Travel Plans: where you’ll see me in 2015

2014 was a great year, which saw me drinking tea with the Berbers, exploring Portugal and touring London with a homeless, but it looks like 2015 travel plans will be even more incredible. India, Southeast Asia and the Caribbeans are in the cards, and I can’t wait to see what this year will bring me.
Here is where you will see me.

KERALA (INDIA) – March

Great big news!!
You remember that recently I’ve asked for votes for the Kerala Blog Express contest? I won! I was selected as the Italian participant for this incredible trip: starting March 2nd for two weeks I will travel around all of Kerala state on a branded bus with 24 other travel bloggers from all over the world.

I still can’t believe it, but I’m veery excited to head to India for the first time.
For this contest votes were a big part of the selection process together with other factors, so I must thank you, dear readers, for your support: I wouldn’t have made without you!
In the next few weeks follow the #KeralaBlogExpress hashtag if you want to discover the so called “God’s Own Cuntry” with me!

CUBA? – August 

Photo: Sophie G, Flickr

My boyfriend and I have never travelled together outside of Europe yet, but this year things are going to change.
It will actually be his first trip overseas, and I’m very excited about this! He’s  never travelled much but being with me he found out he really enjoys it, which, well, I guess it’s fundamental in order to be my boyfriend!
As you probably already know, things and regulations are changing and I’m afraid Cuba will lose its identity in a bit.
Which is why we really want to visit this year…
Places on my list are Havana (of course), Vinales and some Cayo on the Caribbean coast.

Things might change though: we are both working right now so we will probably book a last minute flight when we’ll figure out our time off… if costs to Cuba will be prohibitive (flight tickets there are so expensive!) we might head to Peru…or anywwhere else 😀

 VIETNAM – October

When I think of Vietnam images of rice fields, Halong Bay and the Vietnam War sites come through my mind. I’ve wanted to visit Southeast Asia for a long long time, so when the TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) organization announced they were going to have a conference in Bangkok, I instantly knew this was my chance.
Before heading to Thailand I will explore the northern part of Vietnam: it will b some sort of a challenge since I will be on my own for the first time (scary!), but I’ve decided I gotta start doing the things I wanna do, and if that means traveling solo well…happy to meet new friends on the road!

Photo: Hoang Giang Hai, Flickr

BANGOK for TBEX Asia and THAILAND – October 

I don’t have plane tickets yet but my blogger friend Tianna and I already purchased the tickets for the TBEX conference; after that, we will travel around Thailand together for a couple of weeks.

The north with the temples and the jungle treks?

The islands and the white pristine beaches?

We don’t know yet, but wherever we’ll go I know it will be incredible.
I know what I will NOT do though: riding an elephant and going to Tiger Temple are definitely not on my list. Why you ask? Beacuse it’s just plain wrong, the opposite of responsible tourism.
Read more about why you shouldn’t ride elephants.

LUXEMBOURG – November

After all these exotic destinations Luxembourg seems quite odd, doesn’t it?
But, this is where I will probably move at the end of the year: I will be honest, Luxembourg is not exactly at the top of my list of places where I would love to live, but sometimes you just have to follow your heart…Emiliano, my boyfriend, will go there to study and work in the financial sector, and there are few places better than Luxembourg for that.

For me, that means I will explore this off the beaten path destination (I’ve actually seen some very nice pictures of it!); I will also be in a very central position in Europe, with France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands being very close, so you’ll see me traveling around quite a bit.

Where are you going in 2015?