Results for "Cirque+Maxime+|+9+>+215"

Bonjour a vous tous chers amis (du voyage forum).J'ai passé les vacances les plus fantastique de ma vie soleil et chaleur etaient au rendez-vous entre 34 et 40 degré et toujour un bon ptit vent.Pour moi et je dis bien pour moi se fut le coup de foudre pour cette plage plus que genereuse qui m'a offert toutes les possibilités selon mes humeurs du jour.Jamais je ne m'etait baigner et amuser autant.J'ai été completement envouté par le snorkling encore...encore...ce qui m'a amener a la plongéé en haute mer.J'ai nagé avec les tortues et je vous dis que c'est impressionnant une tortue, suis arrivé face a face avec un barracuda de 8pieds et un milliers de poissons fesaient une ronde autour de nous le guide etait extra et patient avec les debutants comme moi.J'ai vue toutes sortes de raies toutes sortes de poissons plus jolis les uns que les autres que de tresors a decouvrir sous l'eau.Un peu plus un peu moins un coup partit j'ai fait du kayack de la planche et j'ai pris un court de katamaran apres une heure avec le guide tu peux en faire toute seule tous les jours enfin selon la couleur des drapeaux et il y a meme un endroit au quai fin Tulum debut Akumal ou tu peux te baigner sans roche ni corail.Il est vrai que la plage est penché, mais apres 2 jours tu l'oublies .C'est tres tres grand immense complexe de 3 parties :hacienda Tulum qui est le plus gros et Akumal ou sont les piscines les plus magnifique voir meme extravagantes.Pour la nourriture elle est excellente et tres variéé partout le service est impecable.Le personel toujours courtois souriant et amical.J, ai été agreablement surprise par la varieté et la beauté des spectacles j'en ai vue 7 differents en 15jrs.j'ai meme assisté a un spectacle du cirque du soleil surement une petite trouppe qu'ils ont formé la bas.Partout les mexicains sont gentils et souriant mais a l'Hacienda c'est plus que ca encore ont dirait qu'ils sont formé pour te faire plaisir ils sont toujour a nos devant et tu a acces a tout tout partout .La chambre est grande, jolie tres propre le mini bar est rempli tous les jours.TU AS TOUTES LES BOISSONS QUE TU VEUX 24H/24.A la piscine comme a la plage les palapas sont en quantités suffisantes .Au Bahia Principé les gens sont traités comme des rois.Mes amis j'ai été 15 jours au PARADIS a vivre la vie des gens riche et celebre...hihihi!!!!et je vais surement y retourné .je ne suis pas bonne a l'ordi mais suis tres disponible a repondre si quelqu'un a des questions pour moi.Cleopasse

Salut a tous,

J'aimerais avoir des informations précises sur la ville d'Akumal et l'hotel Akumal beach Resort.

Je souhaiterais donc, que vous nous donniez des informations sur cet hotel, ( nourriture, plage....) . Ainsi que les excurssions : Ya t'il des vendeurs locaux pour celles ci. Es -t -on loin de tout ? facile pour aller a playa de carmen ? Que de questions

MERCI A TOUS PAR AVANCE !

😕Bonjour, je prends l'avion pour la réunion dans .....2 mois....et je suis tétatisée à cette idée ce qui me gâche complètement mes vacances! Partant par Air France, je voudrais savoir si cette compagnie sous-traite et si je peux avoir la malchance(!?) de tomber sur un avion d'une autre compagnie.Quel remède puis je prendre pour rester éveillée sans avoir conscience d'ou je me trouve ? Existe t-il des calmants ou autre qui durent 12 h ?

J'aimerais avoir des temoignages de personnes qui ont la même phobie que moi et qui malgré tout ont réussi à voyager sur d'aussi longues distances.

...(à la demande de quelques intervenants de ce site, j'en ai fait un sujet séparé, initialement posté dans le sujet de José, "les petites galères"). J'en ai profité pour y ajouter une précision et corriger certaines fautes...(pardon).

Bonjour,

Je ris beaucoup, et, bien en lisant vos "galères", elles sont sympas et on pourrait presque en faire un bouquin 😉. Mais n'est-ce pas, sans celles-ci, nos voyages seraient "ternes" et insipides, du moins en ce qui me concerne.

A mon tour, si vous me le permettez...

Je crois, que si un continent devait recenser la palme des "galères" en avion, l'Afrique Noire ne doit pas être loin de la médaille d'or... Voire Championne Toutes Catégories...

Depuis 1997, je voyageais régulièrement sur Accra (Ghana) depuis CDG, avec toujours escale à Lagos (Nigeria), pour le boulot. Ma compagnie préférée était alors l'excellente KLM, car quand il arrive un "truc" sur ce continent, il vous reste deux choses à ne pas oublier (...même avant vos sous-vêtements), c'est votre billet de retour et votre passeport (j'en ai toujours deux...un pour les flics locaux -quand ils vous le gardent- et un pour reprendre mon zinc au cas où...).

Mais ce coup là, KLM était sur-booké et j'ai pris un vol Alitalia. Les spaghettis allaient donc rompre la "routine" des crackers insipides et les blondes chevelures bien peignées se faire remplacer par de suaves bouclettes brunes. Donc embarquement "comme d'hab" à CDG. L'accent des hôtesses et leur charme plus "latino" ne me laissaient pas de glace, comparés à l'extrême "esprit de groupe" de leurs consoeurs de KLM.

Le vol débute normalement, sauf que l'italien avait remplacé le hollandais. Vient l'heure des repas. Habitué (et endormi) par le professionnalisme des hôtesses de KLM, je calculais, en fonction des rangées, le nombre...de minutes qu'il allait me rester à attendre pour pouvoir "croûter", car j'avais faim ce jour là. Donc, a priori, vu la place ou j'étais, y'en avait pour un bon quart d'heure. En bon breton, je me commande un whisky tonic et je trinque avec le hollandais d'à côté. Deuxième whisky... Toujours pas de plat... Troisième Whisky. Et je commence à lever le nez du verre pour contempler "l'immense balai" qui se produisait sous mes yeux. Des plateaux repas se balladaient de chariots en allées et d'hôtesses à stewards et de compartiments en compartiments.... Ca me passait au-dessus, à côté, par derrière, nous prêtions même tous, la main à ces pauvres hôtesses quand leurs frêles et désespérés bras ne pouvaient s'étendre au-dessus des rangs, sous prétexte de dévoiler la couleur de leurs dessous...! C'était un cirque inimaginable de désolation dans...l'inorganisation... Ca en devenait pitoyable, je n'avais jamais vu de telles inepties... Je vous passe les commentaires italiens qui accompagnaient chaque "nouvelle déconvenue" des hôtesses et qui étaient un facteur multiplicateur de temps que j'estimais à 7 ou 8...

Sans exagérer, deux heures après...mon plateau arrivait. Et là, au bout du 10ème whisky (je modère le nombre...), j'avais plus faim...

Bref, débarassage des plateaux, qui là s'est fait sans encombres. C'est la nuit, tous ces petits passagers vont faire dodo, sauf mon voisin hollandais et moi qui apprécions beaucoup le whisky italien. Et re, et re, etc...

Mais le meilleur était à venir...

Nuit noire dans l'appareil, le film était fini et nous voguions allègrement au dessus du Sahara. Donc, à part l'open Bar des italiennes qui n'en finissaient plus de discuter à l'arrière du jet, y'avait rien à faire, sauf dormir ou picoler. Donc, comme j'avais plus faim et pas envie de dormir...

Et soudain :

ANNONCE GENERALE SUR HAUT-PARLEURS : "Y'a-t-il un médecin à bord?"

Puis, silence. Dix minutes se passent.

Mon voisin et moi rigolions encore de cet extraordinaire démonstration de professionnalisme hôtelier dont le personnel d'Alitalia nous avait "amusé".

Puis, le commandant prend directement le "micro" et insiste "lourdement" dans le ton de sa voix : "Y-a-t-il un médecin à bord...???".

N'étant pas diplômé, tout comme mon voisin, nous ne levons pas le bras. Là, on devait se trouver à la limite des frontières du Niger.

