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Jordan: Not Just More of the Same
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 22 August 2009
First Impressions: Jordan 1. Clean 2. Modern 3. Organized We only had a couple of days in Jordan and, coming from Egypt, I was expecting more of the same. On the surface the countries are similar: predominately Muslim, both with vocal minority groups; landscape dominated be desert and otherwise non-arable land; Jordan is a monarchy and, with the same [...]
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Dahab, Egypt
Blog: By Way of the World - 21 August 2009
Because of several recent terrorist attacks in the region, the Sinai peninsula has checkpoints every few hours. This made for a very unhappy overnight bus experience. Bright flashlights searching the vehicle, soldiers with submachine guns around their shoulders, asking us to dig out passports in our half-asleep state was not pleasant.
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Egypt by the Numbers
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 18 August 2009
Days in Egypt: 10 Average midday temperature (in the shade): 108 Avg liters of water drank per day: 6 Avg times to pee per day: 2 Number of temples/tombs/ruins/archeological sites visited: 16 Avg # of times we answered “No” in one hour: 30-40 Number of times we answered “Yes” in 10 days: 0 Initial price of sunglasses (in Egyptian pounds) : 160 Price [...]
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Ahoy, Captain Felucca!
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 18 August 2009
August 13, 2009, Egypt **Photos to come, pending a decent internet connection without a line of people waiting to use it** We decided that the people sitting at the table near ours at lunch looked like “the felucca type.” As they were leaving I got up and chased after them to see if they would like to [...]
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Pyramids in the Sand
Blog: An Englishman in Dubai - 18 August 2009
Usual business trips no matter where I am are typically the same. Busy airports, tired hotels and a stream of customer and partner meetings punctuated with a mad dash back to catch the last flight to Dubai. So it was a good change to be able to finally get to see the mighty Giza Pyramids. For [...]
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Armed Convoy Temple Touring
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 16 August 2009
August 10, 2009, Egypt 3:00am wakeup call. 3:30am bus pickup. 3:45am arrive at military ckeckpoint to stand on the street and wait for a half hour. 6:30 am arrive at Abu Simbel As such began our second day in Aswan. We went see the Temples of Abu Simbal, about 40 km north of the Sudanese border. Tourist movemnent in the [...]
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Nubian Afternoon
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 15 August 2009
August 9, 2009, Egypt It’s hot. It’s hot like I’ve never felt hot before. After seeing the Pyramids of Giza we headed down to Aswan in southern Egypt via overnight train. TheHotel Hathor, with its grand staircase and shabby rooms, is of a bygone era but with a powerful AC, a view of the Nile and a [...]
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Pyramids!
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 15 August 2009
August 8th, 2009, Cairo Ok, that whole thing about not taking many photos of well known and over-photographed sites? Forget it. I went nuts at the Pyramids of Giza. It was totally surreal to be there beneath the hulking masses of stone rising out of the desert (which, by the way, is right at the edge of [...]
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Top 10 Fears about Cycling Through Africa
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 14 August 2009
We had traveled around the world before, but this was something completely different. After all, it was going to be our first time camping in the desert and in the jungle, it was going to be our first time stepping foot on the African soil and it was our first time ever crossing an entire continent on bicycle. We were in for quite and adventure.
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Day 8, If You Can Only Go To One Place In All Of Egypt…
Blog: Flying Coach - 14 August 2009
Our last full day on the ship promised to be memorable. We were scheduled to see Edfu, travel north through a lock and end up in Luxor, where we would tour Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. It was going to be a busy day and we had to awaken at 5:30am in order to disembark [...]
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Apparently the Pyramids Aren’t the Only Ancient Thing Around Here
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 12 August 2009
I am moments away from bashing my head against the wall in frustration at the Egyptian computer situation. Every hostel claims to have internet, and the connections tend to be decent – though not great – judging by those using their own laptops. But the computers seem to be contemporaneous to the pyramids, making it [...]
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Dahab, Egypt
Blog: Patrick and Katrina do the Globe - 8 August 2009
After three and a half weeks on the road, our sense of time is changing. Waiting 20 minutes for the T used to be unacceptable but now a nine-hour bus ride to Dahab didn't seem at all daunting.
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No Boys Allowed!
