Eleven Countries in Four Months, or How I Spent February - May 2026
Whew. Even writing out that title reminds me of what a big trip this was. It was also fabulous. Check out my previous post, “Les Petits Mots” for some of my main reflections on the trip.
This post is not reflective. This is a list of places with a few comments about each one and an abridged version of how we decided to do the trip that we did. It’s still long. I’m sorry. I just finished writing it and I’m amazed again at just how much we did.
Bonus trip: Jan 2 - 25: El Tunco, El Salvador
This was our second visit to this chill little surf town on the Pacific coast. It’s a wonderful break from the cruel January Milwaukee weather. We rented a fabulous house where we can both focus on work without much distraction. When we needed a break, it was fun to go wave-diving in the ocean. It was sunny and hot and that made us happy.
February 1: Left the US on the direct flight from Atlanta to Cape Town
This was so much nicer than the previous time we flew to Cape Town via Amsterdam.
February 2 - 3: Cape Town, South Africa
A short overnight at the pleasant and convenient Hotel Verde at the Cape Town airport.
February 3 - 17: Namibia
We drove ourselves in a Nissan Navara 4-door truck about 2000 km/ 1240 mi from the airport in Windhoek, the country’s capital, to the stunning red dunes of the Namib Desert in and around Sossusvlei, to the town of Swakopmund where the dunes are white and meet the Atlantic ocean to the northern part of the country where we enjoyed wonderful safari drives and animal viewing. Namibia is one of the only places in the world where the desert meets the sea and it’s gorgeous. The whole country is stunning. In addition to the breathtaking scenery, we saw piles of lions, herds of elephants, a nonchalant rhinoceros, and we stopped counting giraffe sightings because there were just so many of them. We saw a lot of other cool things, too. Namibia isn’t at the top of most people’s lists, but I can’t recommend it enough. It’s stunningly beautiful, has good infrastructure, and, as the second least densely populated country in the world, you often feel like you have parts of it to yourself. We stayed at 6 different lodges in Namibia. While we had our favorites, they all had their charms and we’d recommend them all.
February 17 - 23: Botswana
On February 17, we took our trusty truck across the border from Namibia to Botswana at the Muhembo Border Post in the Bwabwata National Park. It was a cool experience. Very low key. The few locals passing through, presumably to go shopping, got a good chuckle out of seeing two (white) foreigners taking this route. The Botswanan roads were a shock after the generally well-maintained ones of Namibia. Not just the roads themselves, but all of the livestock in the roads. Donkeys, goats, and cattle really do not care if there's a 4000 pound truck approaching. We did a lot of game drives in Botswana and saw a lot of animals, including tons of elephants on my birthday. We also took our first helicopter ride. It was 45 minutes over the Okavango Delta in a tiny craft with 4 seats and no doors. I’m hooked. It was thrilling. We stayed at 4 great lodges in Botswana.
February 23 - 26: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
When we got to our last stop in Kasane, Botswana, which is at the border of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia (something I found so cool) someone from the rental company collected our truck and we started relying on others for transport. Crossing the border into Zimbabwe was kind of funny, too. It felt more “official.” Our safari guide, Joe, got us to the gate at the border, we gave him a big hug and promised to return (who knows!) and then got in a van to Victoria Falls. Seeing the mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders” in the local Lozi language, was the purpose of these few days. It was awe-inspiring. And thanks to how much I loved the helicopter ride over the Okavango, we added one here. It was cool, too. Zimbabwe itself was interesting. It had a decidedly different feel to Namibia and Botswana.
February 26 - 27: OR Tambo Airport Johannesburg
This was just meant to be a necessary transit stop en route to our next destination. And it mostly was. We stayed at the as expected and totally adequate City Lodge at OR Tambo Airport. What came as an emotional and wonderful surprise was being serenaded by the hotel’s choir at breakfast. Whew. Talk about moving. I don’t think there’s anything quite like a South African choir (though the music in Senegal is incredibly special, too).
February 27 - March 5: Vilanculos, Mozambique
We planned for the beach, relaxation, comfort, and getting back into the swing of work in Mozambique, and that’s what we got. We took one quick jaunt into town to get cash at an ATM and get some groceries. It was pay day so we joined the 30+ minute queue at the cash machine. We also took a great boat and snorkeling trip through the Bazaruto Archipelago National Marine Park.
March 5 - March 6: OR Tambo Airport Johannesburg
This was another in-transit stop-over from one place to the next. If you’re traveling in Southern Africa, you almost always have to transit through South Africa. There are few direct flights between other places. This was also much more than just a stop-over. We had dinner with my friend, Lebogang, and her family. She and I had never met in person and it was so good to hug her and talk and laugh with her for a few too-short hours. We were actually supposed to spend the day with her and she and her husband were going to show us their home of Soweto, but geopolitics and an awful president had other plans for us.