Puis...encore dix mn après....re-annonce... Mais celle-là devenait carrément solenelle... "Y-a-t-il un médecin à bord...!!! ".

Et là je lève le doigt, pour voir si mon concours pouvait "éventuellement" les aider. Je me fais immédiatement "attraper" (façon de parler) par un hôtesse et ZOU, direction les cuisines pour prendre part au Drame.

Là, gisait devant moi une black, apparemment inconsciente, entourée de tout le staff italien, en cercle et qui ne discutaient pas entre eux mais qui...piaillaient...!!!! Mais....personne ne faisait rien, depuis presque 3/4 d'heure...

Je me penche sur la fille et réflexe premier, je demande à une hôtesse de lui dégrafer son soutien-gorge (elle avait dit avoir du mal à respirer avant de sombre dans le "coma"). Poul normal, respiration OK, pupilles (plus que) normales, réflexes OK, ... Mais mon seul instrument, l'intuition, commençait à me titiller....

Et puis là, arrivée toute aussi solenelle de la chef de cabine qui me dit, "le COMMANDANT veut vous voir"....

Merde, j'avais déjà un peu "dans mon nez", et v'là qu'y veut m'causer...l'aut'...

Arrivé dans le cockpit du 747, ambiance "noire", feutrée et parsemée des lumières d'indicateurs et autres diodes (warning, essuie-glaces et lève-vitres...), j'aperçois deux gus dont sur ma gauche "LE" Commandant". La ciquantaine, beau mec, et trés "allure père de famille". Le genre de mec sur qui vous pouvez compter à la maison. Le type me salue, et, en retirant ses lunettes (comme dans les films...) me dit en anglais: "Que pensez-vous que nous devions faire, monsieur?"

Euhhhhh, et bien, tout surpris de ma brusque propulsion au rang de conseiller "ès 747" d'Alitalia, je lui dis de contacter par radio le siège d'Alitalia et de parler avec un toubib "en ligne". Donc, v'là le commandant qui se tue à les avoir, parce que les comms marchent mal entre un zinc et l'Europe au dessus de l'Afrique. Tout ça pour finalement apprendre...qu'il n'y avait pas de médecin...chez Alitalia... Un comble. Donc, je leur demande d'appeler un...médecin de garde....et on fera le relais via le téléphone et via radio et via un pont d'hôtesses jusqu'au cul de l'appareil, là où se trouve la "malade"...! Et puis tentatives de comms et re et re et re... et puis plus rien... Plus de radio sur l'Italie. Ca ne marchait plus. Je ne vous raconte pas le nombre d'Italiens dans le cockpit, ça devenait impossible d'entendre ce que ce brave commandant voulait me dire, et vis versa.

Donc, il fallait prendre une décision concernant cette pauvre femme, gisant "à la mort", entre les wc et les cuisines du 747 sur ces bonnes vieilles plaques d'aluminium. L'heure était "grave". D'autant plus, qu'elle avait dit, avant de sombrer dans ce profond "coma" qu'elle était enceinte...

Je prends la décision de retourner à l'arrière de l'appareil. Et, en passant dans cette interminable allée noire, et, bordée de "mecs ronflants", un black m'attrape et me chuchote en "douce" : "Elle n'est pas enceinte, elle est rentrée illégalement en Italie et vient de se faire refouler....! Elle vous raconte des conneries...!"

Ca commençait à confirmer mon "intuituition de départ"...

Visite à "la malade" et la pauvre, se portait toujours aussi mal... Le cas était désespérant. Poul normal, etc...

Je retourne voir mon commandant et là il se lève dès mon arrivée dans le cockpit, tout en enelevant ses lunètes une fois de plus (comme dans les mêmes films....) et me dis.... Mais ce coup-ci, ça ne rigolait plus..... :

- "Que doit-t-on faire? Dites-moi. Dois-je dérouter l'appareil sur Niamey, 1 heure, (Niger) ou on attend l'escale de Lagos, 2 heures, (Nigeria)..... Votre décision sera la mienne...!"

Glurps....!?! Ca voulait dire une journée d'escale, une bonne nuit d'hôtel aux frais d'Alitalia, un "détournement de 747".... Et qui n'a jamais eu ce pouvoir de faire changer de destination à un "paquebot des airs"...comme ça. En 5 secondes, j'avais une puissance phénoménale... Niamey ou Lagos et Accra....comme tu veux tu choises...! C'est gratos, on t'offre tout.... Dis-nous où "garer" l'avion... Tout ça pour une vilaine "comédienne" dans l'appareil...!!!

Alors, on fait quoi........?

Qu'auriez-vous fait à ma place, avec deux secondes de reflexion.....? Ce qui est très court...C'est quand même si tentant de se faire ça "une fois dans sa vie"....! Mais vous avez une décision à prendre dans les deux secondes....

Pfff...et bien, finalement, après moulte réflexions, ma "bonne conscience" a repris le dessus et j'ai dit à ce brave commandant :

"Go sur Lagos"... On risque rien. Puis je lui ai tout expliqué la manoeuvre de la fille... A 50 tonnes de kérozène la "manip'" c'était tout bon pour Alitalia... Non?

Je reviens au cul du 747, et je "réveille" la fille non pas avec un bisou de prince charmant, mais en lui glissant à l'oreille que nous allions arriver à Lagos et qu'il allait falloir rentrer à la maison, et que j'avais découvert son "petit manège" sans que je ne dise rien... Et là, "bingo", comme par enchantement, ma petite malade se réveille et se lève, direct....! A la grande surprise de l'équipage, stupéfait. Pour le coup, ils se sont arrêtés de parler...(ouf...). Tout allait très bien, madame a bu un verre d'eau et est allée se...rasseoir....illico. Nous étions à une heure de Lagos... Le plan n'avait pas marché...

Je me rasseois aussi avec un dernier whisky près de mon pote hollandais qui "hallucinait" devant la situation.

Et puis, viennent à moi deux des "moins" charmantes hôtesses du vol qui "m'offrent royalement", avec le plus grand sourire de la compagnie ALITALIA, un stylo plubicitaire....à 1FRF............ Et encore, je suis large sur le prix, celui-là ne devait pas dépasser les 30 ctmes de francs.... Il vaut même pas un Bic... D'ailleurs, je me suis permis de "l'offrir au commandant" en quittant l'appareil. Je pense qu'il aura compris...

Comparé à 50 tonnes de kérozène, plus les frais d'atterrissage, les frais d'aéroport et d'entrertien, ....plus les 350 nuits d'hôtel, de petits déj', et de repas....

Je regrette... J'avoue, finalement, que j'aurais du faire........."garer le 747" à Niamey....

Finalement....?!? Pourqui pas, vu l'attitude d'Alitalia...

Bien amicalement,

Jean-Michel

je pars le mois prochain pour l 'Inde . J ai pour objectif de longer le Gange jusqu a sa source . Il s' agit pour moi d'une expérience nouvelle . j' ai dans l' idée qu' un gourou me trouvera pour m' aider à m' accomplir spirituellemment. Si vous avez des suggestions à me faire pour éviter que je me casse la gueule, je vous écoute . Je pars fin février pour minimum 6 mois .

salut, je pars pour 6 mois (russie, mongolie, chine) et souhaite faire des diapos. C'est la première fois que je vais utiliser ce support... Ceci dit je souhaitais savoir s'il est possible de trouver des pellicules dans les pays traverser histoire d'éviter de tout trimballer... Sinon quel conseil pour la diapo (marque, iso...) Merci d'éclairer le néophyte que je suis...

je voudrais aller à madagascar fin aout pour 2 semaines

j'aime marcher, découvrir la nature et les gens

je pense qu'en 2 semaines, il faut se contenter d'une petite partie de l'île

que me conseillez-vous?

