It was odd, when we crossed from Italy into France on May 5th. One second, we were hurtling along on the train in Italy, and all of a sudden we were in France and didn't even know it. The scenery slowly started to change; the houses were slightly different, and the coast was beautiful, with long, empty sand beaches and the bluest waters. The train stopped, and some guys dressed in plain clothes asked to see our passports. This, we realized, was the pint-sized country of Monaco, which we were passing through on our way to Nice. Half an hour later, [View Full Entry]

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It's a strange thought, knowing you're on your way to Venice. A place that you've heard of all your life, but are not sure what to expect. A city containing 118 islands and 400 bridges. Our train finally pulled into the last stop, so we got off and went to find out. As we walked through the train station on Apr. 28th, we were approached by a couple different guys wanting us to stay at their hotels. Happily enough, the prices they quoted were less then we thought we were going to be paying in Venice, which is notoriously expensive. Leaving [View Full Entry]

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Our journey now continued on to Tuscany, a region known for it's beautiful landscapes, medieval towns and delicious wines, especially the famous red Chianti. Images of warm colours, old world doors and balconies, terra cotta pots filled with gorgeous blooms, and rural ripe pastures filled our minds. What better a place to be heading off to, and our first stop was Siena, whose historical town centre is a UNESCO protected sight. Since there were no direct trains to Siena from Rome, we opted for the simpler and cheaper solution of taking the bus. As we left the hotel in Rome on [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Bari, Italy on Apr. 14th, well rested after a wonderful sleep. For this, we were thanking our wise decision to stay in an actual bed in a cabin on the ferry from Greece to Italy. No more stiff deck chairs that were impossible to get used to, our usual level of ferry comfort in Greece. We said goodbye to the ferry and hello to Bari, making our way to the bus station to buy a ticket to Naples, our first stop. Our visit was brief, only our time spent waiting for the bus. But in this short time [View Full Entry]

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The time had come for us to start making our way up to other parts of Greece. The only difficulty was deciding where next, because there were so many great destinations. After lots of thought, we set off on Apr. 7th for Delphi, a small majestic town of 1500 people, where Alexander the Great once sought advice at the Oracle. We left Athens in the early afternoon to try and catch a local bus to the main bus terminal, where we would then hop another long distance bus to Delphi. We got a bit confused about which bus to take, but [View Full Entry]

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Where had the time gone? What had just happened? There we were on Mar. 24th, finally arriving in Europe. We had a quick layover in Amsterdam, where it was snowing! It was so odd to see the snow falling and feel that icy chill after being in a hot place like Egypt. Luckily it was just a layover, since none of our clothes could withstand that cold. What wimps we had become, already missing the heat of Cairo! We got onto the next plane and in a few hours, landed at our destination, Athens. The sprawling and historic capital of Greece, [View Full Entry]

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Willie Nelson said it best...sometimes you 'just can't wait to get on the road again'. So we hit the road again on Mar. 14th, back up north to Lower Egypt, back to Cairo. The ten hour train ride was right on time, and with the help of a British couple chatting with us, the ride went pretty quickly. We desperately tried to find a different hotel this time around, but the ones we wanted were either full, or too expensive. We ended up back at the old hotel that we had previously stayed at, with our good friend Mohammed greeting us [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Luxor and heading off south to Aswan on Mar. 7th started out very well. We had our complimentary breakfast at our cheapie hotel, then sped out the door on the way to the train station. Five minutes later we were there, snacks in hand, all ready for a quick three hour train ride to Aswan. Things were going too smoothly to be true, and sure enough, nine am, our departure time, rolled around, and kept on rolling by. Minutes turned into hours and before we knew it, it was noon and still no sign of our train! A fellow traveller [View Full Entry]

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The plane arrived on Feb. 25th, and there we were, in Cairo, Egypt. We bought our visas with minimal problems, then had to buy a chocolate bar to get some change for the bus. ATMs seem to love to spit out bills that are too high to change. After a little confusion with the bus, as all the numbers were in Arabic, we met a kind gent who wrote out the number to catch to downtown Cairo. A man on our bus was also really kind. We started a conversation with him, and he helped us and told us when to [View Full Entry]

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As predicted, when we arrived in Dubai on Feb. 18th, we were in for quite severe culture shock. How could we not be, coming from a place like India, to this. The huge luxury hotels, an indoor ski slope, the massive, modern shopping malls, all situated near the blue waters of the Persian Gulf. Dubai seemed to be the place that everyone has heard of, but few know more than these details before visiting the city. Though we hadn't had a wink of sleep all night, we couldn't help but notice how clean, modern, and nice the Dubai International Airport was, [View Full Entry]

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