Upper Egypt

Somewhat confusingly, upper Egypt is farther south than lower Egypt, but that’s just because of our concept of north and south. Upper Egypt is higher up altitude-wise, and logically the Nile flows from upper elevations to lower ones all the way to the delta in northern Egypt out to the Mediterranean. After Luxor and Kom […]

In a State of DeNile

First, allow me to express my deep gratitude for having such a wonderful and unforgettable travel opportunity with my father! I don’t take it for granted. He’s an excellent travel partner, up for nearly anything, and having amazing travel stamina, almost always getting up in the morning before I do, ready for exploration and new […]

Cruising the Nile

On our final morning in Cairo before the cruise, we received a wakeup call at 3:49am. It’s difficult to recover from jet lag with that type of schedule! We flew to Luxor to begin the cruise on the ship River Tosca, with its capacity of 82 guests. We first visited the Karnak Temple, a vast […]

Cairo, Part One 🇪🇬

After an almost eight-hour wait in the Munich airport, during which we took long power naps in the quiet terminal, we finally arrived in Cairo, exhausted but excited. We had flown EgyptAir from Munich on a modern plane with a feature-rich seatback entertainment system which offered a travel prayer from the Quran prior to takeoff. […]

Konec (The End)

So this is it, the final post for the nine-week trip around Central/Eastern Europe and Portugal. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the posts as much as I have enjoyed writing them, and thank you for following along on this adventure! I’m signing off for now, though perhaps I’ll come back to this blog one day […]

Missile Lane Knee Us

Before I sign off tomorrow, I thought I’d share some stories today in this penultimate post. Unintended consequence Back in Budapest, on the day I visited the mineral bathhouse, I minimized my possessions for the subway trip up there from my apartment so as to minimize any potential losses when I stored my valuables in […]

Czechmate

This nine-week trip is winding down now, with just a few days left. Prague is the only city I’ve visited during these weeks where I wish I had more time. Everywhere else I’ve felt sated, and comfortable to move on. That said, I’m excited to return to Asheville, mainly to be able to see Colleen, […]

Pick Up the Czech

I’m back in Prague! It’s hard to believe that I was gone for over seven weeks. A lot has happened since I said goodbye to Colleen when she left Prague to fly back to NC! I got to meet Sofia on Friday evening for dinner! It was great to catch up with her again, and […]

Around Lisbon

As I got my bearings better, I found myself enjoying Lisbon more, especially after finding additional good food options and not walking through the worst areas of town. As it turned out, near my apartment was a great collection of diverse restaurants, and not just Nepalese! Though I ate Nepalese four times (two different restaurants, […]

Incoming Sea

On Monday I took an afternoon trip out to suburb resort towns Cascais and Estoril, which are on the Atlantic Ocean. In walking between the two along a beachfront promenade, I was surprised to see how high the seas were and how the waves were often crashing over the promenade itself. It wasn’t windy or […]