Is a trip to the Amazon hardcore to certain people, like the couple that literally cut their trip short because sleeping without a wall fan was too miserable for them, that aren't used to / suffer in such conditions? I would argue yes.

I think that says more about them than your trip though. Your trip is on the lower end of the spectrum. I mean even for Amazon trips it's about as easy as possible, some guide taking you to a lodge set up specifically for tourists.

Read some stories about the people that go up the Amazon on local boats, go deep into the Amazon camping etc. I agree with others that you have used a lot of hyperbole and overly dramatic words. I think with people that have travelled those kind of over dramatisations on blogs always leave us rolling our eyes thinking "who is this guy trying to impress?".

With 1 being sitting in an all inclusive beach resort and 10 being some extreme expedition, your trip is around a 4. Hardly "hardcore".

"I've also begged for something in our profiles where we could link Trip Reports...kind of like a passport thing. Not only do these help establish travel style(s) and credibility, they would at least be a quick link to include or like a memory refresher rather than just making things up as you go."

Sound idea. Main reason I started making blog posts 12 years ago was so I could refer to them myself and to others for ease and accuracy, eventually deciding to link everything on my photo page, starting back to trip reports years before that. Getting hard to keep up, though, since we're traveling 3-4 times/year now that we're retired.

That's great news!
Thank you!
I'll be posting a trip report mid March.

Quite a lot of foreign tourists in the Egyptian museum this morning...most of them seemed to be on bus trips from the Red Sea resort towns.

They are gradually removing everything from the museum,boxing things up for the move to the new museum that opens next year.All the most famous things are still there..the Royal mummies,the Tutankhamun tomb findings etc.

It's an amazing treasure trove of extraordinary objects,for those who haven't been...stuff lying around everywhere,much of it is not labelled at all,there are entire rooms that look untouched for 100 years ;-)

Thanks for the update !
No one has to use 9 year old reports when planning their trip. There is such a wealth of information out there. When looking at routes that are completely unknown to me, or that I suspect to be challenging, nowadays I zoom in with Google Maps, or StreetView. Just checked out a random road junction in Montenegro, and the quality of the road looks like... Spain, or Italy.

Sorry I don’t have more to offer on your upcoming trip - I haven’t spent much time up there myself, but is a place I’d like to get back to again. I’ll be interested in your post-trip report.

I'm not sure if I was though - locals were vehemently against the train and wondered why I didn't drive there (erm because I can't drive). The train on the return wound up in Tunis over an hour late too. The fact that you said the driver 'forgot' to stop too speaks volumes about the state of the trains.

Honestly, Tunisia just doesn't seem to have the infrastructure for independent tourists from what I've experienced. I'd only recommend it to those who want a resort, or who can afford guided day trips to avoid risk losing an entire day.

Thanks Sonia, I just read through your report. I have done longer trips to Latin America the past years so it will only be my second time in Asia and I don't know how I feel about spending just one night in a place.

I have then decided on the following places:

• Taipei with day trips to Yangmingshan, Jiufen, Teapot Mountain
• Hualien with a day trip to Taroko Gorge
• Taitung
• Kaohsiung
• Tainan
• Alishan for the sunrise
• Sun Moon Lake

I will try to apply for a permit for Zhuliu Old Road tomorrow. Am I right in assuming that I need to apply on this page https://npm.cpami.gov.tw/en/apply_1_5_0.aspx?RandomStr=122678199 under "standard application"?

I will respectfully, but vehemently, disagree with #1. Highway 1 is a sad, depressing, spirit-crushing disaster of a road; the Ho Chi Minh highway is (mostly) a delight for motorcycling, and you'll see plenty of other motorcyclists both tourist and local there. The Vietnam Coracle site is reasonably reliable for different routes, and if you really like reading long trip reports you can find one of mine at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/southern-asia/two-weeks-in-vietnam-motorbike-94861.

Have fun and post back here about how it went!

Mark