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 8 August 2009
By day 2 in Cairo we were more accustomed to the crowded, cacophonous streets and felt a bit more adventurous, so we decided to forgo the sweatbath-inducing walk and the more expensive taxi ride in favor of the Cairo Metro. We were duly impressed by how clean and modern it seemed, and especially by the novelty [...]
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First Impressions: Cairo
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 8 August 2009
1. That greyish brown film covering everything. We’d only been walking around for about a half hour when I started to get a sore throat. At first I was worried I was getting sick on my first day in Egypt. It didn’t take long to realize that the pain in my throat was in fact an [...]
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Giving Back: Travel the World and Make a Difference
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 7 August 2009
There are many ways to help out this world. We are so fortunate to live in a rich country and to have the opportunity to travel the world. This world brings us a great deal of joy and we feel that the least we can do is to help the communities that enrich our lives so much by giving back to them.
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Cairo, Egypt
Blog: Patrick and Katrina do the Globe - 6 August 2009
In our travels we have often found that it's not just the destination that offers adventure, but also the getting there itself. And we certainly experienced that on our journey to Cairo. The first part was uneventful: a simple bus ride from Jerusalem to the Egyptian border. It's when we crossed the border that things got interesting. From here the options were the bus to Cairo, or a supposedly much more comfortable, much faster shared taxi. Since the "shorter" taxi ride was reputedly 7 hours itself, we splurged on this luxury for $40 per person.
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Day 7, How To Book a Five-Star Cruise For Less, Oh, and Kom Ombo
Blog: Flying Coach - 3 August 2009
Sara and I awoke on Day 7 in a nice comfortable bed, groggily stumbled a few yards to the dining room for our breakfast buffet and checked our day’s activity list to see what was planned for us. We were aboard our five-star Nile cruise ship, still docked in Aswan. The plan of the day [...]
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Day 6, Aswan And The Start Of Our Nile Cruise, That Is, If We Can Find The Ship
Blog: Flying Coach - 2 August 2009
To bring you up to speed, Sara and I had been traveling through Egypt and we have reached Day 6. Our story currently puts us in Aswan, in Upper Egypt, which is actually quite far south (since the Nile flows South to North, the southern part of Egypt is referred to as Upper Egypt, while [...]
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Great Temples, Monuments and The Pyramids of Egypt
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 29 July 2009
After all, Egypt houses the greatest monuments on earth. It's temples and pyramids are world famous and they are the top of most people's dream destination to visit in their lifetime.
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Inspiration Through the Eyes of Two Travelers
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 1 July 2009
Dave and I often discuss this idea. Who "up there" decides who will be born in luxury and who will be born in poverty. When we were in Cambodia, we had a hard time accepting ourselves and felt guilty for being who we are. The world is not a fair place and travel opens our eyes to it on a very real and deep level.
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Day 2 - Turkey v. Germany
Blog: Hello, Pineapple? - 19 June 2009
It was day one of a three day felucca sail down the Nile. We were heading north out of Aswan, Egypt, toward Luxor with eight other travellers and a crew of three Nubian boatmen. Ahmed, our constantly-stoned-on-hashish 'driver', steered the boat slowly from one bank to the other as we were carried upriver by the surprisingly strong current. A persistent headwind slowed our efforts and we were not making very good time. Luckily, we were not in a hurry. I had my portable guitar along for the trip and serenaded the group for hours with some sweet little finger-picked melodies.
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Favorite Food From Traveling the World, So Far
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 19 June 2009
One of the best things about traveling is food. Dave and I seem to plan our days around our meals. We wake up in the morning and while we are eating our breakfast, we discuss what we are going to have and where we are going to go for dinner. We love food. Food makes us happy. And when we discover new and delicious food, well, we are in heaven.
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Our Favorite Ruins of the World
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 9 May 2009
We have been lucky enough to see some of the most magnificent sights on earth. The ones that always seem to amaze us the most are the incredible ruins and temples of the world.
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McArabia: McDonald’s in the Arab World
Blog: Everything Everywhere - 29 April 2009
Since I last wrote about McDonald’s when I was in Dubai, I’ve been in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan. As all of the McDonald’s in the Arabian Peninsula are owned by the same company, there isn’t a whole lot to add to what I had to say about McDonald’s in Dubai. I [...]
