The most common question that we get regarding our trip to Egypt is about safety. Some do not consider Egypt a safe travel destination currently. Although many do. According to the UK government, "Over 900,000 British nationals visit Egypt every year. Most visits are trouble-free."
Of course I was concerned when we were planning our trip. We did hours of the research and I felt confident that we would be safe. We can't tell you if it is safe to travel to Egypt, but I thought we should address the issue on our blog. Because Matt is such an experienced traveler, I asked him to help me write this post to get the conversation started.
We decided to spend our last full day in Hurghada, Egypt out on the water. We splurged a bit and chartered a fishing boat for the day. It was just the two of us and a crew of four. Our plan was to fish, snorkel, lunch and visit a sand bar. It was the perfect way to spend our final day.
It's been almost three weeks since my surgery. I'm amazed at how much better I'm feeling. I'm still easily fatigued. Any activity results in spending the next day in bed. But did you notice I managed three blog posts last week? I'm much more productive if I get out of the apartment and luckily there is a Starbucks just a block away. At this rate, I'll be caught up in no time. Today we're going back to Egypt. I've done multiple posts from that one week, but it was such an incredible experience that I can't help myself. Today I'll be showing you photos from the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor.
Our last move took us right into central London. With the great location came several trade-offs... no bathtub, no extra bedroom, no outside space. It also came with a kitchen that is smaller than the average walk-in closet. I have one square foot of counter space, a fridge the size of a suitcase, and every time we use the oven I have to relocate all of the pots and pans that are stored in there. Needless to say, it's not conducive to home cooking. When invited to a cooking class held in the professional kitchens of La Cucina Caldesi Cookery School, I jumped at the chance to cook in a proper kitchen. These are the people who wrote the book on Italian cuisine. Actually, they've written several books on Italian cuisine.
I think I've mentioned before that Matt and I keep a list of things that we want to do in London. Hampton Court Palace was at the top of that list for a long time and late last year we finally made the journey. The royals used to travel from Hampton Court to Westminster via the Thames, passing through the locks along the way. It sounds so romantic. I knew that I needed to combine that Thames boat trip with our visit to the Palace. So on a beautiful fall day, we crossed this one off of the list.
So now it's time to get caught up on my blogging! I try to keep everything in chronological order but I've decided that's just not going to work. So I'll be posting about the current year and filling in with prior year stuff as we go along. We're going to be jumping all over the place. It will be fun! Let's start with day 1... New Year's Day 2016 and the London New Year's Day Parade.
A week ago I was in surgery. It seems like so long ago already. I don't always post about such personal things, but I feel like i need to write about this. Just once. For a woman, a hysterectomy is one of those life events that splits time into "before" and "after." Like puberty, a wedding or giving birth. A feminine milestone that almost 20% of women will experience. If you're a man and you haven't already clicked away, you may not want to read further. Or maybe you will. It's estimated that 1 in 10 women suffer from endometriosis, 2 in 10 from fibroids and 10 in 10 deal with various "female" and hormonal issues. I think it would be much better for everyone if we all talked about it a bit more openly.
