Ken and I love to meet new people on cruises. Friends enrich the experience beyond the daily sites and activities and elevate it to another level. Our most recent cruise offered up a treasure trove of fascinating friendly people that shared excursions, dinners and more than a few drinks while at sea. We agreed to…
Biblical Israel
For the most diverse sightseeing options we chose a combination of historical sites for two of our days in Israel (see last weeks article) and for the other two we focused on the Biblical locations. Although these sites are spiritual pilgrimages for many travelers, we approached them with a more academic leaning. As a result…
Historical Israel
One of the benefits of doing a back to back cruise is the chance to revisit a port. When that port is in Israel, and there are two stops on each itinerary, you can really travel the country in depth. This is not that usual on a cruise itinerary so we were excited to take advantage of…
Pros and Cons of All Inclusive Resorts
When it’s time to get away from it all and just relax an all inclusive resort is the go to choice for many travelers. We haven’t tried it (I think I would be bored), but millions cannot be wrong, so I decided to get a more unbiased opinion. I reached out to our friend Joy…
Traversing the Suez Canal
Early in the morning we received an urgent message that our friends had secured a table at the rear of the ship for us to use as we travelled through the Suez Canal. Since it was an important part of our itinerary, and a bucket list item for all of us, their eagerness was understandable. We were…
Exploring the Valley of the Kings
Ancient Egyptian beliefs hold that east is the direction of birth and the west is death. On the second day of our overnight excursion we travelled west across the Nile River to visit the the Valley of the Kings, burial spot to many of ancient Egypt’s best known pharaohs. Valley of the Kings was part of the ancient…
An Overnight on the Nile
“ Yalla beena” is an Egyptian saying that means we go together. Although our guide Ahmed used it during our overnight excursion from Safaga to Luxor to ensure we stayed together and moved as one, it came to mean so much more for our intrepid group of travelers. The opportunity to stay overnight at a hotel on…
Our Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Longer Cruise
Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? We don’t think so. Now that we are retired, and because our favourite cruise brand markets them, longer itineraries are our new favourite. Usually starting in one city and ending at another, loaded with unique ports and with the potential for overnights, the longer…
Port of Call – Aqaba, Jordan
There are two major ancient sites in Jordan close to the city of Aqaba and both are worth every moment of your time. Many of our fellow passengers combined the two into a very tiring day. We decided to forgo one for the other by promising ourselves we would return one day. Petra, one of…