WHAT TO DO FOR ONE DAY IN CHEFCHAOUEN, MOROCCO

1) WANDER THE BEAUTIFUL STREETS

Also known as the "Blue Pearl" of Morocco, the major reason to visit Chefchaouen is for its beautiful streets and variety of blue houses. 

There's a lot of story on to why the city is all blue, but nobody knows the true story behind it.

A little advice, Chefchaouen is probably quieter than most cities in Morocco. Nevertheless, I suggest getting up early to really enjoy the city without the crowds.

2) SHOPPING IN THE MEDINA

Then, once you've scattered all the streets and taken many photos of this beautiful place, I suggest you go to the Medina for some shopping. The souk of the Medina isn't probably as big as the ones in other cities like Marrakech, but still, you can find some handicrafts gems. In between those gems, you can also find pots of bright-colored paint powders so beautiful against the blue walls of Chefchaouen...a true postcard!

 

THE BEST TIME TO VISIT CHEFCHAOUEN

Like many places in Morocco, it is best to visit in spring or autumn as it's pretty hot during summer. The city is surrounded by mountains which makes the climate much cooler than other parts of Morocco though.

Xo Ems

ITALY, THE PLACE TO BE!!!

(El Duomo)

While everybody seemed to go to Greece this summer, my low budget and my holidays that I took on such short notice made me reconsider my destination.

Like my latest post said "Planning a last minute holiday to Italy" I went to Italy, The prices and places are on this post.







Milan was kind of like I always imagined, fancy and cute. I didn't imagine that everything would be closed from 8am to 11Am though haha, I went visiting the city at 8am,  I was shocked not to see a single coffee open, But I also was unfortunate enough to go on the 15th of August, it's a holiday in France too but I mean they take it very seriously in Italy!
Besides this I quite enjoyed Milan, yes It's not Rome or Florence (From what I've heard, I've never been to Florence), I don't recommend to spend more than a few days in Milan, I mean in one morning I've seen every touristy places, I'm sure that there's more to see and if I had more days I probably would have spent 2 days in Milan to be certain not to miss anything important.

(Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II)

Now Elba Island that was something else, My mom (yes that's my mom's friend who told me about it) and she was right, it is GORGEOUS!!





The place is terrible for Wifi and internet, I haven't posted too much on social media because of it but it makes it very restful and allows you to think about other stuff.

The bad side for me was to go there on a very busy week, every beach was full, it was kind of a war just to find a spot to park and then to find a place for the towel, lucky me I don't need much space considering that I spend most of my time at the Beach under the water (yes I really mean UNDER the water).
Speaking of water, the color of the sea there is just heavenly turquoise and clear, it was such a pleasure to get there and it was warm, cold enough to be refreshing and warm enough to go in without hesitation.

The roads in Elba are terrifying haha, barely enough space for one car and it's never a one way, always short turns, speed limit? 50 to 70km, and of course they do it, they're Italian haha, they have quite the reputation to hold.

Helios B&B in Rio Nell' Elba was pretty good, the manager spoke french and was always talking to us and helping us when we needed help, breakfast wasn't the BEST  I ever had but good enough for a hotel, right by the beach so that was great!

Portoferraio was pretty nice to visit, on foot , I have to say this because by car it was a bit of a nightmare, thanks to all of the small roads and small streets, I didn't feel comfortable driving in town but other than that it's a very nice place to hang out and they even had a NIGHT MARKET!!! sooo in love!!!!

Basically, everything went great except for the time I thought I lost my wallet in a gas station, and I realized that only after I went to a restaurant and was ready to pay. Lucky for me I lost it in the restaurant, my wallet had fallen from my bag under the table.

To show you how beautiful it was, here are some of my pictures!

 (Portoferraio)

 ( Sansone Beach)

 (Rio Marina)

What do you think about it? Do you like Italy? Have you ever been? Or is it on your bucket list?

PLEINS DES BISOUS

PLANNING A LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY TO ITALY !!!

 ** (Elba Island Portoferraio)

Hey guys,

So I’ve been working for a few months now, you know that I’m not part of the full-time traveler, maybe one day I will but for now, I have to work to save money for my travels.

So as a worker I have to wait to get holidays, but since I’m working until October I just physically and mentally can’t wait that long to get on a plane again.

Lucky me I succeed to take a couple of days in August and so I’m starting to plan a new destination.

Italy, well I’ve already been to Italy before, Sardinia last year and Rome and Pompeï about ten years ago.
Now as strange a so it is, I’m going there thanks to a colleague of my mom's, she told her about that heavenly like Island between Italy and Corsica named Elba Island.

You have to see pictures of this Island on Google, it is GORGEOUS!! (little previous above)

I started to plan everything last week and I’m leaving on the busiest week ever.

