I leave one week from today (gah!) for a two month trip in Europe, three weeks back in the US, and then two months in Africa!  Here is my itinerary of where I’m going!  Buckle up, it’s long…

September:

13-15: Seattle to Amsterdam via Dubai*
*I have an overnight layover in the Dubai airport.  They have hotels on the concourse and you don’t have to go through customs.  What?  Of course they do, it’s Dubai.

15-16: Amsterdam, just exploring on my own, shaking off the jet lag

17: Meet up with my tour group in Amsterdam for three weeks in Europe.  We’re doing this tour. You can expand the “itinerary” section on that page to get a detailed description of the whole tour.  It’s amazing; and a nice balance of free time included, which I want.

17-18: Amsterdam and Haarlem, Netherlands

19-21: Bacharach and Rothenburg, Germany

22-23: Reutte, Austria

24-25: Venice, Italy

26-27: Florence, Italy

28-29: Rome, Italy

30: Cinque Terre, Italy

October:

1: Cinque Terre, Italy

2-3: Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Swiss Alps, Switzerland

4: Beaune, France

5-7: Paris, France

This is the end of the tour, and then:

7-8: Paris, France — two more days in Paris on my own, close to the Eiffel Tower

9: Fly to Dublin, Ireland and meet up with my friend, Erin, for two weeks in southern Ireland

9-10: Kilkenny, Ireland

11-12: Kinsale, Ireland

13-15: Killarney and the whole Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

16-17: Shannon and County Clare, Ireland

18-21: Galway, Ireland

22-23: Dublin, Ireland

After this I’m on my own for three weeks, and here’s that adventure, all of this by train after landing in Spain:

24: Fly from Dublin to Barcelona

25-26: Barcelona, Spain

27-29: Avignon and Provence, France

30-31: Nice, France

November:

1: Nice, France

2: Milan, Italy

3-6: Varenna on Lake Como, Italy

6: Train to Sorrento via Milan > Naples

6-13: Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, Italy

14: Rome, Italy

15: Fly from Rome back to Seattle

So that wraps up two months in Europe!  And then I have a few weeks before the next adventure, so:

Nov 15-30: Some time in Seattle, trip to the Bay Area to see my dad, etc. Basically couch surfing, as I’ll still be homeless.  Whee!

December:

1-5: Likely in the Seattle area, getting ready for my trip to Africa

5: Fly from Seattle to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe via London and Johannesburg

Dec 7 – Jan 4: Volunteering with an organization at one of their project sites in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  You can read about it here *

January:

Jan 4 – Feb 1: Working with the same organization, I’ll be moving to their Antelope Park project, also in Zimbabwe *

* I did my research to ensure that this organization does not directly or indirectly support canned hunting, and I also did a lot of soul searching about a hands-on type of project.  The population decline of lions, like many animals around the globe, is due in large part to human factors.  To go support an organization that is working to turn this around, however daunting a task that may seem, has been calling to me for a long time.  A few of my friends know that my answer to the question “What would you do if money were no object” has always been “Work with animals, ideally the big cats”, and so I’m going to go give my time for a couple months as part of this calling.