Bonjour

Nous sommes deux québécoises retraitées qui envisageons passer deux semaines en France au printemps.Avril ou mai. Nous avons pensé passer quelques jours à Paris et une semaine dans le sud de la France. Nous n'aurons pas d'auto et nous nous déplacerons en train. Nous préférons les paysages pittoresques (pas toujours les mêmes) et rencontrer des personnes aux musées et cathédrales. Que nous suggérez-vous et croyez- vous qu'il sera possible de visiter si nous n'avons pas d'auto. Nous aimerions être accueillies par des retraités ou non qui envisagent venir au Québec et qui aimeraient être accueillis aussi.

Voisine😊

"hey stef qu'est ce qu'on fait, on y va apres les cours???ouais ok tu passes chez moi est on va a la gare routiere" On n'en parlait depuis l'annee derniere mais c'est decidé on ira en bulgarie a la toussain, en bus, tout le monde nous prend pour des fous, mais le probleme s'est qu'on est des fous!!!!!!!!!😎

24/10/2003: "putain c'est pire que la SNCF 45 minutes de retard" 12h45 "ahhhhhhhh enfin là, bise mon amour et a dans 10 jours si je meurs pas en route😛" (Malheureusement je n'ai pas du toucher du bois a ce moment là!!) Pas grand monde dans le bus, on doit etre une dizaine tous a l'avant, des gitans dont le visa gratuit de trois mois expire et donc sont obligés de rentrer au pays ainsi que des etudiants rentrant aussi aux pays. C'est parti pour 30 heures de bus et 5 pays a traverser.

Tout se passe bien, un arret d'une heure sur nice, le temps de boire un petit café et c'est reparti sur milan. Siege confortable, espacé, on se croirait dans la classe affaire d'air france!!!.

17h30 frontiere franco italienne avec sa belle autoroute, tres dangereuse car n'ayant pas de bande d'arret d'urgence avec ces milliers de pont et de tunnels sur pres de 300 km, toute a coups 100km apres avoir traversée la frontiere le car ralenti, et s'arrete totalement sur la voie de droite (car pas de bande d'arret d'urgence): "merde on est en panne" oui mais panne d'essence, j'en crois pas mes yeux, on est en panne d'essence, depuis que j'utilise le bus c'est la premiere fois que cela m'arrive!!! Les chauffeurs pas affolés du tout, sortent du bus, prennent un gericane de 5 l d'essence et le verse dans le réservoir et op on repart jusqu'a la prochaine aire de repos.

19h00: Les gens roulent vitent, surtout les italiens, nous aussi on roule tres vite, le temps passe tranquilement je me lis un bon SAS sur la serbie histoire de passer un peu le temps. Tout a coups dans un virage on aperçoit une voiture en travers de la route, le bus commence a piler, on touche personne, une voiture passe a coté de nous et par chance ne touche personne non plus, par reflexe je pose mes bras sur le siege avant et les tend de toutes mes forces au cas ou quelqu'un viendrait nous percuter. 2 seconds apres un camoin nous tape de plein fouet dernier nous, je tourne la tete et je vois le chauffeur je trimbaler comme un pantin, comme un con je cris "il est mort", il ne bougait plus, la moitier de sa cabine est encastrée dans l'arriere de notre bus, auquelle il manque tout l'arriere et son moteur est parterre. Pas d'affolement dans le bus, de tout façon on peut pas sortir car les portent sont bloquées par le rail de sécurité, aucun blessé dans le car, et on entend a l'arriere des voitures qui s'encastrent encore. 10 minutes sont passés ma mere m'appelle pour venir aux nouvelles, elle prend, sur la nouvelle 10 ans de vieux dans la tête, on casse une vitre et on commence a sortir. Les sercours sont la, ils ferment l'autoroute totalement, dans les 2 sens. Sur la macadam c'est l'apocalypse des voitures encastrées les unes contre les autres, on s'occupe du chauffeur de camion, a coups de scie pour enlever le tableau de bord, il parle, ouf, mais bon il a ete sectionné au niveau des jambes, cela a ete un choc psychologique, chaques fois que je vois un accident je me rappelle de ce mec. 4heures apres la route est degagé, on est sur le coté, un autre car qui etait dans l'embouteillage recupere quelques personnes mais la plupart du monde attend, dont mon pote et moi, sur le bord de la route. La croix rouge arrive, il fait pas loin de 4 degres, il distribue des couvertures de survie et des gateaux. Un autre bus arrive, il va sur munich mais nous depose a milan, il est 23h30 et je m'endors jusqu'a milan.

1h30: On arrive a milan, des bus d'intercars sont la ils nous attendent, on a le choix entre un bus pour zagreb ou un bus pour bucarest mais qui fera un detour sur zagreb pour nous. Il reste 3 places dans ce dernier, aller on est go, 2 places a l'arriere, c'est pire que le cirque bouglione, mais cela ne m'empeche pas de m'endormir...

25/10/2003 "waouh on est en laponie????non juju on arrive en autriche" La neige vient juste de s'arreter de tomber, tout est blanc, on se croirait voler!!!!!!!!!!La frontiere avec la slovenie approche:7h00. 8h00 frontiere slovenienne: autre probleme: on ne peut rentrer en territoire slovenne, des gens dans le bus avait ete expulsés de slovenie et donc ne peuvent entrer sur le territoire. On attend deux heures, un autre bus arrive, tous les passagers pour sofia sont priés de descendre. On monte dans l'autre bus, pendant ce temps le bus de bucarest reprend son itineraire normal. Malheureusement le bus ne peut rouler a l'internationnal, on nous signal qu'un autre bus arrive pour nous recuperer.

15h30 apres 7h d'attente on repart, on a juste un retard de 10 heures, on arive a zagreb vers les 20h00 pour recuperer les autres passagers laissés à milan et qui nous sont attendus pendant 7 heures.

21h00 je me suis caller au fond avec mon pote, c'est mieux pour dormir, juste devant moi, une jeune fille, 18 ans, avec un gitan a coté, celui ci donne 30 euros et op elle est a lui pendant tout le reste du trajet, mon pote bulgare est degouté, comme la plupart des bulgares il n'aime pas les gitans. Devant ce spectacle je prefere m'endormir!!

26/10/2003

5h00: PROUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU je me reveil en sursaut "ne me dit pas qu'on a crevé???non c'est la route entre Nîs et la frontiere bulgare, elle est encore pavée.a ok" et op je me rendors jusqu'a l'arrivé sur sofia et cette magnifique ville pour un magnifique séjour.

Peut etre que je vous mettrais mon recit en ligne, si je me sens un jour de tout ecrire!!!

a+ et bonne fêtes

Bonjour, j'aimerais avoir des commentaires de l'hôtel en général(Hôtel SuperClubs Breezes Costa verde de CUBA, holguin). Nous sommes 2 adultes dans la trentaine avec un enfant de 10 ans et allons dans cette endroit en mars 2004. Est-ce propre, Comment sont les chambres, la bouffe est-elle variée et est-ce sécuritaire? Nous sommes des gens qui aiment le repos a la plage et a la piscine. Des commentaires SVP. Bye

On arrive de Holguin et on pense déjà retourner dans les Antilles en juillet 2004. On voudrait explorer un autre coin. On hésite entre Punta Cana et les Cayos (CoCo ou Guillermo) de Cuba comme prochaine destination. Avez-vous des préférences ou des suggestions d'hôtel ou de sites?

On arrive du Playa Pesquero et on a adoré; c'est très bien organisé pour les familles avec ados de 12 et 14 ans et la bouffe est excellente - pour Cuba!-

Si on peut trouver un resort d'aussi bonne qualité dans un autre coin, ça nous ferait un beau voyage 2004 avec nos kids avec des horizons différents.

Vos commentaires et suggestions seraient appréciés.

Bonjour, j'ai déjà entamé une discussion qui comportait aussi le Mali mais à bien y réfléchir, nous nous contenterons de 2 semaines en Guinée et 2 semaines au Sénégal.

Ce qui serait génial, ce serait d'arriver à Conakry, passer du temps dans la famille d'un ami et nous diriger ensuite vers Kankan, en visitant les petites villes sur notre chemin. Revenir par le Sénégal, de l’ouest vers l’est pour finir par Dakkar d’où nous reviendrons. Nous voulons terminer par Dakkar puisque nous avons un ami francais qui se rend travailler à Dakkar pour un an. Il arrivera plus tard en janvier et nous voulons lui laissr le temps de s'installer avant notre arrivée. De plus, nous pourrions prendre l'avion de cette ville.

