Hey fellow steemians!

The plan

As I already told you in a previous post I will be going on holiday, and I will leave, uhm, TOMORROW! As can be expected, I am really excited and I wanted to let you guys in on my travel plans. So consider this post a preview for the content I will be posting the upcoming days (Weeks actually, because I will be on the road till Augustus 4th!!). For the record, it wil be an old school family-trip, with my father, mother and siblings.

It will be quite a trip! These are the planned destinations (The names are in    Dutch though, sorry for that)! 

My Hometown

As some of you might know I am living in the Netherland. A little country, famous for several things; windmills, clogs, tulips, painters (Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Mondriaan among others), dominating the world in the colonial-era, cheese and Amsterdam (Our capital). But sadly, most of you probably immediately associate us with, uhm... smoking weed. One of our more special governments policies, haha.
So that is where my travel adventures will begin, to be precise in Maastricht (my hometown). From there we will be traveling by car to our first stop: Oberstdorf.

Oberstdorf

This is a small town, beautifully located in the mountains of Beieren (Germany), the mighty Alps. Here we will be staying 5 days, to enjoy the mountains, do some daily hiking and of course we will be swimming in the magnificent mountain lakes.

Verona

The next stop will be Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet! Here we will be staying one day, as it is on our way to Porto Santo Stefano (our main destination). Verona is amazing! I have been there several times before, and every time it looks more beautiful than the time before. Since 2000 it is even part of the UNESCO world heritage list! Says enough right?

Porto Santo Stephano

Our main destination, a seaport-town on the west coast of Italy, a 150km north of Rome. I have never been there, but google makes it look very promising! A charming Italian town, with a beautiful turquoise see! What could go wrong (and I did not even mention the high probability of an infinite amounts of real italian pizzas! All day, every day!!!)

Here, in Porto Santo Stephano we are renting a nice villa, with it's own mini-beach! and of course the corresponding, magnificent view of the never ending sea! We all fell in love with this place, hopefully it is even more pretty in real life!

Limone sul garda

After having spend 8 days in the iconic Porto Santo Stephano, the tide is turned and we have to start traveling homewards. By then, we have traveled approximately 1500km. Therefore it would be possible to drive back to Maastricht in just 1 day, but... there is a family tradition we need to honor. We never go to Italy without visiting Lago di Garda, or lake Garda (and with good reason)!

In my opinion Lake Garda is one of the most beautiful places in Italy, in the whole of Europe even! The lake has crystal clear water, and is fully surrounded with high mountains. This creates an magnificent attitude difference, and provides a splendid view! If you ever have the chance to go there, TAKE IT! And if you planning to visit Italy in the future, please go to Lago di Garda! You won't regret it.

Home sweet Home

And... as you all know, to everything comes an end. We will end this trip where we started it, in Maastricht. For me however, this will be a blessing in disguise. It is like this, my dear girlfriend can not join me this trip (She is also a medicine-student and has to keep working...), so as you can imagine this year's vacation will be bittersweet. However, it will make me immensely happy to return to my beloved girlfriend...and Maastricht.

But remember; "Traveling is the only thing you buy, that makes you richer!"

I update you guys when I am in Oberstdorf,

Much love,
Raoul