After distracting myself with Croatia and then Burningman, while Max was traveling, the epic tour is now upon me. I’ve changed and rearranged many, many times and I’m sure it will be evolving as I go, but what follows is my current plan.

First stop, Mexico! My cousin Danielle is getting married and adding another ridiculously long last name to the family tree. Nearly everyone will be there minus 2 husbands, 1 aunt and 1 fiancée. On the Fisher branch of the family there will be a whopping 25 of us. The last time all 9 cousin’s were in the same place was about 15 years ago, which is a long time considering we all grew up in Alberta and saw each other every Easter, summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And this time we’re all legal, I’m getting a little borracha just thinking about it. My brother’s been traveling all over the south with my soon-to-be little sister since summer and has made promises of proper latin american drinking instruction. Fun, sun, and large quantities of family is the perfect way to start my little adventure.

March, India! I’ll have a couple days in Calgary between the two to get myself repacked and organized. I somehow doubt bringing floor length dresses and a ridiculous amount of shoes will go over well with my backpack. The plan is to ditch all the clothes except my favorite yoga pants, a couple modest tops and underthings. I’ll buy clothes as I go because I figure the best place to find clothes suited to the environment would be in the environment itself. I arrive in Delhi and stay at Nirvana Hostel to start, then head into the middle of chaos to join up with a tour. I joined the tour because I was feeling a bit chicken as this is my first time doing anything like this, and I’m doing it alone. Afterwards, I have to get myself over to Mumbai where I’ll be taking a week-long course at the Yoga Institute. A couple days in the city to finish up and then head to my next stop.

April, Turkey! I really have no clue what I’ll do there, I’m taking a travel book with me and will most likely play it by ear. I have an old friend from high school living there, whom I’ve been annoying with questions for months, that I hope to hang out with for a bit.

May, Spain! I’ve rented an apartment in Seville for the month where I will be dancing hopefully every day. I’ll be meeting a dancer I took workshops with in Calgary last year and she’s super awesome and has been giving me piles of info on who I might want to take courses with. I’m also ordering custom made shoes to help prevent my feet from total destruction after pounding them into the floor for hours on end (even with regular character shoes, it’s not unusual for me to have sawdust all over my shoes from practice). I plan on taking weekend trips to Cordoba and Granada and possibly Madrid if I can swing it. I HAVE to see the Alhambra again.

June, Mommy! My mama’s coming to meet me in Madrid. I’ll be joining her after she’s been there for a few days, roaming her old stomping grounds with her best friend from childhood. We’ll visit Valdemoro, Bilbao and Castro Urdiales to visit with family and chill in our ancestral home in Otañes. From there, we hit France to see more family. I’m hoping to stick to the countryside and skip Paris this time. Then off to England, my mom and I are both fascinated with the history surrounding Hadrian’s Wall and we heard there’s some big rocks worth checking out. I see her off from London and I continue from there.

July, who knows! I’m currently thinking Czech Republic and Poland, as I fly home from Warsaw. A couple friends from junior high will be there, one’s been living in Australia and the other in Dubai, needless to say, we don’t see each other very often.

August, home! I’ve given myself a few weeks to decompress and hang with the husband before heading back to work in September.

So yes, if you saw my previous posts, the plan has evolved quite a bit. I’ve decided it would be better to spend more time in less countries than trying to cram too much in and end up exhausted and missing out. And yes, I’m leaving the husband behind to make sure the house doesn’t fall into ruin, and no, I didn’t quit my job, CM is letting me take a hiatus.

Omigoodness! In less than 30 hours I’ll be at the airport!

Que me quiten lo bailo!
It means, literally, let them try to take the dances I have danced away from me. Figuratively it means that all that which I have experienced can not be taken away from me.