Felucca Day Every time I think I’ve had the best day yet in Egypt, another amazing day happens. I would like to mention one thing. Before I came here several people expressed concern that it is not safe here. I have felt very safe. Our guide Khaled watches out for us and makes sure we know the right things to do. Egyptian people are really nice. We have had some drivers that speak little English, but we’ve been able to communicate. I sit near the front of the bus, and Lisa (Australia) and I wave at lots of people and they smile and wave back, give us the thumbs up, etc. I even spent time in the market haggling over prices for items, and I never felt threatened. Today I started out by visiting the Coptic ... read more

I am using someone’s hotspot so this entry will not have photos until I have better wifi. Last night we got on the train for the overnight to Aswan. The compartments are small, bunkbed style. Caroline from Australia is my roommate. They served us a good chicken dinner, then to bed. The coach jerks around from time to time, but the motion of the train is good for sleeping. We got to Aswan and brought our luggage to the hotel. The rooms weren’t ready yet so we dropped them off and went to the Philae Temple Complex. Philae (/ˈfaɪliː/; Greek: Φιλαί, Arabic: فيله‎ Egyptian Arabic: , Eg... read more

Ahhh - the ocean (ahem - my tour guide said "Not ocean, the sea") Okay, the Mediterranean Sea. I love the ocean/sea because I live near the ocean/sea. From Wikipedia: Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and a major economic center. With a population of 5,200,000, Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the sixth-largest city in the Arab world and the ninth-largest in Africa. The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) at the url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_coast_of_Egyp... read more

Our trip ends today. We continue traveling around the Ring Road back to Reykjavik with some interesting stops along the way. Technically we are in West Iceland traveling back to Southwest Iceland. First stop is Grabrok, a volcano with a nice crater that has a walk up it. Grábrók is a 170 url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=is&sp=nmt4&u=https://is.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metri&xid=17259,15700023,15700186,15700190,15700256,15700259,15700262,15700265&usg=ALkJrhimUkAmjsiueQulJAzKYBtqC8nSqQmeter high url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=is&sp=nmt4&u=https://is.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjallg%25C3%25ADgur&xid=17259,15700023,15700186,15700190,15700256,15700259,15700262,15700265&usg=ALkJrhiIsFdLOGEISLvlri_46ck1NzLtfwcrater that ri... read more

Now we are in North Iceland and our weather is acceptable - sporatic rain but not clear either. We left Egilsstair and traveled the Highlands to an isolated farm. The man who lives here was so far away from a church that he built his own church. He has turned his farm into accommodations, camping, cafe, gift shop, and a cute tourist stop. Sindri, our guide, said there was an arctic fox and he could call him from his burrow, because Sindri speaks fox saying he learned from a girlfriend who was foxy (Sindri is quite the jokester). Sure enough, Sindri called him and a young arctic fox comes out of the burrow where he sleeps. From here we went to Dettifoss. From Wikipedia: Dettifoss is a waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park in Northeast url=https://en.... read more