Quick entry before din din & night night :)

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Hey all!! We just landed in Lisbon this morning & are hanging out at our hotel in Estoril overlooking the beautiful ocean! We had a great cruise, with some hiccups, but were able to see sights we only dreamed we'd see!! Here's a quick recap.

Upon boarding, we were handed a health notification stating that people had gotten sick with gastro enteritis the cruise prior to ours. Cruise staff sanitized our hands EVERYWHERE. We were getting sprayed left and right with the stuff, and there were sanitizer stands set up all over the ship & in every elevator. Even the buffet was sanitized regularly & staff was onhand to give your food to you at the buffet instead of serving ourselves. It was a pain but we got over it because we figured it'd keep us from getting sick. HAH.

...anyways. So the first day at sea was rainy and windy so we stayed indoors most of the time. The next day was Rome & you all know about that!! :) The day after was CRAZY bumpy. The swells were 18 ft. high at times and the boat BOOMED everytime we hit a wave...think wall shaking BOOM noises every 2 minutes or so. I have never gotten seasick before...but I got pretty bad sea sickness that night. Luckily Ian bought some pressure point wristbands at the store onboard and they worked almost instantly. The next day was Greece but we arrived 2 hours late due to an emergency evacuation they had to do the day before. In addition, there were problems with the ships clearing, so instead of getting offboard at 10:30 AM as planned, we got off around 3:30 and had to be back by 8:30. The acropolis closed at 3 so nobody from the ship got to go up to it. Luckily we took the metro to a few viewing areas & were able to see it, so we were happy with that. We know we'll be back in Greece someday.

The bus ride from Athens to Piraeus (where the ship docked) was rough for me...I started feeling pretty sick. When I got back to the ship, I realized I was REALLY sick & it was definitely the gastro enteritis they warned us about. I was sick all that night but knew the next day was Turkey so I had to toughen up. Luckily I stopped throwing up about 8 hours before we were headed into Turkey, but I still felt pretty icky. Ephesus was AMAZING and I wish I could have enjoyed it without the godawful stomach cramps I had but at least I didn't get sick!! When we got back onboard I reported my illness & received free medicine & was quarantined for 24 hours. BORING. This is around the time we started realizing LOTS of people were getting sick.

After my 24 hr. quarantine, we were ready for Cairo the next day. Here's the scoop. We were docked in Alexandria for 2 days and were booked on a tour into Cairo (a 3 1/2 hr drive from Alexandria) for the first day to see the Pyramids, Sphinx, and Nile, and we were going to explore Alexandria on our own on the second day. Well, around 4 AM the morning of Cairo, I hear Ian wake up and throw the covers off and run for the bathroom. The sounds that followed made me realize HE had gastro enteritis. On our Egypt day. With our tour leaving at 8 AM we knew there was no way he'd make it...he was REALLY sick. We were so upset, and I was left with the painstaking decision of whether or not I should leave him & go to the pyramids. Our souls were completely crushed as he called the doctor for medicine & was placed on a 24 hour quarantine which means he would not be allowed off the boat. I knew I'd have to face Cairo alone and it killed me. So I got dressed & ready to go & headed to the gangway. Only I realized that nobody was let offboard yet...the ship was having problems clearing. By 12 PM the ship STILL hadn't cleared (we think it had something to do with all the sick people onboard). Around 12:30 they made the announcement that changed EVERYTHING. All tours to Cairo would be moved to the next day due to lack of time. I ran back to our room and Ian had heard the announcement too and we were SOOOO happy!! The virus was a 24 hour thing & we knew he'd be well & cleared to go to Cairo the next day. So he didn't miss the pyramids!!!!

Cairo was insane, and I'll need to write an entire entry on Egypt itself. I plan on coming back and writing more details about each place anyways. The Pyramids & Sphinx were breathtaking (the vendors were not) & we are still in disbelief that we saw them.

After a day at sea, we reached Malta which was WAY cooler than we expected & we really want to go back!! More on that later.

Last night we hung with our new friends Tiffanie, Charles, April, Mark, Nia, & Andrew at the dance club until the wee hours of the morning. I paid for it this morning but it was completely worth it; we had a great time!!

Now we're safe in Estoril, Portugal, just outside of Lisbon (I know the entry location says Cascais but for some reason it didn't have Estoril and Cascais is pretty close so it works). We're looking forward to exploring tomorrow & keeping in touch better!! We have about a week left so we'll see you guys soon!!!

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