The countdown is on. 41 sleeps.

Venus: Trip booked and paid for, and although they normally take 8-10 people on this trip, there are only two of us going. There were four, then there were three and now there is two. A personally guided trip, how cool is that.
I arrive a couple of days early so I can get over the jet lag and be fresh as a daisy for the trip ahead. Not as demanding as the trip I had to cancel earlier in the year to Morocco, but it is still going to be pretty full on.
Vuda: The girls at Vuda have booked my flights and my stopover accommodation again. Great to have such a good team looking out for me.
And after the Egypt trip I'm off to Madrid to do a week's volunteering at an English emersion course run by VaughanTown. How exciting is that.
So I fly to Madrid via an overnight stopover in Dubai - I know a bit backwards to go forwards, but I would rather do all my flights with one airline - a few reasons - I like Emirates, and it adds to the Airpoints (maybe I can make up the 10,000 points I had to donate because they were going to expire before I started booking this trip ) and it will be good to have an over-nighter in Dubai. I am going to stay in the same hotel I stayed at last trip and it's just over the road from my favorite mall and I know exactly which stores I am going to target while I am there.
So now I'm researching things to do in Madrid for five days before I get picked up and taken to Gredos where I will stay for a week. There's heaps to do:

• Food tours;
• Flamenco dancing;
• Ghost tours;
• Opera and dinner;
• A street art tour;
• Museums and art galleries
• and a Sunday flea market

I am having so much fun trying to fit it all into five days.