Qu'en pensez-vous?

Vous connaissez des gens qui habitent l'ouest de la Guinée et du Sénégal et chez qui nous pourrions habiter en toute sécurité?

Vous avez des endroits stratégiques à nous proposer pour visiter?

Merci!

Bonjour tout le monde,

J'ai la chance de prendre mes vacances en France cette année 😎. J'arriverai sur Paris le 11 octobre prochain et je serai au pays pour 2 semaines. Je n'ai pas encore prévu d'itinéraire sauf les quelques endroits assez connus à Paris. Je vais habiter chez un ami à Paris et je ne prévoit pas la location d'une voiture sauf si elle m'est fortement conseillée pour parcourir le reste du pays.

Je m'intéroge sur la température qu'il fait au mois d'octobre à Paris et dans le sud de la France. Dois-je prévilégier les Alpes ou les Pyrhénées pour le paysage et les attraits typiques de ces lieux. Je suis ouvert aux suggestions.

P.S. : Y-a t'il des festivals pendant cette période de l'année?

Merci et au plaisir

Week 1 - July 2026

Traveling with just one spare pair of underwear, considering a hot shower a miracle, never staying in the same place too long by sleeping wherever night catches us, taking whatever local, improbable, and rickety transport we can find—this is the DNA of us wanderers. Except this time, the script for our movie is going to be a whole different genre. On paper, the destination doesn’t exactly scream epic adventure: Réunion! And what’s more... we won’t be two, or four, or even ten. We’ll be a solid thirty. All from the same family. Yes, thirty. At this point, it’s not just a trip—it’s a summer camp on the move! Why inflict this on such a peaceful island? Because my brother decided to get married there with his lovely bride. A great idea, you might say... especially when it involves relocating the equivalent of a small Ardennes village 10,000 kilometers from home for three weeks! So who’s stepping up to be the guide and wave the little flag?



So, for an exceptional trip, exceptional stories! Don’t worry, the debates at the supermarket over whether to choose plain chips or roast chicken chips, the beach picnics washed down with ti’ punch, and other rougail sausages to digest by the pool will only make it into the family archives. Here, I’ll stick to the tales of our beautiful escapes, the ones where we explore the wild corners of this little volcanic rock planted in the middle of the Indian Ocean. So where exactly are we headed?



For the first week—the subject of this first installment—we’re taking it easy. We’ll start by rediscovering the coastline, from the Souffleur in Saint-Leu to the Hermitage lagoon, before a little trip to the Cirque de Cilaos and its legendary road with 400 turns, just to get our legs warmed up.

Hi everyone,

I’m sharing a little recap of this new 4-week trip to China—nothing fancy, just my experience.

We’re taking advantage of the extended visa exemption to return to China for the 4th time. I loved last summer’s trip so much that I’m a bit worried about being disappointed this year. Plus, I’ve had a few hiccups before this departure: my WeChat account got blocked, and I couldn’t recover it (luckily, Alipay still works fine); I couldn’t verify my 12306 account for weeks; Trip.com failed to book our second train; and I’ve got an injury that’ll slow me down during the trip... Ugh, I hate starting a trip with these kinds of issues. Then, oh surprise! Just before leaving, my 12306 account got verified! Super easy to use from that point on—I could book a few train tickets without fees.

We’re sticking with Free’s e-SIMs, which work great in China.

August 2–3

Anyway, on the morning of August 2nd, we took the RER to CDG. As usual, we couldn’t check in online. It’s always a bit frustrating, especially since we didn’t have any checked luggage. We flew with Air China. We arrived at the check-in counter at 9:50 AM, 2 hours and 40 minutes before the flight. The line for our check-in stretched 300 meters across the airport in both directions. What a joke!! We spent 1 hour and 45 minutes in that line just to reach the counter and get our boarding passes. By then, it was 11:35 AM, and boarding had already started at 11:20 AM. The screens showed a 25-minute walk to our gate—on the other side of the airport, of course—plus we had to go through passport control and security... Long story short, the plane didn’t leave without us 🙂 We boarded among the last passengers, and we took off at 12:30 PM. We’d flown Air China four times before, but this time, it felt *really* low-cost. The check-in chaos, the cramped seats (12 seats per row), no music by artists known outside China, mediocre food, and a boarding area at Beijing Airport with only 10 seats—worthy of Ryanair or EasyJet. And yet, the price was sky-high. Again, D.’s vacation requests were denied outside of July and August, so we’re traveling from August 2nd to 30th. We couldn’t have picked a worse time for inflated prices, and with the situation in Iran, we got hit with a 390 € fuel surcharge. I’ve never paid so much for flights—I felt like I’d bought business class, but nope, far from it!!

We landed in Beijing around 4:15 AM. It was 28°C with thick fog. We drove and drove and drove for 20 minutes, as usual in Beijing. Then we went through a first check, a second check, a third check, and waited for our connecting flight at 6:40 AM. A small Airbus A320, but way more space than in the Boeing 777 from the first flight. We landed in Kunming, Yunnan, around 10:15 AM in the rain.

We headed to the subway. You can’t pay at the machines with Alipay here either, so we set up the transport QR code directly in Alipay to scan at the subway gates. The process is a bit long the first time if you haven’t entered your info before, but once it’s done, it’s *so* much easier! We took Line 6 to the terminus for 6 yuan each.

We’d booked a hotel nearby, on the 16th floor. It’s actually studios on different floors of a huge residential building. The view’s pretty nice from here. We settled in quickly—back to those wooden beds, or rather, mattresses as hard as wood, which we *hadn’t* missed... Then we went out for our first bowl of noodles of the trip and wandered through the shopping streets of the old town.



It was crowded, and the weather was cool—around 19–20°C. We tried a local specialty: milk skin, thick, dried, then grilled with rose jam. Yeah... we won’t be having that again. The taste and texture of the milk skin... no thanks.



We saw a lot of wild mushroom hotpot too. It’s on our list for later. We also passed through the Jinma and Biji gates, where I played with reflections in puddles. I *love* doing that 🙂



At the end of the day, we headed to a temple advertised as open 24/7 on Amap. Of course, when we got there, it was closed. We’ll go back tomorrow. That was the first of many disappointments with Amap this trip—I hadn’t had that issue on previous visits.

We were exhausted after that sleepless flight. Night was falling, and we decided to grab a quick bite without much appetite. We shared a delicious vegetable fried rice for 12 yuan—we even left half of it. The portions are *huge*.

After a couple of small purchases, we headed back at 9 PM, wiped out, after walking 17 km between the airports and these first steps in Kunming. I expected to see quite a few Western travelers here, but we didn’t spot a single one. Instead, we met lots of curious Chinese people, many of them super friendly and helpful—almost *too* eager, like when they’d run to serve us as fast as possible. It’s a bit much, but it’s great to be back!

This is where we chat.

“When the Whites came to Africa, we had the land and they had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed: when we opened them, the Whites had the land and we had the Bible.” Jomo Kenyatta (p.7)

The Maggi cube, an unchallenged hegemony, and so much more

“The hopeless continent,” headlined The Economist, a British magazine, in July 2000 about Africa. Eleven years later, the same magazine headlined “Africa rising” instead. Images of Africa in the prosperous North constantly oscillate between apocalyptic scenarios and enthusiastic projections. A key issue with such images lies in the generalization they entail. If you look at the continent, considerable contrasts emerge depending on space and time. It’s no surprise that a region of the world encompassing such diverse ecological zones, maintaining such varied ties with other continents, comprising nearly fifty nation-states in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and characterized by a great diversity of languages, belief systems, and historical paths, doesn’t share a single destiny.

And yet, for many people outside Africa, as well as for many Africans, the continent constitutes a single entity, defined by criteria such as skin color, a colonial past, poverty, and the art of survival. Until now, these perspectives were generally accompanied by the idea that Africa had to—or should have—followed a single path together, sometimes called development, sometimes modernization, sometimes liberation, then a market economy. None of these paths delivered on their promises.

