• Egypt

    A White Desert Christmas

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    It seems as if most people traveling to Egypt only have enough time to check out the “must-do’s” which include the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the magnificent archeological sites in Luxor and further to the south, and the handful of souqs and bazaars tucked in the cities. Once we exhausted the list of “must-do’s” in a brief two weeks, we spent our final 1.5 weeks in Egypt doing what we wanted to do. This not only entailed travel to Egypt’s lesser known natural landscapes, but also the wonderful void of giant tour buses and aggressive touts. Doing…

  • Egypt

    Luxor

    January 22, 2017 - By 

    It seems now that many travelers opt to skip Cairo entirely (I don’t blame them; it is rather hectic and disgusting) and head straight to Luxor for all its archeological treasures. While the sites are wonderful and the city is large enough to host an endless array of restaurants and hotels, Luxor has one major problem: its plague of touts.  I read that touts in Luxor are possibly more aggressive than the touts in Cairo and Giza, and with the decimated tour industry, touts are more hungry than ever. But rather than falling into the easy cycle of frustration and anger,…

  • Egypt

    Cruising Along the Nile

    January 16, 2017 - By 

    In addition to the pyramids, I couldn’t help but sign up for another touristy Egyptian excursion: a multi-day cruise along the Nile. Cruise ships sail from Aswan to Luxor for 4 days/3 nights (which is what we picked) or against the current from Luxor to Aswan for 5 days/4 nights. I read that one of the cheapest options is through viator.com, and we paid $280 each for what typically would have been the high season in mid-December. We even opted for a group tour for the lowest price, but somehow ended up with a private guide anyway. Yay! After independently exploring…

  • Egypt

    Aswan & Abu Simbel

    January 8, 2017 - By 

    Along a beautiful section of the Nile lies the idyllic city of Aswan, the largest city in southern Egypt, with sleepy Nubian villages spilling to the river. Aswan is about as far south as most travelers will reach in Egypt, with most likely an extra excursion even further south to the famous temples of Abu Simbel, only ~40 km from the Sudanese border. Without the noise, pollution, traffic, and aggression seen in Egypt’s other cities, Aswan is a relaxing escape from it all with plenty of wonderful sites to take in. And last but not least, Aswan serves as the…