**(Milan)

so I began with the flight (that’s kinda logical) and I’m still being lucky since I’ve found a return flight for less than 200€ which is amazing for that time period! Okay it isn’t with EASYJET and I really am no fan of that company, I always had something that went wrong each time I had to fly with them, hopefully, this time will be the exception and everything will be perfect. I mean with a 1h40 flight, I’m really hoping that everything will be alright.

Second thing to deal with the hotel, to go to Elba Island, I first have to land in Milan, since I’ll be arriving at 10pm I have to take a room there and then go to Elba Island the next day. But since I’m kind of a messy person, I searched for the hotel in Elba first, yes I’m very logical haha.

After a few hours comparing hotels (quite expensive since I’m doing it last minute and it’s a pretty small Island), I found one on Expedia.fr, the Helios Relais B&B, Rio Nell Elba.
Well, I can’t tell you yet if it’s a good hotel or not but since it’s a hotel/spa it must be pretty nice haha.

Third, time for the most stressfully part for me, the car...because yes I kinda have to drive from Milan to Elba. I hate renting cars, there are so many scams on the internet and you’re looking for a cheap one but usually, if it’s cheap when you arrive there you still have money to give and it’s no longer cheap. That’s the thing when you rent a car the price you pay isn’t usually the final price. You always have something more to pay, you didn’t take the insurance, they’ll make you take it for some obscure reason you never thought about, if you took it well you’ll have to pay for something more because you’re not giving the car back at the same place and you do but there’s always something else to pay for.
That’s why I’m sooo stressed out with this.

So the car took me more than a couple of days to find, I didn’t want to be even more stressed by taking a car with some agency I don’t know anything about so I went with HERTZ (still hoping it was a good call) and went for a Fiat Punto, I do wish that it’s okay to drive through Italy with it because I have to drive 4h30 to Elba.

I also wish that the ruler concerning the Italian way of driving is only a Myth!

So 400€ later, I have a car for 4 days, a hotel for 3 days and a return flight! Only things missing are the ferry and the night in Milan.

The only Ferry I’ve been told to take is TOREMAR because I heard that Moby has a tendency to be late...very late, like 6h late...and since I only have 5 days of holidays I’m not wasting a second.

After calling the company to understand why they absolutely needed the plate number of my rental car ( that I absolutely won’t know before the day I’m given the key) I finally have my place on the ferry (they told me to invent a plate number and then to remind them the day I go on the ferry).

I still haven’t take the room for my night in Milan but I mean after taking everything it depends on everyone’s personal budget for the holidays!

So at first, I planned 500€ for the entire week (extra like food, activity, and gifts aren’t included of course)

TOTAL DEPENDS (for 5 days in Italy during the most expensive week of August) 

465€

Meaning I still have 35€ for a one-night hotel in Milan...It should be enough haha

THERE IT IS FOR MY LAST MINUTE PLANNING TRIP TO ITALY.

What do you think? Do you have better deals?

Have you ever been to ELBA ISLAND? Or MILAN? 

I WOULD LOVE TIPS FOR MILAN AND ELBA ISLAND IF YOU HAVE SOME!

PLEINS DES BISOUS

** Pictures from Google
Can't wait to show you mine though

NEW-ZEALAND: AOTEAROA - THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD !!! SOUTH ISLAND

Kia Ora!

I'm back guys!!!

To be honest with you I felt like quitting blogging for a while because I didn't feel like writing anymore, I don't know why I was just not in the mood and being back to France was hard and I didn't have any inspiration to write this post.
But I am back and ready to write, so I hope you'll like what I have to say about New Zealand!!

This was the first time I took an airplane alone for so long, 36hours on my own, I thought it would be scary but in the end, I was pretty proud of myself.

I know that it's not as amazing as all those great women that do solo travels but I consider this to be my baby steps toward solo traveling.

LAYOVERS 

The longest time was in Doha, I had to wait for 9,50hours in the airport.
If you stay in Doha for more than 5hours, there is a free touristic bus tour to the city, so don't make the same mistake I did and go to the information center and to visit the city, instead of waiting for the time to pass in the airport eating and shopping to kill the time.

I've met some incredible people during my layovers, including a woman named Dean in DOHA, she was from South Africa, and was telling me her story, she was going for an interview in Nz, hoping to get a full-time job there and therefore changing her and her little daughter's life for the best.

When in Sydney (where I had to wait for 7h) I met one couple, they were super cute, going on their Honeymoon in Europe and Africa, first Spain then Morocco. The woman was soooo lovely, we talked pretty much the entire flight...her poor husband, he had to hear us talk about travels and cats for pretty much 5 hours haha!

That one of my favorites, meeting people and hear their stories from across the world.

