I'm planning my next trip, and I'm a bit torn as to what to do. Here are the basics:
1) I'm hoping to take 4 weeks, a little worried my work wont allow that much time at once but I think they will.
2) My time frame is roughly July-September, I could maybe do June as well if I decide quickly.
3) I've got a good chunk of money in my travel fund and could probably scrape up a bit more, so most anything is on the table right now
4) I started taking French classes a few months ago so it would be nice to go to a francophone country although that isn't a must
I've been leaning for a while towards Morocco, and I'd prefer to do this during August. The only downside is it can be a bit hot in Morocco that time of year. I like to do a lot of active/outdoor things so I thought I'd see what other places might have a nice climate at that time. My backup ideas had been Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Israel...probably all the same situation or worse.
I was looking at fares to NZ and Aus, Quantas has some decent deals right now. Only $900 to NZ, but it is fairly cold there in August. Australia is typically a bit better, especially farther north...and I'd love to visit there again. The web fares are expiring in a couple days though and I know I can't book by then. There's a good chance they'll have a new program as soon as this one expires though.
I'd love to return to South America (I went to Peru last year), but I'm hoping to move down there next year for an extended period to learn spanish and then travel throughout the continent. Seems like not much point in going again not knowing any spanish when I'll probably cover that area next year.
One thing that caught my eye tonight was Madagascar...sounds pretty cool, and after I got done laughing at the $5000 airfare on expedia (and just $16k for business class!) I found a reasonable cost flight on Air France. But I don't know if there's many other backpackers there. Looking at the hostel booking sites I didn't really see any hostels at all...
Any other suggestions?
I think Morocco is still a strong possibility because the coastal areas will be comfy even in August.