryne and the surrounding towns (with Nizza)
2. Stockholm, Sweden (with Nizza and Sultan)
3. London, England + possibly Stonehenge (with Nizza, Terrine and Nizza's brother)
4. Tel Aviv, Israel+Jerusalem+Jaffa+Dead Sea (with Terrine)
5. Venice, Italy (with Terrine)
6. Florence, Italy + possibly Pise (with Terrine)
7. Monaco-Monte Carlo (for one day, but not sleeping there: too expensive!)
8. Nice, France+Cannes+St-Tropez (with Erik and Terrine)
9. Barcelona, Spain (with Terrine and maybe Erik)
10. Lisbon, Portugal + the Atlantic coast (with Terrine)
11. Casablanca, Morrocco (with Terrine)