Whoa, it's been years! New Trip Announcement!

 Greetings readers, few and far between,

This blog has always really been for me and my (now) husband to write about our travels in the world. We had planned on doing a lot of travel after our trip to Japan in 2014, and while we did travel to Italy in 2019, a trip in which I finally proposed after 7+ years together, I didn't document it here. That feels now like a shame, as this blog has become a very useful tool for me to look back on things, even if it happens to be in a public space. The trip was amazing, and I'm sad to have missed out on writing about it.

While I may endeavor to go back and write about that trip to Italy, the reality is that it's much easier for me to write in the moment while I am there as a way of helping me process and commit my experiences to memory (and the written word.)

So, I shan't make that mistake again, no, ma'am!

So I'm happy to announce that Sean, myself, and some friends are traveling to Egypt *this month* for a 10-day riverboat cruise on the Nile. I know what you're thinking: A trip to Egypt while there's a big-time turmoil in a neighboring country? One they have some keen interest in? I will keep the talk around this topic pre-trip to this: yes, we are. We've done the research, and we feel safe. 

This trip is very different for us: for starters, we're taking it with several other people something we have not really done before. I have traveled with friends before, and it's often difficult simply due to different tastes when it comes to things to do and see and, particularly, eat. For short trips, that can be a fun diversion; for longer trips, it can cause friction.

Second, it's a cruise, a travel medium that I am rather against on principle at this stage in my life. I find them confining, and they tend to travel to ports that are inundated with tourists and their hangers-on to the point of ruination. But this is a riverboat cruise - not a mega-yacht. The whole boat houses less than 100 guests, and the ratio of staff to guests is insane at nearly 1:1.5 (2 staff members for every 3 guests.)

Unlike others we have taken, this trip isn't entirely about food and exploring cities, though there'll be some of that for sure. We're doing it up luxury-style, with a suite at the front of the boat and a 5-star hotel in Cairo, and we're exploring lots of the typical sites. In no particular order: Aswan, Karnak, the Temple of Hathor, the Colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, just to name a few. For the sake of travel safety, I'll not be posting the exact itinerary, nor will I be posting about sites before we visit them, but I'll keep everyone posted with photos and stories as best I can, barring any internet issues aboard the boat.

All of this happens in about 3 weeks, so stay tuned if you want to follow our adventure!