The two writers Alain Mabanckou and Abdourahman Waberi—one from Congo, the other raised in Djibouti, both long settled in France and now professors at renowned North American universities (Los Angeles, Washington)—have had enough of pessimistic scenarios: “We are aware that Africa is in the world and the world is in Africa. The same goes for all other continents, as our destinies are inextricably linked for better or worse. We refuse to see Africa as a reservoir of misfortunes or a continent cursed by atavistic misfortune and characterized by ethnic conflicts. [...] It’s this passionate flame we wanted to capture in a book [...] a kind of stroll through African cultures, without any demands, each letter of the alphabet leading us to a notion, a practice, a concept, a moment in history, literature, painting, politics, economics, cuisine, etc.” (p.10-11). Africa, they write, is on the verge of “imposing a signature, a style, a way of being in the world and in relation to the rest of the world.” (p.11) To put words to the continent’s diversity and dynamism, the two authors created a “rambling ABC,” a kind of portrait—or more precisely, a mythography—that lets you see and feel the pulse of a vast continent whose cultural power is unfolding before our eyes. Once marginalized or even mocked, the voice and importance of the Continent in global affairs are now undeniable” (p.11), containing over a hundred entries, mostly concise, written in a relaxed and casual style. The optimistic, even exuberant tone is set from the brief introduction. The duo of authors wants to “sing a love song to the cultures of our continent, to its inhabitants past and present, to its exceptional resources and its spectacular globalization despite a certain pollution that still clouds our skies due to the unmatched duration of dictatorships in some of our regions.” (p.12) In doing so, they don’t want to be too distracted by today’s Afewerki-Biya-Bongo-Déby & Co. ...

Of course, you’ll find tributes to great precursors like Frantz Fanon (“[...] it was a love story and admiration that wasn’t dimmed by the four decades separating his birth from ours. Let’s add that we were born while the native of Fort-de-France had left the world’s stage four years earlier, in the prime of life” p.141), Mongo Beti (“You must read and reread Mongo Beti, a genius who used his fame to support often just causes in Africa, like defending oppressed groups. His place is already in History. His oppressors, like the dictators Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya, can’t compete in the same category” p.64), the Malian Amadou Hampâté Bâ

(“Posterity remembers him mainly as an tireless defender of African cultures. His plea for the collection and preservation of traditional African knowledge remains a major event for all men and women of good will. One day in 1960, at the UNESCO podium, the native of Bandiagara sounded the alarm: ‘[...] Since we’ve admitted that the humanity of each people is the heritage of all humanity, if African traditions aren’t collected in time and written down, they’ll one day be missing from the universal archives of humanity.’” p.51),

Kwame Nkrumah, “one of the founders of Pan-Africanism, father of Ghana’s independence” (p.239), as well as the historian Cheikh Anta Diop, the writer, poet, and politician Aimé Césaire, and the economist and thinker Samir Amin, but also very warm tributes to certain contemporary African intellectuals like Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Achille Mbembe

(“A few years ago, in dominant economic circles, a rumor often resurfaced, usually disguised as a cold and scientifically proven analysis: Africa is useless. It’s a burden for the rest of the human community. With its 2% share in world trade, it would disappear from stock market radars without anyone noticing. So? Maybe it’ll be pulled up by other continents. Wanting to surpass itself is a crazy bet for Africans, they concluded. Arrogant or clueless, President Nicolas Sarkozy declared before an audience of students and teachers at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar: ‘The African man hasn’t entered history enough [...] He only knows the eternal repetition of time marked by the endless repetition of the same gestures and words.’ That was in 2007. For decades, armed only with reason, an intellectual often steps up to debunk prejudices, lazy readings, and dishonest frameworks used as false fronts by those who, like Nicolas Sarkozy or former journalist Stephen Smith, out of ignorance, contempt, or condescension, distort African reality. This intellectual is none other than the historian and political scientist Achille Mbembe. This heir of Frantz Fanon, Amílcar Cabral, Jean-Marc Ela, and Fabien Eboussi-Boulaga was born in 1957 in Cameroon, in the Bassa region. Marked early by the upheavals of a fratricidal war, Achille Mbembe became the guardian of the memory of martyrs. After brilliant studies in Paris, he went on to teach at the best American universities, but the call of the Continent was stronger than anything else. In Dakar, he once directed CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) before joining the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Even though the author of *Critique of Black Reason* (Éditions La Découverte, 2015) spends a few months at Duke University in North Carolina, his observation post remains South Africa. From Johannesburg, Achille Mbembe scrutinizes Africa and the whole world. A lucid observer with an elegant and generous pen, Achille Mbembe knows how to blend big and small history: ‘I was born one day in July, as the month was drawing to a close. It was 1957, in that part of Africa recently named ‘Cameroon,’ a memory of the wonder that seized Portuguese sailors in the 15th century when, sailing up the river near Douala, they couldn’t help but note the presence of a multitude of crustaceans, and named it *Rio dos Camarões*, meaning ‘River of Shrimp.’ I grew up in the shadow of this nameless land, since, in a way, the name it bears is only the product of someone else’s astonishment: a lexical mistake, if you will.’ From this mistake or wound, he made leaven, a springboard to compose a rich work, recognized worldwide. To denounce barriers and barbarians too. But that’s not enough. Among his peers in circles of thought and action, Achille Mbembe passionately and consistently defends human dignity and the beauty of the world. In doing so, he fulfills the mission Frantz Fanon entrusted to him.” (p.227-229),

as well as entries dedicated to lesser-known artists and intellectuals, like the French journalist and activist Rokhaya Diallo, daughter of Senegalese and Gambian parents, or the Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, who has long lived in the United States. Other names from politics, sports, music, art, and literature: Kofi Annan, p.36; Barack Obama, p.243; Thomas Sankara, p.277; Ousmane Sow, p.285; Yambo Ouologuem, p.250; Léopold Sédar Senghor, p.282; Muhammad Ali, p.30; Nuruddin Farah, p.146; Salif Keita, p.203; Ahmadou Kourouma, p.206; Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, p.236; Winnie Mandela, p.224; Kylian Mbappé, p.226 ...

The authors, who resolutely commit to a “mythography” (p.11) of Africa, also pay special attention to local social movements, cultural events, and aspects of daily life. *Y’en a marre*, “which also meant ‘we’re fed up with sitting on our hands’” (p.320-321), emerged about a decade ago in Senegal as a citizen movement of peaceful resistance and symbolizes, the authors emphasize, the fact that African youth are increasingly fed up “with the political circus deployed in Africa since independence, as our parents would say, ‘since the White man left’...” (p.321). A full entry is dedicated to the Maggi bouillon cube, which has flooded African markets for about forty years and enjoys immense popularity (“It’s everywhere in Africa, from Dakar to Djibouti, and from Tangier to Cape Town. It’s in every pot, every stew. Little hands put it in every sauce, every local or adapted dish. An unchallenged hegemony! You’ll find it in diasporas too. The culinary strolls in Paris, in the [...] neighborhood” p.90). Critics blame it not only for impoverishing the aromatic diversity of local dishes but also for being harmful to health. And yet, “he poorest Africans, those who eat only once a day, a few spoonfuls of white beans and a ball of *foufou*, for example, are the most fervent users of the magic cube.” (p.92-93)

For *fonio*, “the new trendy cereal. [...] From the millet family, fonio is probably the oldest cereal cultivated in West Africa, and mainly in its sub-Saharan part, for millennia. [...] Easy to grow, water-efficient, fonio grows everywhere except on clay soils. Long neglected because it was considered the poor man’s crop, fonio is now a source of pride for the farmers who cultivate it and cherish it like the apple of their eye” (p.156-157), the authors immediately offer a detailed recipe, letting the reader know that “e can’t resist sharing this fonio with chicken recipe from Mali with you:

