Hey all, it feels like ages since I've had the time to sit down and catch up!! Our last day in Luxor, myself and Emma had to get up at half 4 to go hot air ballooning, we were very bleary eyed but it was worth it- we caught sunrise over the Valley of the Kings as we rose up. We didn't have a lot to do apart from look around but our "chief pilot" was very good and even came out with an "Cad is ainm duit?" when he learned I was Irish! Came back to the hotel for breakfast at half 7 before getting a horse and carriage ride through Luxor to Karnak temple. This is one of the most famous ancient Egyptian ruins where pharohs of all ages have left their marks- but ... read more

Hello all, Didn't sleep much on the train last night, we were all in reclining seats with plenty of legroom but we didn't try to sleep until after 1am and then it was still too noisy and uncomfortable. The train conductor woke us all up three times to inspect our tickets!! Still we must have slept at some point as when we were all awake this morning Graham told us that a man had come in and sat down and stared at us all for awhile. Creepy but not unusual apparantly, we get stared at quite a lot with all sorts of comments thrown at us (mostly 'welcome to egypt', 'what is your name', and 'you are a beautiful lady'). You would have thought that Egyptians would be quite used to foreign tourists by now, and ... read more

Hey all!! Slept fine last night despite calls from the nearest minaret at half four and half seven!! We all got up early to meet with our driver and guide for Cairo, Mina. He was out of Cairo on holiday in Singapore when the protests in Egypt broke out and couldn't get back for a month!! However he was able to tell us a great deal. We first went to Cairo tower for panoramic views across the city, it was a bit smoggy but the Nile looked nice and the old fashioned houseboats which were moored alongside. We went to the zoo and ended up feeling up like the animals themselves as we attracted more attention from the locals- a big group of seven white people!! However everyone was very friendly and even in passing were ... read more

Hey all!! Well it's my last day and I am leaving the hostel for the airport in two hours!! Quite tired!! On friday we went out for the last supper (official) to a lovely grill restaurant. Tamara and I shared a huge bowl of meat cooked to perfection. We had quite a few laughs there and then went on to a street in our guidebooks which was full of clubs and pubs. We started in a Lousiana styled pub and got free beers for entering, ended up singing kareoke and got free drinks for that too!! We ended up in a grotty club, getting free Cuba Libres for entering, and danced 'til 4am. It was a bit of a meat market but we had good fun together. Slept in til 12pm... it was great not having ... read more

Hey all!! We had lots of fun in Salta, despite the camping!! Our campsite was pretty poor; squat toilets, stony ground, and a family living in the shower blocks!! We were pretty impressed with Argentina however, the change was evident as soon as we went over the border - better infrastructrure (i.e. tarmac roads) better houses, billboards everywhere, very modern!! We stopped at a Shell station which had shiny tiled floors, fridges, soap dispensers, and ferrero rocher- pure luxury!! On our first full day there most of us went white water rafting. We were expecting a grade IV river and were looking forward to it as we didn't do it in Cusco, as Salta was really hyped up. Unfortunately it was hyped up a bit too much, it was basically a grade II river with a ... read more