Blogs from Giza, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 7

I normally post a number of travel stories on my personal blog, The Arena , but I recently found this amazing website and wanted to get more involved in this community. I will repost a lot of the day-to-day adventures from my various trips (recently went to Egypt and Vietnam for six weeks), but also include a number of Priceless Misadventure stories, such as the one below. These stories will be of varying lengths, but all will involve tales of me finding myself in a bit of trouble because of my desire to stray from the beaten path when traveling. Things may have been stressful and unenjoyable at the time these stories unfolded, but they are the memories we laugh about for years. And if anyone knows a publisher interested in making a book of light-hearted ... read more

Since my quick blog in Cairo, it seems that we’ve been traveling for weeks with the amount of things I’ve seen and done, possibly one of the most exciting being meeting the truck for the first time (named Nahinda meaning power and strength in Swahili) which is to be our home, transport, storage and portable camping accessory for the next four months . It’s a bright yellow Scania lorry that’s been adapted with coach seats that run down either side and has been kitted out with lots of storage, a ‘beach’ area at the top where you can sunbathe, cool boxes and even a sound system to plug in ipods which has amazing volume to play some tunes whilst crusing through Africa! The windows have all been taken out and blinds fitted but these are mainly ... read more

Another early start at 9am to Giza Plains, taxi drive was uneventful except for three near fatal collisions, thankfully none of them my driver's fault. Arriving at Giza, immediately accosted upon entering the site by would-be guides and those offering extortionistic camel rides. Have to tell literally dozens of hasslers about my undying hatred of the humped creatures, p.s. I hate camels. It seems everyone here is trying to sell you something, and if they can't they're trying to find something to sell. After seeing the admittedly very impressive pyramids and Sphinx, I continued onto Sakkara to see the smaller, but much older Step Pyramid, less peole, much nicer. Ventured into the tomb of Titi (stop laughing at the back!), which had amazing carvings and very low ceilings. From there, I went on to the Memphis ... read more

Egypt Day 2: Giza Plateau July 31, 3009 This morning we woke up at 4:15 am, picked up a boxed breakfast, and headed to the Giza Plateau to watch the sunrise at the Pyramids. It was probably one of the most amazing sunrises I’ve ever seen. We were the only people at the Pyramids! After the sunrise we got to ride camels around the Pyramid area. Mercedes and I shared a camel named Colombo. It was…interesting. It starts with the camel down on all fours. You awkwardly try to swing your legs over the top (very difficult if you are inflexible and short). Once you’re straddling the camel, it starts to stand and a guy dressed in blue starts shouting “Lean back!” Even though we were leaning back as far as we could, it still felt ... read more

Day 3 It's another beautiful and hot, ridiculoulsy hot morning in Cairo. Our day started again with Judy knocking on the hotel door at 8 a.m, yesterday it was 7:30. For some reason she thinks that two almost 40 year-old women can't get themselves up and ready to go on their own. We have only been out of our parents' houses for 20 years (oops, Kirsten is still living at home), but what are you going to do, always a mother. First stop was the Great Pyramids which are located right outside Cairo in Giza. It is literally a 4 or 5 mile drive from our hotel. After we dodged several Egyptian men trying to get us to take pictures with them, for a small fee of course, or buy postcards or turbans from them, we ... read more