Egypt

After a crazy few months prepping our lives and home for a year-long holiday, we finally retired and kicked off our gap year on February 2nd! 

Who knew that researching and arranging global travel, getting vaccinated; making home, auto, Medicare and travel insurance decisions; getting shape on 2025 taxes, sorting out global connectivity and banking, marketing our house, selecting our awesome renters, packing up and storing our stuff and vehicles would be so all-consuming?!?

January concluded with several heartwarming goodbye gatherings of friends and family, with promises from some to rendezvous out on the road. All the machinations and merriment culminated in a furious all-nighter of packing! The San Francisco to London Heathrow flight was nearly empty, affording us full-length sleeping accommodations, Economy Ultra class, an auspicious start of the journey of 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles).

As we enjoyed that first breakfast on our rooftop with uninterrupted views of the Giza pyramids, it finally hit us that our lifelong dream of global exploration was coming to fruition!

For more information on our general itinerary, check out https://cybereeds.com/launched/

Cairo 

Despite jet lag we hit Cairo hard for 2 days, spending a full day exploring the pyramids, including:

• Crawling up the inside of Khufu, the largest and original pyramid at Giza 
• Seeing ancient papyrus with a Nile quarry boat shipping manifest and a builder’s punch list as well as construction tools, right angles and plumb lines
• Taking a camel ride back from the panoramic viewpoint at end of day, with the soft setting sun and camel and horse cart caravans heading home for the night. 

The hustlers can be relentless in Giza, and one’s negotiation skills get well honed, but realizing that they’re all just trying to put food on the table and approaching them with humor helps – a quick Mafeesh falooz (“No money!” In Arabic) puts a grin on their faces and they back off, enjoying interaction instead of transaction. 

We explore the vast, newly-opened Grand Egyptian Museum on day 2, and the name is no exaggeration. The GEM includes the complete collection of King Tutankhamen’s tomb of 5,000+ items which are mind blowing in their richness, encrusted in jewels and gold accumulated from across the kingdom, never mind the rest of the museum treasures. The building itself is an architectural wonder, fashioned after the pyramids in the sight lines, its construction is based on triangles throughout. 

Luxor

We fly early to Luxor where our local guide plied us with tasty falafel and coffee from his favorite street-side “drive through,” jet lag be damned. We visit the mind boggling Valley of the Kings early to avoid the heat and the crowds. Susan, whose first tour of Luxor was in 1987, was pleased to see some protections had been put in place for these ancient designs, now behind plexiglass. The colors and designs are rich and strong, dug deep into the hillsides to avert tomb raiders, without success. Most of these tombs would have far surpassed King Tut who only lived to 19, but his tomb is the only one found intact. Imagine the treasures that once were here! We are left with amazing wall carvings which tell the pharaohs’ stories of conquests, marriages, daily life, and the afterlife as envisioned in the Book of the Dead. 

We head next to Valley of the Workers where the tomb builders made tombs for themselves in their employee village. These tombs are smaller and simpler, more intimate, with tiny access tunnels but still rich in color and unprotected. After one more temple, we crash in our traditional brick dome-styled AirBnB.

We tackle Karnak the next day and our plans align with a visit by Tiffany Trump which ties up West Bank traffic for miles and her security bumps Susan out of the way for the celebrity passing. But the temple does not disappoint in its size and scale. In the evening we enjoy Luxor Temple which is magical under the stars. Social media however is a constant presence in all of these historic sites which are used as a backdrop for mostly female Asian personal photo shoots in their fancy outfits as well as vloggers with their videos running while they chat to their followers in a gazillion different languages. It interrupts the ambience but is part of the fabric of travel today.

We’re up early again the next day to try again for a hot air balloon ride, this time with success! The skies do not disappoint with sunrise hitting the hillsides and temples, including the impressive Hatshepsut temple who was a female badass grabbing power despite lineage line and ruling ancient Egypt with strength and competence, which is no surprise! We complete the day visiting Dendera temple with its rich colors. Many of these temples were buried for centuries under the sand, which wiped out the colors but retained the etchings from destruction by Coptic Christians. Villagers would build off these buried structures installing roofing beams into the above ground wall for their homes, as they didn’t value these temples or see them as important. Many villages and homes are on top of centuries of treasures, which homeowners salvage on occasion to sell on the black market in order to pay their bills since bringing the findings to the police would only land them in jail. 

Nile Cruise

The next day we board our Dahabiya, an ancient Egyptian boat with sails fore and aft for plying the Nile. We have 6 Americans and a Dutch couple with us for the next 5 days, all amiable and experienced travelers. After visiting the temple of Esna, we luxuriate on the top deck enjoying the palm-laddened shores with tiny farms along the banks of the Nile. Without wind we have a tugboat pulling us from a distance, but when there’s wind the sails go up for a quiet float. The pace slows, we catch up on much-needed sleep in our aft deck just above the waterline, and connect with our fellow travelers. Along the way we visit Edfu and Kom Ombo temples, a quarry where sandstone blocks were quarried for temples throughout the kingdom, and small villages with hijab-covered women head to toe including gloves. One night our staff set up a candlelit dinner on the banks with a backdrop of stars, and another day we take a refreshing swim then dance to an oud guitar and tamborines as the staff sing and dance. After 4 nights of bliss we land in Aswan which feels like a big city.