March 6 - 7: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We were supposed to fly from Johannesburg to Dubai to Pisa on March 6. A weak president with a penchant for chaos and a desire to appear tough completely disrupted those plans. Many hours and several thousand dollars later (standard travel insurance, which we have, doesn’t cover acts of war) we ended up on Ethiopia Air flights though Addis Ababa, where we spent 24 hours. The upside is that we were totally charmed by the city. Ethiopia is where coffee originated and my caffeine-loving husband roasted his own beans, we visited a local tej (Ethiopian honey wine) hall, we saw early-human ancestor, Lucy, and marveled at a Michelangelo painting just casually leaning against the wall of a church crypt which we accessed via a huge steel door in the floor. It’s a fabulous city and I hope to go back.
March 7 - 8: Rome Airport Hotel
This is only here for the timeline. It was mediocre. We slept a bit.
March 8 - 15: Pisa, Italy
Work really recommenced for both of us in Italy. Patrick had a week-long meeting and I caught up on my own to-do list. I also had gelato every day and enjoyed day trips to Florence and Lucca. Pisa is a great Italian city. It’s interesting without the crowds of some of the country’s top visited locations.
March 15 - April 25: Nice
Patrick’s work brought us (back) to Nice and I’m so glad it did. If I could spend every March - May there, I would in a heartbeat. I grew up speaking French so having a chance to use it is always great. But it was more than that. It’s sunny, it’s friendly, there were easily 10 boulangeries with great bread and pastries within a 5 minute walk from the front door of our rental apartment, and there was excellent other food thanks to the vibrant immigrant communities in the city. What more could I want??
March 28 - 31: Gordes & Lyon
We took a few short trips while in Nice. The first was a drive north to Lyon, where Patrick had meetings and was giving a talk. Bonus was a laughter-filled dinner with extended family. We stopped in Gordes and stayed at a charming small hotel where we had a delicious dinner.
April 16 - 21: Paris
I still can’t believe it, but it had been 18 years since I’d last been to Paris. I visited a fair amount when I was younger, but I suppose in the last couple of decades other travel locations took priority. It was wonderful to be back. It felt good to be there, and I liked it even more than I have in the past. I have a blog post coming!
April 25 - 27: Lisbon
Portugal has become such a popular destination for travelers so when TAP Air Portugal offered the best flight options between Nice and Dakar, I persuaded Patrick to spend a couple of days. I’m glad we did. We lucked out landing on April 25, their liberation day, when they celebrate the 1974 peaceful overthrow of the fascist government. It felt particularly relevant these days. I have a newfound appreciation for red carnations, the symbol of the celebration. We also spent some time in Cascais (charming!) and got to have dinner with a Wellesley friend and her husband, which I always love.
April 27 - 19: MBour Senegal
When we were planning this big adventure, I pointed out to Patrick that when we were done with our 6 weeks in Nice, the weather at home in Milwaukee still wouldn’t be great and there was nothing we really needed to be home for. So, we decided to look for a place that would be warmer and less expensive than southern Europe. Where we could focus almost all of our time on work. What luck to have settled on a house in the small coastal town of MBour. The house we rented served our purposes. Ami, our housekeeper, cook, and so much more made the experience a truly special one. She became a friend who I'm so happy to have met. Lily, the house cat, tolerated us. Senegal is a place of music. It was always and everywhere and we came to love falling asleep to the sounds of the Atlantic rolling in on the beach outside of our door mingling with the tabla drumming of sufi Muslims worshiping throughout the night. It was magic. Worth noting that we did get into Dakar for a day where we visited Gorée Island, a point of no return for millions of enslaved Africans. I’ll have a post on that soon.
April 19 - 22: London
From MBour, we went to London for a few days to see my sister and her family before heading off on the last piece of this adventure. I love London, I visit a lot, and I’ll have a post on it at some point.
May 22 - 29: Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 Ocean Liner
This was perhaps the most unfamiliar part of all of our travels this year. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise. Though people will be quick to tell you that the Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner, the world’s only one, and that this voyage across the Atlantic is a crossing, not a cruise. The ship takes 7 nights to go from Southampton, England to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in New York. We loved it. The ship is grand, the food was good, the rooms were incredibly comfortable, there are fun black tie evenings, and it’s so easy to just sit and stare at the ocean. If you have the time and the schedule works, I highly recommend taking this ship or one of the other Queens home from Europe sometime. It’s more affordable than you might think, too!
***
Well done! You made it this far. And, if you did, in fact, make is this far and have any energy left, you’re probably thinking, ok, this is great and all, but *how* did you both manage all this time away? Well, there are very good reasons why I became a travel advisor and a key one is that I wanted a career that I could do from anywhere. Not just because I love to travel, but because Patrick travels a lot for work and, as a happily child- and pet-free couple, we wanted me to be able to travel with him. As for Patrick, he’s a professor and was on sabbatical last academic year so his time was more flexible than it usually is. Our time in Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe was largely vacation, though we both worked a bit. After that, work was central for both of us. It wasn’t always easy to balance work with the vagaries of travel and with our own desires to enjoy where we were, but I think we managed pretty well. And we felt comfortable being away from home for so long because we had a wonderful house sitter enjoying our cozy home.
