The following blog was written by Angel Beebe, Zara's sister. Here and her mom Sigi met us in Egypt and we really enjoyed our company. Thanks for writing this Angel! The beginning of the trip went pretty smooth from Florida to New York. As soon as we got on CairoAir to fly to Cairo, Egypt, the ambiance immediately changed. There was a very large Muslim church group, a few tourists from around the world, a few Egyptian women dressed with head pieces holding small children, and of course the loud and rude passengers that only fend for themselves and put others [View Full Entry]

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Jonathan, eyes furrowed, glides pen across paper. Chocolate syrup, swirled by brownie crumbs, coats two plates. A female monk, shaved head, red robes, slurps soup and asks for chilly sauce. A silent couple, buried beneath wool scarves, eats from Thali bowls. A tourist, reading, sips his tea, eyes never leaving the page. Indian beggar women, clinging to children like blankets against the cold, work outside. Dance music, in a language I can't understand, plays over the speakers. A French guy, leaning over carrot cake, discusses Obama with a Tibetan. The waiter, black Free Tibet sweater, [View Full Entry]

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After Cape Town, we continued along the Garden Route to Hermanus. Here, we saw Southern Right Wales off the shore, along a wildflower dotted path. These gentle giants slapped their tails against the surface, barrel-rolled beneath the waves, and jumped into the air. Not even the thumping carnival music from the whale festival could distract from their beauty. Our next stop was Outdshoorn, ostrich capitol of South Africa. We ate ostrich steaks at night and visited an ostrich farm in the morning, where we held a baby ostrich, saw them hatching from their eggs, and even hugged a full grown [View Full Entry]

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Before arriving in South Africa, SA, I was trepidatious to say the least. I had heard from a few South Africans that things had gotten quite bad there. The news had also been reporting strikes by the workers perpairing for the 2010 World Cup. Even a simple news search would easily pull up dozens of murder related stories. So, rightly I was nervous when arriving in Cape Town. Cape Town September 18 - September 24 Upon our arrival we were greeted by a friendly driver from our hostel. While driving through the city he gave us quick facts and pointed out [View Full Entry]

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Our decision to visit Santorini was initiated as follows. Jonathan: "Where should we go after Mykonos?" Zara: "I don't know. What's another really Greek island? How about Santorini? I've heard of that one." Jonathan: "Too far. What about Naxos? Hang on, I have to check my e-mail." Naxos was described in our guidebook as a beautiful island with magnificent beaches. Santorini a magnificent island with beautiful beaches. No help from Lonely Planet. But Jonathan found the answer in his inbox. Stan and Amanda, two Aussies we met in Italy and traveled through France with, were [View Full Entry]

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August 22 - August 28 To get to Mykonos we took a slow, six hour ferry. Booking and getting to the ferry wasn't a problem, however getting a seat was. On the boat Zara and I scouted out the most comfy seats available and found a great spot next to a window. Slowly but surly the seats around us were filling up. Then suddenly people were being evicted from their seats. See, you needed a reservation. We didn't know this but found out we could reserve on the boat for a small fee. Well, when we went to do this the [View Full Entry]

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Athens, Greece August 19-21 Athens blew away all expectations and myths, well except the Greek myths. I had heard Athens was very smoggy and, in places, dangerous. Since Zara and I have been to Beijing we were expecting the worst in regards to the smog. However, when we arrived we really didn't notice it. We were careful in Athens, but never felt in danger. The main reason any tourist visits Athens is for the sites and they do impress. With the purchase of the Acropolis ticket you gain admission to six other sites in town. Most of the ancient ruins are [View Full Entry]

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August 10-16 Morocco was our first non-European stop on our trip and was a great introduction of what's to come. Honestly, I thought we'd be easing into things with Morocco. I was so wrong. To get to the African continent we took a ferry from S. Spain to Tangier, crossing the strait of Gibraltar. We opted for the slow, 2.5 hours, ferry that left from Algeceras. The ferry itself was quite nice and very comfortable. We thought " if this is what's to come, we're in luck." On the boat we met a group of five brothers from the UK and [View Full Entry]

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Gran Canaria, Spain, August 5 - 9, 2009 The second installment of our time in Spain begins in Gran Canaria. Here we visited my dearest childhood friend, Bibi. When we were little our mothers were best friends, which made us practically inseparable. But then I moved to the U.S. and she moved to a small island off the coast of Morocco. It's been 13 years since our last visit, half my life. Time has done little to separate us however. Much of the visit I kept pinching myself, saying "It's really Bibi! I'm talking to Bibi!" It's funny to recognize the [View Full Entry]

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First and foremost, sorry for not updating our travelblog very often. We do owe all our readers our entries on Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. Europe is so big and there is so much to see, it´s hard to find time to keep in touch with family, let alone update our travel blog. Plus, the internet is so darn expensive here. I promise when we get to Africa and beyond our updates will be more frequent. Anyway, I now present Impressions of Spain. Before I began this trip I thought of Spain as the country between France and Morocco. "Why does [View Full Entry]

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