Ingredients: 1 chicken 3 large ripe red tomatoes 4 tbsp tomato paste 4 large onions 1 garlic clove 1/2 cup oil 2 Maggi cubes or salt 2 large carrots 1 turnip 1 large cabbage 2 large potatoes 1 celery stalk 1 packet pre-cooked fonio 4 okra (or okra powder) salt, pepper

Preparation: 1. Prepare the sauce: wash and cut the chicken. Peel the onions, garlic, and vegetables. 2. In a pot, fry the chicken pieces. 3. Dice the onions, tomatoes, carrots, and turnip very small and add them to the pot. 4. Add the tomato paste, salt, and pepper. 5. Simmer for 15 min, then add 2 L of water and the cooked chicken pieces. 6. Simmer for 30 min, then add the crushed garlic and celery, plus the cabbage cut into 4 and the potatoes cut in half. 7. Prepare the fonio: cover it with warm water, let it rest for 15 min, and cook it over low heat. 8. In a small pot, boil the okra and crush them. 9. Mix the crushed okra with the cooked fonio, then salt. Serve hot.” (p.158-159)

The comedy *Black Mic Mac*, released in French theaters in 1986 and addressing France’s increasingly restrictive immigration policy at the time, also gets an entry, as do *Tintin in the Congo*, the popular comic, and *Jip’s Café* (“[...] a little Africa in the heart of Paris, with passersby stopping to admire the ‘ambianceurs’ on the dance floor or attend the cultural events offered by the place” (p.194), an African establishment in Paris that Alain Mabanckou already immortalized in one of his novels.

The duo of authors also tackles thorny subjects like jihadism (p.119), the Rwandan genocide (p.272), the CFA franc (p.82), and dictatorship (p.110). While the two strike the right tone here, many entries leave a slightly bitter taste. Two examples: why doesn’t the text on Barack Obama mention the great disappointment of many people in Africa, who expected more from the African policy of the first U.S. president with African roots than just occasional warm words? Why do the comments on Winnie Mandela gloss over the fact that she was a highly controversial icon of the anti-apartheid movement due to her involvement in kidnappings, acts of torture, and murders of alleged apartheid collaborators? Instead, there’s a compassion that brings tears to the eyes: “She was often reduced to a secondary role, the wife of a great man” or “When victory came, she didn’t taste its fruits. Divorced, isolated. She would never be a ‘first lady’ in an evening gown, posing before a bed of chrysanthemums. They’d keep her far from the circles of power” (p.224-225). At this point, I would’ve liked the authors to take a slightly more critical stance...

That said, these “weaknesses” (if you can call them that) shouldn’t overshadow the book as a whole. It remains an informative, sometimes very entertaining, and often even original work in its own way.

Book information (the original French and the German translation):

Alain Mabanckou/Abdourahman Waberi. Dictionnaire enjoué des cultures africaines. Fayard, 2019. Alain Mabanckou/Abdourahman Waberi. Der Puls Afrikas. Eine Liebeserklärung von A bis Z. Reclam, 2022.

Hery

Hi there,

I arrived in Tunisia this afternoon for a full 14-day stay.

I took a direct Tunisair flight from Nice, which departed about thirty minutes late (that’s nothing compared to the "nightmares" I’ve had on some of my recent trips).

The flight lasts around 1 hour and 20 minutes, and a small snack was served on board (a sort of quiche with chickpea purée, a small bread roll, a portion of cheese like La Vache qui rit, and a small chocolate cake). It’s worth mentioning because it’s becoming increasingly rare on short flights. I was seated between two Tunisian gentlemen who gave me some great tips for my trip, especially about negotiating prices. One of them is a former cameraman for France Télévisions, very cultured and well-traveled—his daughter is a journalist at France Télévisions (I found some of her articles online). In short, the flight was very pleasant and quick.



I’m staying at the Hôtel Royal Victoria. I booked it yesterday afternoon by email without providing my credit card number. The room costs 241 TND (71 €) with breakfast included. It has heating, a small fridge, a safe, a hairdryer, Wi-Fi, and a TV with international channels. There’s a police van permanently parked in the square where the hotel is located.

This hotel is housed in the former British consulate and later embassy. It has a lot of charm with its painted wood ceilings and doors, and its bathroom covered in ceramic tiles. The tiny elevator is from another era. The main advantage of the hotel is its location between the medina and Avenue Bourguiba. Nearby, there’s the Magasin Général, where you can find groceries and some typical products like rose water, geranium water, and tons of halwa (a customer kindly explained how to eat it and which is the best).

After nightfall, I took a short stroll down Avenue Bourguiba. There weren’t many people around—it’s windy and cold.

I’ve already noticed the warm welcome from Tunisians. The supermarket cashier welcomed me to Tunisia, and a gentleman I asked for directions to the Magasin Général (I was about to climb stairs leading to a mosque!) insisted on inviting me for coffee, but I declined.

The rest of my itinerary will depend on the weather. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I might visit Carthage since the Bardo Museum is closed on Mondays, as are the museums in Sidi Bou Said.

TO BE CONTINUED...

...

" We’re ALL different, and so are our expectations when it comes to travel or leisure ". There are—without a doubt—as many ways to experience a trip as there are travelers!! For the two of us, it’s only our love of wild nature that guides us to East Africa. The stated goal of this trip was purely wildlife-focused, and NOT about discovering the country or its people.

...

Hello everyone,

Previously, I shared the account of a trip/safari in southern Tanzania in June 2024, in the Mikumi and Selous reserves.

This time, still in southern Tanzania, I invite you to join us in Ruaha National Park. (Then, depending on the number of images allowed in my quota, at the end of my story, we’ll return to Selous for the second part of the same trip.)

- This trip/safari took place in November 2022. - Our flight started in Marseille, heading to Addis Ababa, then Dar es Salaam (via Ethiopian Airlines). In Dar, we spent one night at a hotel near the airfield.

-1- During the layover in Addis Ababa. The Airbus A-350 in the early morning mist.



Reminder: Click on each image to enlarge it, if needed. .

From Dar es Salaam, if you want to go by road to Ruaha, it’ll take a very long and tiring day. 🤪

On previous trips, we’ve always taken a bush plane for this route. In this case, it took just over an hour and a half, with two short intermediate stops to drop off passengers at other bush airstrips.

Since I’m also passionate about aviation, I love these flights where you can admire the landscapes from low altitude while sitting right behind the pilot 🙂.

-2- These routes mainly use Cessna 208 Caravans.



At the Msembe airstrip, we’re greeted around 1:30 PM by a guide and a driver from our chosen lodge. They brought a picnic basket, which we enjoy at a nearby picnic area. We’re by the Ruaha River, completely dry—it’s scorching hot.

-3- The first mammals we encounter are a pair of female impalas, accompanied by a young male.



Reminder: Click on the image to view it in larger size. 😉

-4- To save the hippopotamus populations from certain death, rangers had to dig holes in the sand with bulldozers. Fortunately, water is present beneath the sand layer.



-5- This crocodile doesn’t seem to have been accepted as a swimming neighbor by the hippos...



We’ll explore along the river for 2-3 hours before crossing it at a ford toward the southern part of the reserve.

-6- The typical landscape of Ruaha, with its many baobabs.



-7- My buddy the R.L.B. is also here to welcome me.... 🙂 🙂



-8- As well as this little bee-eater... 😎



-9- ...which reminds us of the origin of its name...!



-10- Above a rare waterhole, a fish eagle keeps watch for fish...



...

*** Please wait until the end of the story for any questions or to share your own experiences in Ruaha. (Or via PM.) Thanks in advance for keeping this account smooth and enjoyable. 😉

...

*** I’m not an ornithologist, but birds are an important and unavoidable part of safari discoveries. You’ll find quite a few in the images of my story. 😎

...

