Rainy🌧☔💦Summertime☀︎🌞: My July 2025 Writing✍️🧑🏻‍💻Dream To 4 New Islands🏝️

“Rainy Summertime” – Noel Gallagher.

The rain in Pingjianglu The Venice of the East in Suzhou, Jiangso, China.

As the days, weeks, months and years go on, we start to run out of time in life and lose our ambitions and goals. I know that it won’t be possible for anyone to ever visit every country in the world that everyone recognises – I have counted 626 countries that exist, and I am sure my list misses a fair few. It is NOT a small world after all…

Rainy Summertime: My July 2025 Dream To 4 New Islands

Selfishly of course I have backpacked through Adammia, Austenasia, Podjistan and Krolestwo Dreamlandu. Those are 4 countries most people haven’t heard of, nor recognise. A bracket up and there are more well-known countries I have backpacked – countries like Uzupis, Romkerhall, Seborga and Ladonia.

Getting My Passport Stamped in Seborga

These days, I do often whack out my world map and try to fill in missing gaps on that jigsaw. The world is massive. I did some posts on visiting every country before…

Countries I have visited the most times
Countries I have spent most time in
Countries I recognise
Every country in the world by flags

Rainy Summertime: My July 2025 Dream To New Islands

But if I did use FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) or UN (United Nations) as a guide to visiting every country, I would realise I’ve only about 20 of those countries left. It would be a decent idea to put that to zero, and feel somehow more complete. With that in mind, I’ve booked a summer tour. I’m nicknaming this one, “Rainy Summertime”, inspired of course, as oftenicly I do, by Noel Gallagher.

Rainy Summertime: My July 2025 Dream To New Islands

“Rainy Summertime” was in Noel’s Notepad around 1994 – 1995 and yet it was never actually released as a song, in that form. The lyrics in Noel’s handwriting are above. And I’ve posted them at the bottom of this blog post. On my jaunts around the world, I usually bulk backpack regions. It’s a common idea, it knocks out a few countries on the same trip, saves time and money. One country trips and repeats are a lack of progress for me. So this time, I’m planning to backpack to 4 island countries I haven’t yet been to. While some might not recognise them as countries, I at least have to separate them for myself. I’ll justify it all below, though I shouldn’t have to.

My balcony, all alone in the Villa to myself when backpacking Saint Vincent

Examples of my “Bulk Backpacking” include

– my Pacific Islands tour where I backpacked Nauru (thrice), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati (twice) all on the same trip. On that trip, I also rebackpacked Australia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.

Backpacking in Papua New Guinea: Top 14 Sights in Port Moresby

– my MMM tour where I visited 3 M countries nearby each other. Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar. I originally wanted to do Mauritius and Mayotte and make it a quintuple M trip MMMMM but I didn’t have the money.

Backpacking In Malawi: Monkey Bay

– My Stans tour where I based myself in Magnetic Kyrgyzstan and backpacked Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Karakalpakstan, Afghanistan, Gorno Badakhshan and Uzbekistan.

Arrival in Gorno Badakhshan, we’ve just broken down

– My Caribbean tours, I did it twice – the first time I swallowed 11 new islands (Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Antigua, Beef Island, Tortola) by island hopping during COVID.

Flying from Grenada to Saint Vincent

The second time I added in 7 more (Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bahamas, Curacao, and fakepacking Turks and Caicos).

Arrival In Haiti!

So where am I off to this time on the bulk backpacking tour?

“Damn my education, I can’t find the words to say with all the things caught in my mind” – Noel Gallagher.

Well it is another Noel Gallagher pilgrimage with a drop of Freddie Mercury thrown in. I am calling it rainy summertime because of that lost Oasis song. I have done Oasis pilgrimages before in London to the Morning Glory cover, in Manchester to Manchester City FC, to Cork to relive the 1996 concert and of course my “Time of My Life” tour to Saint Vincent where Be Here Now was wrote and recorded.

Backpacking the Morning Glory Cover

I will be travelling in July, which is summertime and in these 4 countries, apparently, where it happens, is the “rainy season”. The main point of this trip is to stroke off 4 new islands that I haven’t been to before and to relax yet write poetry and finish my next book “Average Inhabitant”, which is part 3 of my This Is The Next Century Series. I will be backpacking alone sadly. Starogard Girl was invited, but she didn’t even reply, not even a decline. Ah well. I’ll backpack these 4 countries alone…and here they are. IT will be 3 or 4 nights in each country, perfect 4 x 4 tour!

“I’ll sail this ship alone” – The Beautiful South.

I’ll be backpacking alone this time

1.The Maldives

I have never been to the Maldives! I always skipped it because I wanted to save it for a honeymoon, or a romantic getaway with a girl. That was always my plan. I even thought of backpacking every FIFA country except The Maldives, and making this one my FIFA completion. The older I get, the more I realise it just won’t happen that way. I need to go now. Girls I meet are just not interested in travel at all, less so going to The Maldives to chill out with me.

“So what’s the matter with you? Sing me something new” – Noel Gallagher.

Balcony sunsets just aren’t for everyone

I mean, a recent girl didn’t even own a passport. Another girl thought that going to Spain or Italy every year is the way to travel. Another girl thought Africa was “unsafe”. Another girl backpacked 15 countries with me then got married at Cheatzerland Away. So now I’m resigned to being alone… My plan would be to backpack the capital city, Male including the Mosque, market, football stadium and beach. Prove it can be done on a backpacking budget and maybe have a special night in one of those huts like I did in Kiribati…and swim in pure waters.

Backpacking in Kiribati: Touring New Jerusalem, Abatao, North Tarawa

2.Zanzibar

So I’ve been to Tanzania twice. I have done 4 safaris there, met Maasai tribes, tried coffee, eaten Ugali, watched a male circumcision, done a sponsored trip, I have taught English in a school there and been at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. Both those trips were in the 2010s – 2013 and 2019. This time, I will transit through Dar Es Salaam and onto the magical island of Zanzibar. I recognise Zanzibar as a separate country on my list, mostly as they have an international football team. I aim to tour Stone Town, listen to loads of Queen and get inspired by Freddie Mercury, who was born here and has his childhood home, a museum and a bar to backpack through.

“Don’t stop me now” – Queen.

With the circumcised guys at Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania (photo credit – Raymond, Man on the Lam.com)

3.Comoros

Comoros is an island country that often gets overlooked and forgotten. I forgot about it many times, but as I’m on an island hopping rainy summertime tour, I thought I’d nail it this time. The good news is that I know hardly anything about it!! It will be my first country in years to not know much about it in advance, other than the capital city is called Moroni, which is on Grande Comore! The Comoros is a nation of islands, a volcanic archipelago off Africa’s east coast, in the warm Indian Ocean waters of the Mozambique Channel. Comoros largest island, Grande Comore (Ngazidja) is ringed by beaches and old lava from the active Mount Karthala volcano. Currently apart from my usual hotel reviews, backpacking sights, bars and food features, I don’t have any plans for Comoros Away! I do however know that the country has had THREE different flags in the last 45 years! Here they are –

Comoros Flag

4.Mayotte

A couple of years ago, I backpacked Reunion Island, which is owned by France but of course is off the coast of Africa. I class it as a separate country and I loved my time there. I visited Mauritius on the same trip. Mayotte is an island off the coast of Africa that is officially in the European Union, it is claimed by Comoros and yet owned by France, officially. It could be the most intriguing island on this wacaday trip. They also have their own Mayotte international football team, hence also recognised as a real country by me. The capital city is Mamoudzou.

Mayotte