GETTING THERE

So I left with QATAR AIRWAYS, one of the best companies in the world and they really owe this title, my flights when so smoothly and the service was amazing.
I could choose my meal (which is not possible in every plane), I try to go gluten free because I always have heartburn with plane food but that was a mistake I'll never do again in an airplane haha.
Gluten-free food in airplanes is not that good and when I saw that my dessert was gluten free bread and that my seat neighbors had chocolate mousse I was soooo disgusted haha.

Then between Auckland and Queenstown, my final destination I took JETSTAR (I don't even want to talk about that Company, still the worst I have ever taken)

When I finally arrived in Nz I was beyond excited, the air was warm and humid quite like in Australia.
I had finally calmed down from the airport stress and I landed in Queenstown, the first thing I saw when I went out on the tarmac was the REMARKABLES, the famous mountains of Queenstown, also used in the Lord of the ring movies.

The Roadtrip can begin!

SOUTH ISLAND

QUEENSTOWN AND SURROUNDINGS

we started with a hike in MONT COOK, the highest mountain in Nz. Lucky for us the sun was there, and it was absolutely beautiful. It's obviously a MUST DO on the South Island!
Try if you want to and if you have the money, take a Helicopter tour above the Mont Cook, the view is apparently amazing from there.

Then if you drive there is a free camping not far from Mont Cook, take the app Campermate on your phone to find the free camping, the low cost one or even the more expensive ones, every camping for every kind of campers!





In QUEENSTOWN you can do so many things, it is THE TOWN for extreme activities, you have BUNGEE JUMP, PARAGLIDING, SHOT-OVER JET, SKYLINE LUGE AND ZIP-LINE, SHARK BOAT, KAYAK ETC ETC... You have pretty much anything you want, I haven't tried them all but still, you can't get bored in Queenstown...You even have a market!!! you know I love markets haha.

Now most important the FOOD!!! Yes I know I am a walking stomach, the best place you can go if you like chocolate is PATAGONIA, it's a chocolaterie not that expensive and soooo damn GOOD, they have chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream well just every kind of chocolate but if you want to feel healthy they also prepare HOME JUICE and trust me I've tested pretty much all of them, they're insanely good, you can even create your own juice or smoothie.

If you're more of a salty person, what is known as the best BURGER of New Zealand is in this town the FERGBURUGER, YES it's really good but if you want to eat there you better plan nothing else for that day, for each command you can wait for 1h or more, everybody goes there so plenty or people means plenty of time to wait just to eat a burger...Shame there is no BURGERFUEL in QUEENSTOWN because I personally think that it is the BEST BURGER OF New Zealand and you don't have to wait for 1h to eat it.





CHRISTCHURCH AND AROUND

Then we drove pretty much straight to CHRISTCHURCH, I was beyond excited to go there, it's one of the city I had to see by myself, I've heard so much about it and I wasn't disappointed at all, it's a rather big city, not as big as Auckland or Wellington but still!
We went to the Botanic Garden, ate at the Burgerfuel (best burger of NZ), then had a Frozen Yogurt at SOYO and finally we pretty much just walk around the city.

If you like Farmers markets there's a nice little one in Littleton by the docks... it's a very nice town near Christchurch, not much to do there besides the market but the view is great.





ABEL TASMAN - NELSON AND SURROUNDINGS

To tell you the truth after that all we did was driving to ABEL TASMAN. Unfortunately for us there was a storm that destroyed most of the road to Abel Tasman and we had to take another way to go there, not exactly how we planned it, we had to stay at Motueka (were there is nothing to do!) lucky we new a woman there and had one free ice cream.
Then in Abel Tasman, It was super hard to find the GOLDEN BAY since we didn't take the main road but we found it, and that was amazing!! we went to the Separation Point and the beautiful beach of WHARARIKI BEACH where you can see baby SEALS.

















Nelson is a cute little town except that there's nothing to do there, we just had plenty of time before we go to Picton to take our ferry so we strolled there, you have a very nice cafe called SWEET AS CAFE, I had the best hot chocolate ever!!!!! 

And then Picton to get our Ferry (Don't ever take the Bluebridge company they're never on time, we had a 5H delay and they didn't even do anything about it, we had to send them an email to make things right) for the North Island.



What we discovered in between Nelson and Picton was probably the best part of New Zealand!
Ever heard of the FRENCH PASS?
This was the best decision we actually made while having so much time to kill before Picton! THIS WAS GORGEOUS!!!!

The weather made it even more tragic! It was nature at its best, we drove for like two or three hours but it was so worth it, just pure nature, dirt road, no faster than 30km, strong wind and finally cliffs showing a kind of fjord I would say, best if I show you!

So here is what I visited in the South Island of New Zealand, yes I know!!! What about Milford Sounds, Fjordland and Dunedin??? Well, I didn't have enough time and money to do it all, unfortunately, I had choices to make in the matter. But it's a very good excuse to go back there haha

Ever been to New Zealand? Which place did you prefer??

KA KITE ANO AND PLEINS DES BISOUS