Northern Laos, Nov 25

Thursday, Oct 23. Left home at 8:25 AM, took the bus from St Cyp to Perpignan, then a BlaBlaBus to Barcelona airport. Last night, a huge storm crossed France, and the bus was an hour late. We finally left at 11 AM. At the Spanish border, we were checked—several Africans were traveling on the bus, and their document verification took quite a while. In the end, everything was in order, and we set off again a good half-hour later. We finally arrived at Barcelona airport after 2 PM, but no stress since my flight was scheduled for 4:30 PM with Saudia. At check-in, the hostess told me there’d be a 1-hour delay due to bad weather in France and Belgium. In the end, the flight didn’t just have a 1-hour delay but a 5-hour one because of a technical issue. The next flight wouldn’t wait for us. When we arrived in Jeddah, they gave us another ticket for the following day—the flight to Bangkok was scheduled for 11:55 AM. The airline assigned us a room, which was good news since I was exhausted. Friday morning, the flight was still scheduled for 11:55 AM, but the gate wasn’t displayed. It was announced with a 1-hour delay, but that stretched to 4 hours. They handed out drinks and a snack—again, the delay was due to technical problems. In Bangkok, I had a connecting flight to Chiang Rai, where I’d also booked a room—I lost everything. We finally arrived in Bangkok on Saturday at 4 AM. I had to buy another ticket for a 7 AM flight. The formalities were quick, and my flight went smoothly. A taxi took me to Bus Terminal 1, where I caught a bus leaving at 10 AM, and we arrived at the Thailand-Laos border. I shared a taxi with other travelers, which took us to Houay Xai. The guesthouse I’d booked was right across from the stop—that was great. I exchanged some money and bought a SIM card at the guesthouse. Despite the fatigue, I needed to stretch my legs, so I walked down the street to the temple.









and continued to Fort Carnot, built by the French.



The views of the Mekong are beautiful for a first glimpse of the country.





yum-yum, bon appétit!

At 6:30 PM, I went to dinner at a restaurant across from the guesthouse—a chicken curry with vegetables.



I didn’t linger and went back to bed. I slept well, even if I woke up often.

Hello! 🙂

January 2026 Here we go again for new adventures and the pleasure of sharing them with you here! First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who helped me with the preparations, even with some last-minute improvisations just days before departure. Thanks to Montagnard74, Jojoone1, Songsam, Attila, Dennis2, NadegerFERM, and the authors whose travel journals about Laos inspired me (Montagnard74, Muriel18, Mavietongs...).

In this story, written by Richard and illustrated by me, we’ll tell you about the journey of four friends: Catherine, Richard, Nathalie, and Bruno. A reinvented but overall successful trip, filled with discoveries and surprises, the scents of spices and frangipani flowers, (too) spicy food, sunsets, and... one big mess.

After our amazing experience in the Lofoten Islands in summer 2023, I suggested to Jean Marie another trek I’d been wanting to do for a long time: the Skye Trail in Scotland.

A few photos of this stunning island and he was sold and ready to go.

The route is available on the excellent WalkHighlands site HERE (there’s also a Cicerone guide on the subject). And since I thought it was a shame it avoided the Black Cuillins, I added a 3-day detour in that area.

We took advantage of the May bank holidays in 2024, partly to avoid the peak tourist season and also the midge period—because for some reason, mosquitoes love me 😠!!

27/04 – Day 1 – Transfer to Skye and start of the trek: Rubha Hunish - Flodigarry 28/04 – Day 2 – Flodigarry – just before the Old Man of Storr 29/04 – Day 3 – Old Man of Storr – Portree, then bus to Sligachan 30/04 - Day 4 - Sligachan - Glenbrittle campsite via the Fairy Pools 01/05 – Day 5 – Round trip to Sgùrr na Banachdich from Glenbrittle campsite 02/05 – Day 6 – Round trip to Coire Lagan and walk on the Rubh an Dùnain peninsula 03/05 – Day 7 – Return (hitchhiking) to Sligachan campsite and hike in the Red Cuillins 04/05 – Day 8 – Resuming the Skye Trail – Sligachan – Elgol 05/05 – Day 9 – Elgol – Somewhere on the climb to Bla Bheinn 06/05 – Day 10 – Somewhere on the climb to Bla Bheinn - Broadford 07/05 – Day 11 – Visit to the Armadale Castle and park 08 & 09/05 – Return to Glasgow, visit the city, and return flight And here’s the summary

Hi everyone,

After letting our backpacks gather dust for several years, we’ve decided to set off on another adventure—this time as a family, with our 10- and 12-year-old kids! We’re planning a trip from mid-June to the end of July, with two stops: Cambodia (2 weeks) and Indonesia (4 weeks). But before diving into the details, we’ve got quite a few questions and doubts.

About Cambodia: We know this period is the rainy season. Is it really a good idea to go then? And if so, is it better to start with Cambodia and then move on to Indonesia, or does the order not matter from a climate perspective? Here are the activities and sites we’ve shortlisted: · The Mekong and Irrawaddy dolphins: do we actually have a chance of seeing them? · The Mondulkiri Project (elephant sanctuary): is this an ethical project? We want to avoid any form of animal exploitation. · The temples of Angkor: are 2 or 3 days enough to fully enjoy them? · Floating villages: where should we go for an authentic experience? Is it possible to spend the night there? · Hikes with waterfalls, lakes, etc.: are there any must-do treks? · And most importantly, what activities or sites would appeal to kids?

For Indonesia: We were there 15 years ago and loved our itinerary: Yogyakarta / Borobudur → Bromo → Kawah Ijen → Bali → Gili Trawangan. This time, we’re torn: · Retracing part of that route to share it with our kids (even if revisiting the same places isn’t super appealing), · Or exploring new regions. What’s almost certain is that we’d like to spend about two weeks in Raja Ampat. For the other two weeks, we’re undecided. We’re looking for kid-friendly ideas for places and activities, while avoiding too many connections for budget and environmental reasons. Since we’ll already see temples in Cambodia, we’d like to mix things up.

And finally… On our last trip to the region, we traveled without kids and went super free-spirited: only the round-trip tickets were booked, and we improvised the rest day by day without any major issues finding accommodation, food, or accessing the activities we’d spotted. Do you think this style of travel is still doable with two kids? Or has it become too risky or stressful? Are there regions where the "backpacker" approach is still possible, and others where it’s better to book in advance? And for certain activities or sites, is it recommended to hire guides?

Thanks in advance for your tips and experiences!

For once, given the destination, the author can’t set aside their religious beliefs, which inevitably shape this kind of journey.

The Trip

Early in the morning at Orly Airport, in the departure lounge for Tel Aviv, a group of about forty young men arrives, all looking identical! The same neatly trimmed beards, the same identical haircuts, the same outfits with a touch of whimsy… The effect of seeing these forty “clones” is striking and raises questions! Why such perfect uniformity among this group of guys? Do they belong to the same family, sports club, cultural association, or religious group? A mystery! At the same time, the waiting area fills up with men who are more expected, given our destination: they wear large felt hats and dress in black suits with white shirts—Hassidim? The ones I’ve glimpsed fleetingly in Paris or New York, who have always been a mystery to me. More discreet-looking women accompany them.

I’m already in Israel without even setting foot there! Plus, I witness the preparations for an improvised show.

The “clones” start a flash mob at seven in the morning in a Paris airport departure lounge! Some pull out musical instruments, others begin singing and dancing. A music with strange, unfamiliar sounds enchants the waiting passengers.

The flight crew finally arrives, cutting through the flash mob, bringing us back to the reality of the moment: waiting to take off soon for this so troubling and mysterious Middle East. We go through passport control, presenting our faces to the scanners that operate the exit gate. The group of “identical” young men gets held up by the system: logically, a scanner let the first one through but blocked the second because of his perfect resemblance to the first. To the machine, the same person shouldn’t be able to cross the border twice? But eventually, the whole group makes it through the glass doors, leaving the Republic behind. My simplistic explanation is left looking ridiculous.

At every new destination, I ask myself countless questions, revealing a certain anxiety tied to the unknown: fear of attacks (one just happened at a bus station in Jerusalem), possible police pressure, unexpected events. Israel isn’t known for being a relaxing destination. In reality, if I did face a serious difficulty in this country, it wasn’t one I had anticipated—and it wasn’t particularly tied to Israel!

