Midnight Musings: Trip Planning Africa

Some people think I have my head in the clouds with all this travel business. I think I'm happy, and that's all that matters to me.

Some people think I have my head in the clouds with all this travel business. I think I’m happy, and that’s all that matters to me.

The trouble with traveling is there’s just so much to see and do, and never enough time or money.

I’m currently sitting at my fairly new, overpriced computer wondering why on Earth I bought it when I seem to be struggling to come up with the funds I’m hoping to for my next trip in three months. I am also multitasking and researching return flights to different countries in Africa with a third flight thrown in because it comes up cheaper than booking it separately (travel hack). It’s nights like tonight I wish I had an endless supply of airmiles to spare me the several thousand dollars these flights look like they might cost me.

And so go most of my nights and days I spend dreaming of travel and how I can bring those dreams to fruition: research, Googling, trip planning, and getting lost in a multitude of travel blogs and travel dreams.

On the brighter side of things, I’ve decided that I must go to Madagascar. If I pick one country on or close to the African continent, that is the one I want to go to. I feel like it’s Asia’s version of  Borneo and South America’s version of the Galapagos and my wanderlust is tugging me there. I’m a nature nut and an adventure enthusiast and I feel like the flora and fauna will be some of the most amazing I’ve come across. So, to save myself a return flight to and from the mainland, why not start my trip off with flying straight from Canada to the island (the fourth largest in the world by the way) when I’m at my richest?

Apparently if I fly ‘directly’ there, I get to hop through Germany with a whole day layover, which could be pretty fun to catch up with some travel friends, and then through to South Africa and finally, after two days of travel, I’ll make it to the island. After a solid few weeks there I’m contemplating flying to Namibia and then working my way down through South Africa and then up the eastern coast of the continent, with a few hops inland to visit some big destinations in Zambia and Zimbabwe. It’d be best to end in Kenya as that’s the cheapest place to fly home from, but that’s a huge amount of ground to cover in six months and I may have to backtrack. Rumor has it flights aren’t cheap throughout Africa either. I’m also wondering if I can swing a flight that lets me change the date for cheap as I often get stuck paying hundreds of dollars to change it or book a new one.

The beauty of long term travel is that you can follow the wind and go where your heart leads. So although I mention all these plans tonight, we’ll see what really happens. In the interest of discovering true joy and making life count, I say do what makes you happy and go where makes you happy regardless of any plan you might have made.

7 Replies to “Midnight Musings: Trip Planning Africa”

Share your Thoughts:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.