Landed in Cartagena. Those smells I get in every tropical country (the smell of sweetness, spices and fumes) are evident from the moment I step out of the airport. There's a guy immediately asking us to go with his cab to the centre. Turns out he actually has Uber and he was asking for a lot of money, so we decided to go back. We ended up getting an acceptable cab (15k (5.55USD)), the hostel was welcoming and really helpful (volunteer hostel).

We had a late meal in the park in the center, which was filled with lights, it was very nice. The old town has a beautiful wall surrounding it, and there's a charm to the inner buildings. The further you get outside the rougher it gets, there's rubbish everywhere, and stray dogs, cats, you name it. Everyone is on motorbikes, the traffic is quite mad. A few times even on the motorway I saw guys with their cars stopped (on the road, not the hard shoulder), bonnets open, fixing their car.

The trip started off at Venice, where my plane landed. A few friends came to pick me up, and we slowly made our way towards Slovenia. On the way, we decided to grab some food and drinks in Palmanova, which has a fortified wall in the shape of a star thanks to Napoleon, from what I understand. It was a hot and sunny day, but the town was nearly deserted.

Flying in directly from Montreal, what hit me first was the humidity, the heat. I hadn't felt it for a long time outside, since it was already night time, it was a pleasant temperature, I had forgotten to take my scarf off, because I had a cold, it was not a fashion statement. 

It had been a while since I had been in the tropics, so my first reaction was to stay weary of getting ripped off, I went straight back to no trust mode like in Asia. It seems there was no need since there was only one price for the collectivos, I'd highly recommend looking out for these guys, it was a highish sum, but expected, coming from the airport.

Cancun is a funny combination of flashy huge hotel complexes and actual areas where the locals live, downtown. And where the hostels are. There are prices that are eye watering and very reasonable prices too. Personally I prefer to leave my money with the local small businesses or families.

Getting to this peninsula from the city of Montreal makes for a good reason for a road trip. We dashed on our first day after work, clocking in seven hours of driving before a late dinner and a night's sleep in Mont Joli. (As for the picture, I'll get back to that later).

Right after work we dashed to the airport to catch our flight at 8pm. Luckily with the time difference, by 11pm local time we were in Vegas, we headed out straight away in search of food - they didn’t serve anything on the plane, we were very hungry.

By the time we were ready to check out the town, it was already clearing up, around half past midnight or so. We ended up checking out the strip by limo!

Hitting the road around noon, we planned to call it a night somewhere around Fredericton, which meant there wasn't much time to daddle, it takes around eight hours to get there.

The smell, I wish I could just leave a sample here, or maybe not, I don't know. It's like this combination of spices, sweet petrol fumes and hot Tarmac. I've never smelt anything like it.

I wouldn't say Bangkok is dirty, but it is irregular. There are like these pipes sticking out of nowhere, and electric cables placed rather randomly on the street.

The traffic here is mayhem. I thought I was going to die. They are aggressive on the streets, where it says a lane for left, that doesn't mean anything. Oh, wait did I say lane? There are no lanes. If here's space they'll squeeze in. It's like a big mechanism that just works.

I'm not sure about the water, can I drink it? There are no signs I can't, but there are just no signs. Except for ones saying you can't pick axe the pavement, I'm not joking 🙃 

Walking through the streets, I was nervous, this is so different to anything I've ever seen. It's amazing. 

After catching my connecting flight somehow with less than an hour in between, I managed to make it to Agadir in the south. 

It’s been quite a while since I’ve felt the sun, and a lovely air temperature like this. First things that hit me are the architecture (very intricate designs arches and the sort), this interesting smell of fumes and spices, food. 

Roads are madness, like many tropical countries, it’s a well oiled chaotic machine from an outsider. 

People are very nice and polite, there’s more English being spoken than French which surprised me.

After an early flight, I checked in at my hostel Buena Onda, and checked out the beaches of West End for some food. Although there are many places with more western prices, you can find spots with meals costing only a few dollars. 

The water is just beautiful, the sand is amazing, the weather is perfect and the people are very nice and laid back. There’s basically no stray dogs or cats, there’s some litter here and there, but overall it is a well kept place I feel.

Only stayed the night here at the airport hostel nearby. There was a huge party going on till the early morn. Upon deciding between joining the party or getting a few hours of shut-eye, we ended up opting for the shut-eye option in the end.

Checked out some local restaurants with actually really good food. Searched for shops, extremely hard to find until a local took us. He then took us to a ‘cigar festival’, which was actually his mates apartment.

They were selling cigars for 120$/10 cigars. They tried every persuasion trick in the book, I clearly declined and we moved on, learning that these special cigar festivals actually occur every day.