Aswan

We’ve set up at a guest house on the West side of Elephantine Island, a Nubian carless spit of land with 3 small villages connected by ancient walkways winding between mud structures and household crops. The East side faces the port of Aswan with Nile cruise ships and city vibrancy, accessed by a $.30 ferry ride with women only in the bow. The West side is a quiet respite, with a hillside skyline of ancient structures and feluccas gliding by in the setting sun. 

Our driver takes us to nearby Philae Temple which had been mostly underwater after the Aswan Low Dam, the first dam built in Africa in 1899. Thanks to UNESCO it was relocated to higher ground, retaining its boat-only access to the small island giving an impressive entrance. Friday is family night in Egypt and we grab dinner alongside groups of families on small rocky Essa Island in the Nile. An older woman squeezes in her prayers right behind us, which our driver says is not allowed for women due to the praying positions required but she is discreet and sheltered between the tables. 

The next day our driver takes us to Abu Simbel, the closest we’ll get to the Sudanese boarder. The military run everything in Egypt and are very restrictive, making entrepreneurialism difficult and impacting daily lives. This road includes a control stop that requires prior paperwork filing for each tourist with payment. To avoid the hassle and cost, our driver takes us on a 10 minute detour safari over rough dirt makeshift roads worthy of a 4×4, landing just beyond and within sight of the control. Abu Simbel was also buried in water from the original dam and relocated to higher ground, prior to the Aswan High Dam being built in 1971, with the coordinated effort of 15 UNESCO countries which were paid back in antiquities. This is why the Met has the Dendur temple. Rounding the corner to see the four massive seated statues of Ramses II will take your breath away! Inside are more fabulous statues and carvings of Ramses II’s many conquests over his 97-year lifetime as well as a smaller temple dedicated to his wife Nefertari. Nice to see the women honored even if not equally! Our final day in Aswan we sleep in and lounge, an administrative day, since the next day we drive 7.5 hours to Marsa Alam on the Red Sea. 

Marsa Alam

We are templed out! Time for change of subject and scenery!

We’ve found that accommodations booked online don’t quite live up to expectations which need to be dropped a few stars prior to arrival. We almost bail on our 6 night setup but, with some staff attention, we make it work and focus on our intent: diving! The onsite dive center, shabby as it looks, actually delivers. We start by taking the 2 day Advanced Open Water Diving course to sharpen our skills and increase our access to dive sites and experiences. We plow through the online training and tests, dusting off our student skills, and reinforce new skills with underwater experience. The shore diving is not very special with coral bleaching having taken a toll 2-3 years ago. But once we get offshore the thrills abound. We swim with a pod of 30+ dolphins, see many massive morey eels, healthy coral including large fans, anemone and soft corals, sea turtles, and fishes galore including parrotfish, barracuda, triggerfish, needlefish, and so many others, a veritable fish tank along the 200+ foot walls!

The staff have been exceptional, making our visit enjoyable and fun. It’s shoulder season so the resort is quiet and, with temperatures in the low 70’s, we have the dive sites mostly to ourselves which makes a big difference. 

Sharm el Sheik

After 5 days of diving, we’re grateful for a transfer day flying Marsa Alam>Cairo>Sharm el Sheikh. Having declined an invite to visit this world class dive destination in 1987, Susan had vowed to visit with her dive certification some day – goal achieved! 

We enjoy 2 days of diving, 3 dives per day, reveling in the underwater splendours of Ras Muhammad National Park and environs. The hard and soft corals, variety of fish, anemones, morey eels, and overall colors are mind blowing! We are now exhausted and satiated. 

I can’t overemphasize the positive impact of learning bits and pieces of the local language! It has put smiles on so many Egyptian faces – they see you less as a tourist and open up with questions and stories. Arabic rap scored us an unsolicited room upgrade to sea view at the Marriott here which, coming from donkey cart land felt like the moon and the laundry closet would have already been an upgrade. 

Here are some phrases we’ve learned (my spelling):

Salaam alaikum – hello

Hamdaleyla – thanks be to God

Inshalla – God willing

Besmela – Bon appetit

Habibi – dude/my love – used to great effect by Susan throughout the land

Shkran – thank you

Afwan – you’re welcome

Haram – forbidden

Mafeesh mushkilla – no problem – used a ton

Mafeesh falooz – no money – works great when getting harassed by sellers, stops them in their tracks!

Yella yella – hurry up

Sabah hayr – good morning

Ramadan Kareem – Happy Ramadan

Mea mea – great great

Dahab

We head to our final destination in Egypt, just one hour up the Sinai coast with views of the rugged Saudi Arabia coastline across the Aqaba Straits. Compared to Sharm which has high powered Cancun vibes, Dahab is chill with digital nomad hangouts. 

Our dive master is Saddam Hussein with 3 Guinness World Records including Longest Underwater Living in Salt Water (7 days) and Largest Underwater Painting (8 meters/85 feet which took 9 hours). The area is renowned for technical and free diving with the 150 meter deep Blue Hole where a wall memorializes lives lost. First we dive Canyon, a 100 foot crevasse with an amazing coral reef at the entrance, an octopus hanging out nearby, and a rare albino morey eel. Next up is the epic Blue Hole with Bells entry, named for tanks hitting the rocky walls during 100 foot shaft descent finished with an arch exit. Then a massive wall drops into infinity before entering the Blue Hole – the clear blue deep still water eradicates all orientation. A rope along the mouth with loops are how free divers drop in for competition – mind boggling! 

Egypt has been a great way to kick off our adventures – a fantastic country filled with deep history, rich culture, a variety of sites and experiences, and super helpful, friendly people throughout!

Next up: Jordan