Truth be told, I had put a deposit down on the Indian Pacific before I purchased my flights to and from Australia. Friends had taken the trip years ago, mentioned it to me, and after looking into it online I was sold. As it happens so often, a specific event determines the trip and everything else is built around it. Once again, this was the right way to do it. I loved this trip. The idea of a 4-day, 3-night train that crosses an entire continent was appealing. Doing it alone and meeting people on the train can be dicey with personality and chattiness, but each person I have met has been interesting. True, I found a group that I really enjoyed, and will write more about them later, but for now suffice it to say ... read more

And go I did. Traveling from SJ through SF, LA, Sydney to my final destination of Perth took me on a journey of 33 hours from door to door. I had arrived as far West as I could go. Heck, if I went any further West, I would have been East. Or is that just my jet lagged mind thinking it is clever when it should really simply sit there and look pretty? Either way, I am in the sunny land of Australia where I was welcomed with the hottest day in 2 years. So much for the email I received happily telling me that the summer had been mild. All 3 flights were nice. The longest leg, from LA to SYD had a passenger load that was very small, so I was able to move ... read more

Our flight from Luxor to Cairo was delayed 2 hours, giving us time to work on blogs and people watch. The connection time in Cairo was a long one, so I was relaxed knowing that gazelle-like running was probably not going to be required. Everything went according to plan and we had nice flights into Amman. We were met at the airport by a representative from our tour company, Jordan Select Tours, who took care of our visas, bypassed the long lines, and somehow got us out of baggage claim without having to go through the screening. Not ones to complain, we happily followed him to Starbucks to meet and greet, pay for our tour and get the low down on what we were going to do. I was very impressed with the Queen Alia Airport. ... read more

After such a glorious time in the beautiful, desolate desert, walking into the train station in Giza was a harsh wake up call. We had several hours to spend until our overnight train to Aswan. Mohamed parked us at a table in a café and stayed with us while we read, worked on our blogs until batteries gave out and people watched. After some time he headed home to bring his wife and daughter back for us to meet. We had enjoyed such a nice connection with him that it seemed perfectly natural to meet his family. Had we known what a great guide he is and what a good rapport we would have, we would have utilized him for more of our trip. The train to Aswan pulled into the station at 8:30PM and with ... read more

After a good night’s sleep, I met the Binkleys downstairs for breakfast. The buffet was elaborate with multicultural influences, more fruit and pastries than imaginable as well as a honeycomb station. I took some of the smoked salmon to the omelet cook and had him do scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and red onion. He surprised me when he lined a ring mold with the salmon, filled it with the egg and folded the salmon around the eggs for an elegant presentation. After breakfast Dave, Merry Jo and I lingered over coffee for a long time enjoying each others company. At 8 we met our guide and driver for the day of touring. Our guide was a very pleasant, knowledgeable woman named Hanon. It was funny that she wasn’t sure of the dynamic of our group. ... read more