Where will we be going
Where would you go if you were backpacking around the world for 11 months? Well, that's what we are doing! And, here's where we are going….
We plan to go to around 12 countries, but our journey is still being determined, so we only know what we'll be doing in East Africa and Madagascar. In my last post, I talked about Madagascar. This post will be more about the overall trip and something we plan to do in each country.
August 17th is the start of our trip. We will be flying to Nairobi with my grandparents and cousins. We will go on Safari in Laikipia and to an elephant sanctuary. After Kenya, we will split from our family. Our cousins and grandparents will go back to the United States, and we will head to Uganda. In Uganda, we might visit a tribe that is out in a rural area. In Kibale National Forest, we will take a hike to see chimpanzees.
We are taking a bus from Uganda to Kigali, Rwanda. Rwanda was one of the first countries to ban single-use plastics, which is amazing. Everyone comes together on the last Saturday of every month to clean up their community. To top it off, Rwanda's economy has been growing four times the rate of the United States, and its violent crime rate is 15 times less. In my last blog, I already talked much about Madagascar, so I only have a little to say. We fly from Kigali to Antananarivo then we fly up to Nosy Be, a small island off the top of Madagascar. And that's where we'll work with lemurs and get our diving certification.
Our Last African country, with the exception of Morocco, is South Africa. We will be flying to Johannesburg, and then we will fly to Cape Town. In Cape Town, we will go paragliding off Table Mountain. We also might go to Boulder Beach, which is a beach with a lot of penguins. We will be in South Africa for two weeks and then fly to Australia in mid-November to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins. We will go scuba diving in Australia at the Great Barrier Reef. Then we are going to borrow a camper van, and we're going to drive down to Tasmania from Sydney to go hiking. We also might go spearfishing which sounds fun.
That is the end of our planned trip. We know the countries we're going to and some of the stuff we want to do, but we have yet to schedule any of it. We would love to hear if you have any suggestions on what we should do in Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Morocco.
The last country we will visit is Italy, at my grandma's house. We will be going for the month of June when the Tour de France starts. We will watch the start of the Tour de France in Florence. That is all that we have planned for Italy. Every year the Tour de France starts in a different country for the first couple of days, then they bike into France.
On this trip, we are going to a lot of countries - around 12 to 15. But this isn't just a vacation. It's also a significant learning experience. It's a view of the cultures of other countries and how they live. I am very excited to go on this trip; it will be a memory I will have forever. Sometime this week before Thursday, we will post another blog on our packing list, which for me, is a lot of stuff in a 40 L backpack.