I take my seat by the window, which is already occupied by a little girl. Her father, a Hassidic man, politely asks if I’d be willing to give up my seat for his daughter. I tell him I’d be happy to make her happy. Seeing me masked, he asks if I’d like him and his daughter to wear masks too. In response, I take off my mask so as not to impose any constraints on them and wish them a good flight.

It was the first time I’d approached and spoken to a Hassidic man. He didn’t speak the way I might have expected after watching *Rabbi Jacob* with Louis de Funès; he spoke perfectly without an accent, just like you and me! Beware of stereotypes! Throughout the flight, I sneak glances at my strange neighbor: he prayed silently without stopping for a minute. His daughter, as good as gold, never interrupted him. He used several religious accessories during his three-hour continuous prayer: a kippa, a prayer shawl, and a rosary?… I left that plane deeply impressed, me, who has a very distant relationship with my Creator and only prays now and then.

Hi there,

I’m spending some time in Switzerland this summer. Beyond the landscapes, I’d still like to visit a few cities—especially Bern, Lausanne, Zurich, and Fribourg.

The issue is parking...

For Lausanne, I found a park-and-ride that’s cheaper on Saturdays. But for the others, it gets tricky...

I don’t necessarily plan to park right in the city center, but there don’t seem to be proper park-and-rides...

I see that the Bern–Fribourg railway line is under construction.

I’d really like to avoid paying an arm and a leg for parking over there or relying on a train once an hour.

Same goes for Montreux—it looks pretty complicated...

If you’ve got any tips...

Thanks! !

Hi there, I'm starting a new travel journal with my itinerary and memories in mind, and maybe a few photos if I can find some.

The context:

April 2020, I was supposed to go to Uzbekistan, and October 2020 to Texas: both canceled due to COVID. Summer vacations in 2020 weren’t gonna be fun. Optimistic, I’d rescheduled both trips for roughly the same dates in 2021: the first was canceled again because of COVID, the second due to U.S. entry conditions (still COVID-related!). Summer vacations in 2021 *had* to be more fun, or I was gonna lose it!!! Plus, our parents are dealing with health issues, which is weighing us down—we really need to get away!

So I looked into where we could go, somewhere we could live almost normally. I saw that Madeira had implemented strict COVID measures but that life on the island was pretty chill afterward. For me, Madeira = sun + hiking + landscapes. BINGO.

Day 1: The flight and arrival on the island

Flight with TAP via Lisbon, departing around noon. We wore our masks properly on the plane. (My last flight was to Portugal, and I told myself I’d break the jinx and leave COVID behind us.) Layover in Lisbon, then an afternoon flight to Madeira. The landing went smoothly, no wind. Cristiano Ronaldo Airport in Funchal is known for being one of the trickiest in the world due to crosswinds. The checks were standard, except COVID added an extra step. Before the trip, I had to fill out a questionnaire (Madeira Safe). Once there, a group of young people—probably students—greeted us, each with a tablet. The health questionnaire and vaccine check were super quick. Then we saw a doctor, and just like that, we were wished a great stay. Honestly, it was so well organized that it only took 10 minutes. We wouldn’t put our masks back on until we returned!

A taxi took us to our hotel in the hills above Funchal—a pretty upscale place, which isn’t our usual style, but we needed it this time! Dinner on the hotel terrace with the city at our feet. Amazing!

HOTEL: Quinta da Bela Vista

The +: We’re traveling!!! The -: Nothing.

Hi there, We’re heading to South Africa in August 2025 and planning a classic loop that I’d love to finish with the Drakensberg (I’m a big hiking fan) before returning to Johannesburg to catch our flight. I’ve got 3 nights for this part of our trip. But I’m wondering if it’s actually a good idea to hike in the Drakensberg in August, since it’s the Southern Hemisphere winter (I’m from Réunion and we hike year-round there, but I don’t know what the climate’s like in South Africa, especially the Drakensberg). I’m particularly worried about getting stuck because of snow and missing our flight... ;) I’ve read so many different things that I’m totally confused! If it’s okay to hike at this time of year, what would you recommend? I’m torn between Champagne Valley and Royal Natal National Park. Thanks in advance for your firsthand tips! Malijp

Hi there! It’s been nearly 6 years since I last posted here or on my travel blog. But I’m back, at least for one post! I’m returning with a dream trip we took in April 2023: a stay at Walt Disney World in Florida. We went for 10 days. Ten days at an amusement park might seem like a lot, but you should know that Disney isn’t just one park—it’s 4 parks and 2 water parks (only one was open during our trip). So we split those 10 days across 5 parks, which worked out to about 2 days per park. The four main parks each have a different vibe:

Magic Kingdom: The most famous one, the one that most resembles our Disneyland Paris. It’s home to several "lands" (Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Liberty Square, and Main Street USA). This is the park where you’ll find the iconic castle, the symbol of the parks. Disney’s Hollywood Studios: It’s a bit like the studios at Disneyland Paris, with the well-known Tower of Terror and Toy Story Land. It also features the stunning Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (a must-see, even if you’re not a Star Wars fan). Animal Kingdom: A very nature-focused park, divided into several sections, including representations of Africa and Asia, as well as the breathtaking Pandora – The World of Avatar. Epcot: The park of countries, where different nations are represented around a large circular lake—including France!

The water park that was open during our stay was Typhoon Lagoon. We spent a morning there lounging and swimming before heading to Disney Springs (the equivalent of Disney Village in France). We’re not big on pools or chilling out, so we didn’t stay long, but there was no time limit.

We chose to stay at the Disney’s Art of Animation hotel, a Resort (huge, like everything there!) with 4 themed areas: Nemo, Cars, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid (where the rooms for 4 people or fewer are located).



Here’s the itinerary we followed for those 10 days:

Day 1: Flight at 7:35 AM–4:40 PM (with a layover in London), stroller pickup, then shuttle bus to our hotel Day 2: Day at Magic Kingdom Day 3: Day at Hollywood Studios Day 4: Day at Animal Kingdom Day 5: Day at Epcot Day 6: Day at Hollywood Studios Day 7: Relaxing day at Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Springs Day 8: Day at Magic Kingdom Day 9: Day at Epcot Day 10: Day at Magic Kingdom Day 11: Morning at Hollywood Studios, then shuttle bus to the airport, stroller return at the airport, flight at 7:05 PM–1:50 PM (next day)

We rented the stroller from Kingdom Stroller. The rental process was super easy—everything was done online. On the day we arrived and the day we left, there was no staff at the counter, but the stroller was ready with a tag bearing our name. When we left, we just dropped it off at the designated spot, still with no one checking... We used the Mears Connect shuttle: you pick a day and time for them to pick you up at the airport and your hotel. Everything went smoothly, no surprises.

For planning, you’ll need to decide in advance which parks you’ll visit each day because a reservation is required (just like in Paris now). I’d recommend making a schedule ahead of time. Same goes for restaurants—figure out which ones you’d like to eat at beforehand. Some work like fast food and don’t require reservations, while others, the "Table Service" restaurants, operate like traditional restaurants and need to be booked in advance to guarantee a spot. These can be reserved 60 days before the first day of your visit, and that applies to all the restaurants for your entire stay (e.g., if you’re going from February 1st to 11th, you can make reservations for the whole trip 60 days before February 1st).

Not essential, but we found them super handy: MagicBands. These are connected bracelets you buy on-site (not cheap, of course) that let you, once linked to your account in the app, open your hotel room, enter the parks, validate Lightning Lane reservations at attraction entrances, and even make purchases (if you’ve linked a credit card). We got the cheapest ones and loved them!

As for the trip’s wrap-up, if I were to do it again, ... I’d do almost everything the same: The schedule and restaurant reservations I planned were perfect! ... I’d change one thing: Maybe I wouldn’t plan two full days at Epcot because it was the park we enjoyed the least. Some attractions (like the amazing Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind) were great, but it was really hot, the park isn’t shaded, and it felt stifling when the weather was scorching. That said, I don’t regret it because a big storm hit on our second day, forcing us back to the hotel.

That’s all for now—I’ll be back soon with photos from each park and the hotel. You’ll see, it was incredible! See you soon! :)