Things to do in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

Snorkelling day trip to Ras Mohamed National Park, Red Sea, Egypt

Snorkelling clear water filled with marine life at Ras Mohamad National Park, Sinai, Egypt.

Sharm el Sheikh is one of six places I visited during 23 days of travelling alone in Egypt. Other highlights were Cairo (the Pyramids), the White Desert, Aswan, Luxor and Dahab.

Lonely Planet describes the resort town of Sharm el Sheikh as a “sterile enclave… sanitised for Western consumption, having all the charisma of a shopping mall”. Expats I’ve met in Egypt have called the town “Sharm el $hit”.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know this before I arrived, because this is usually the type of place I try to avoid staying in for a long time in unless I’m taking a vacation from travel.

Luckily, my snorkelling and hiking trips with Egypt Excursions Online rescued me from the tourists hoards. Thanks to Hostelbookers, I even stayed at a charming bed and breakfast at a Bedouin village 5km away from the city.
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Ancient Egypt Temples in Luxor

Queen Hatshepsut Temple, Luxor, Egypt

Queen Hatshepsut Temple 2nd floor, Luxor, Egypt.

I thought the Pyramids would the main ancient Egypt attraction during my two three week trip.

Thanks to a day trip with an Egyptologist, I learned that there’s actually more important ancient Egypt tombs and temples to be explored in Luxor.

We had a well-paced day visiting four highlights, Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple and I even heard some interesting stories. For example, Queen/Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s main architect might have also been her lover, and that Alexander the Great was actually a pharaoh in Egypt at one point.
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More Extended Travel for Couples: Pete & Dalene Heck of @HeckticTravels

Pete and Dalene Heck of HeckticTravels.com

Pete and Dalene Heck of HeckticTravels.com

Dalene and Pete Heck are a Canadian couple who were both working in the oil and gas industry when they left in 2009 to travel to South America.

Their corporate escape plan was first hatched on “a snowy afternoon in December of 2007″ after overcoming a difficult year of personal tragedies and realizing they were tired of the corporate lives they were living.
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A Weekend in Egypt’s White Desert

Sand dune, 4WD, White Desert, Egypt

Sand dune and 4x4 in the desert, Egypt.

My recent excursion to the White Desert in Egypt has claimed a top spot in the highlights of this year’s round-the-world travel.

It had the golden sand dunes I’d expect to see in a desert, like in the Thar desert of India, but what made this desert special were it’s giant white rock formations that were unlike anything I’ve seen before. I felt like I was on a different planet.

I always envision deserts feeling hostile and lonely, but between my friendly guides, the charming Beduoin villages we passed, the weekend in the desert felt rich, comfortable and welcoming.

In fact, one of the things that made this excursion so special was that it felt like a road trip with friends.
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Extended Travel for Couples: Interview with Jack and Jill Travel

Jack and Jill Travel', at Muchu Picchu

Jack and Jill of 'Jack and Jill Travel', at Muchu Picchu

“We met in college, graduated, got jobs, got married, left our jobs, sold everything, and bought a one-way ticket to Colombia this April. That’s our story in short.”
- Jack & Jill

Jack and Jill were working at NASA in software/web before they started their extended world adventure in April 2011. They’ve spent the last 6 months in South America and heading to Morocco next to begin their adventure in Africa.
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Egypt Landscapes That Put Life in Perspective

Hiking in the Coloured Canyon, Egypt.

Hiking in the Coloured Canyon, Egypt.

In the two weeks I’ve been in Egypt, the things that have struck me the most are:

  1. The country hasn’t been hostile, dangerous or nearly as overwhelming as I expected it to be based on media reports. I can’t believe I was scared about travelling here.
  2. The landscapes have been vast and beautiful. So much that I almost cried tears of joy on the morning I woke up in the desert during a camping trip.

I’m going to save my Egypt travel safety thoughts for the end of my trip, but for now I want to share how these expansive landscapes have made put some perspective on life.
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Best of Ancient Egypt Pyramids [Photos]

Sunny day at the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Sunny day at the Great Pyramid of Giza.

I usually don’t take day tours to monuments if I can go alone, since I can learn quite a bit just from reading Wikitravel, Wikipedia or Lonely Planet guides.

The exceptions I’ve made are with world wonders, like the Taj Mahal in India and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, where I want to hear context behind their significance.

Since the Pyramids of Giza was a must-see on my Egypt trip plan, I was really excited about my GetYourGuide.com tour covering the ancient Egypt highlights in Cairo:

  • Egyptian Museum – home to King Tutankhamun’s tomb and famous 11kg gold mask (no photos allowed)
  • Pyramids of Giza – 3 major pyramids, including the tallest “Great Pyramid”, built ~2500 BC, ~137m high, tallest structure in the world until 1300 AD., the oldest & only existing Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
  • Great Sphinx of Giza – body of a lion, head of a human, ~20m high, limestone, believed to be from ~2500 BC

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Egypt Activities for the Next Two Weeks

Egypt Activities, Day trip to Pyramids and Sphinx

Two weeks of Egypt activities. Day 1 - Tour of Pyramids & Sphinx.

After 140 days of scenic Europe rail travel, I’ve now moved on to a completely new area of the world: Egypt.

I had doubts about going to Egypt from the (seemingly) constant negative news about the country’s social/political instability and from fear about being hassled for travelling alone as a woman. But, it seemed crazy not to make a stop here if I was already nearby in eastern Europe because I’ve dreamed of seeing the Pyramids since I was eleven years old.

Traveller friends like Connie Hum, among others, reassured me they had a good experience travelling alone in Egypt. Checking the Canadian government’s travel advisory on Egypt, I only saw had a “exercise high degree of caution” rating, which is the warning level Canada has for most developing countries.

Still, I was scared to go to Egypt alone.
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Best of 1st Class @Eurail Train Travel [Photos]

Day stop at Interlaken, Switzerland

Day stop at Interlaken, Switzerland.

Today, I celebrate exactly 140 days (20 weeks) in Europe.

The last 5 months, I’ve railed my way through 17 beautiful countries and travelled 13,000km over 30 travel days on my Eurail.com Global Passes.

Travelling through Europe by train turned out to be a brilliant choice. Not only are most train stations conveniently located right in towns, the trains are far more comfortable and spacious than buses or airplanes. To top it off, the scenery has been experience in itself, like seeing the Baltic Sea the south of France between Nice to Barcelona.

Here are some of my favourite trains and scenery I’ve had the privilege of enjoying from my 1st class seat (Eurail Global Passes are first class by default if you’re over 26 years old).
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29 Awesome Lessons From My 29th Birthday

Lily Leung, Copenhagen, Denmark

Canals in Copenhagen, Denmark.

This has been a year of growth and change. I just turned 29 and even though I feel I’ve gained much life wisdom in the last 12 months, I actually don’t feel a day over 23.

From learning to let go of belongings, to finding the courage to travel alone, taking leaps of faith to go with the flow (instead of being a militant planner), to being fun-employed past the one year mark, I feel like I’ve had an emotional growth spurt.
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