http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/gandg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from gandg en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:04:04 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:04:04 UTC As some of you may know Gina and I purposely did not purchase many souvenirs on our aroundtheWorld trip this year due to the limited space we have at home. Instead we opted to procure a Christmas tree ornament from each country visited to add to Gina's collection of travel ornaments that she began when we first started seeing one another.Gina finally finished decorating the tree this morning http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-226160.html Well it finally happened. Gina and I had discussed the possibility and almost accepted its occurence with finality before departing the US.I awoke on the houseboat we're renting in Amsterdam at 5AM this morning to take a pee. As I crossed the hallway from our bedroom to the bathroom I turned to notice a shadow lurking in the kitchen clutching something. It took a few microseconds before consc http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-206948.html ldquoWhat do you mean the rate isnrsquot availablerdquo I fumed.The balding Spanish man standing behind the desk had just informed us that the reservation I placed on Hertz.com a month earlier couldnrsquot be processed. ldquoI have a confirmed reservation for 2464 Euro from June 21 to October 10rdquo I assured him.ldquoDo you have a print of the reservationrdquo he inquired th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-205425.html On our way to the internet caf in the morning I ducked my head into a hair salon to see how much it would cost to die my Raggedy Ann hair back to brown. As soon as I walked through the door I knew I would again be employing my pigeon Spanish when all four female beauticians stopped what they were doing to focus their attention on me.ldquoHola Habla Inglesrdquo I questioned with a cheery http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-205418.html Hi All. Gina and I just wanted to put up a quick note to let everyone know that we're alive and well. We have obviously been falling further and further behind on the blog. The past month has been a whirlwind taking us across 8 countries and several thousand kilometers. We just spent an amazing 10 days with Gina's brothers and their significants in Greece followed closely by a 3 day trip to http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-203371.html The last thing Gina or I wanted to contend with after a rough nightrsquos sleep was the winding 4hour bus ride to Seville. To make matters worse a fireworks grand finale had started brewing in my stomach by the time we reached the Algeciras bus station that morning and it wasnrsquot long after procuring our tickets that I found myself frantically scanning for the closest bao. The seatles http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-198037.html Of course Gene would insist that we catch the first ferry out at the crack ass of dawn. To top that Nervous Nancy felt the need to set the alarm clock for 500 a.m. two hours prior to the departure of the ferry for Spain. Good thing my husband is so punctual we arrived at the port promptly at 600 a.m. to find the ticket office closed. The look on my face said it all. Gene ignoring the fac http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Algeciras/blog-195275.html ldquoOH MY GODrdquo Gina shouted frantically while pointing at the bloody camel head adorning the front of the butcherrsquos souq. We had been pushing through the crowded medina on the coattails of our guide for the better part of the morning by the time Gina made the astonishing discovery and gawked openly for a few seconds. She visibly squirmed before moving on as I fumbled for a quic http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-194744.html Planning for a down day Gene and I had the luxury of sleeping in. We felt no need to scurry to breakfast seeing as our morning meal was made available to us at our convenience. Revitalized we headed up to the terrace where the cook dawdled in anticipation of our arrival. Almost as if he had been awaiting our company Fred turned the corner with a cup of coffee in hand as soon as we took our s http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-194742.html Our second day in Casablanca began much the same way the first day ended lackluster. Having envisioned an exotic port of call in advance of our arrival Gina and I found the dated sprawling metropolis to be a better poster child for needed gentrification than a tourist destination. A thorough scouring of the Lonely Planet yielded only a handful of possibly interesting sites that we figured co http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Grand-Casablanca/Casablanca/blog-193044.html We had the alarm set for the crack of dawn to allow for enough time to pack eat breakfast and catch an 815 a.m. 4hour train to Fez. Paying the inflated price of 5 USD per first class ticket we were relieved to find that our train car was only half full. Able to relax on the train for the first time I used the next hours to catch up on note taking and story writing.I knew the day was a goo http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-192408.html Newtonrsquos First Law For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately Gene and I would learn this the hard way we were bound to make a return trip on the same crammed six seater train car to Casablanca. While Gene and I thought ourselves lucky to be assigned the two window seats next to the air conditioning vent we quickly determined otherwise as Gene sat elbow http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Grand-Casablanca/Casablanca/blog-191373.html Determined to send home the extra baggage that we accumulated along the way Gene and I determined once again to make a visit to the post office a must. We deduced from prior experiences with the postal services throughout Africa that boxes would not be readily available and decided to head straight to the main square to barter with the vendors for a used box. Our first attempt was a failed one http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-190833.html ALLAH U AKBAR ALLAH U AKBAR ASHHADU ALLA ILAHA ILL ALLAH ASHHADU ALLA ILAHA ILL ALLAH ASHHADU ANNA MUHAMMADAN RASULULLAAHHAYYA LASSALEAH HAYYA LASSALEAH HAYYA LALFALEAH HAYYA LALFALEAH ALLAHU AKBAR ALLAHU AKBAR LA ILAHA ILL ALLAH By the time the prayer caller reached the final verse my eyes were open and my teeth were grit in contempt. I rolled over and tried to fall back a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-190828.html Gina managed to fill two sick sacks as our plane circled the Khartoum Sudan airport in an electrical storm. We had been due to land thirty minutes prior but involuntarily surrendered our position in the landing pattern to a diplomatic flight. Not one to usually succumb to motion sickness Gina was overly apologetic about ruining the last day of my twenties as we bumped through the sky. By the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-189810.html Awaking to the sound of a good pounding on our door at 500 a.m. was not exactly my cup of tea. We had just enough time to throw on clothes and gobble down our pound cake and croissant breakfasts before arriving at the Luxor train station. The last thing we were in the mood for was another haggle fest at such an early hour. Gene knowing his feisty wife all too well warned me before we even st http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-189806.html Electronic ticketing is supposed to make the checkin process that much easier. Inevitably Gene and I would learn otherwise. After being advised by our travel agent that postponing our flight from Egypt to Morocco by two days would incur no additional change fees we decided to extend our stay in Egypt so that we could take the opportunity to explore Luxor. We were less than surprised however http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-189509.html The train rumbled to a stop just as the sun started cresting the desert horizon it was 5 A.M. Gina and I were finishing our last bites of the stale croissants provided as breakfast on the sleeper train from Luxor as the engineer yelled out ldquoRamses Cairo.rdquo Struggling to fight the remnants of the Ambien flowing in our bloodstream we did our best wobble down the stairs and onto the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-188681.html Ready for another day of information overload Gene and I headed down to meet our guide in front of the hotel. Our driver was amazingly on the ball that morning waiting for us at the side of the van with hair combed and what looked to be a decent nightrsquos rest. It was my guess that he wasnrsquot willing to spend yet another day playing chauffeur only to go home with empty pockets.Our fir http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-187613.html We stood in the lobby for fifteen minutes watching several people enter holding placards tattooed with the names of likeminded tourists taking guided tours around Luxor before I leaned in and told Gina ldquoWersquore getting stiffed.rdquo Having given Abdul a deposit for half the cost of our two daylong trips while disoriented and blearyeyed the previous morning I wasnrsquot complete http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-184469.html