A Walk Along the Nile (in photos of course!)

Hello Aswan!

It might be a while before any tourists visit Egypt.

That’s not a bad thing.

“What are you talking about Robyn?!”

Ok, look I am the last person to ask for violence. I wish that Egypt could have reformed without the violence that may have left dead and hundreds hurt.

But what we’re looking at, what we’re hearing about in Egypt is about people finally standing-up for their rights. They are standing-up to a government that did very little to actually treat them with any rights.

I can’t say I totally understand, but when I visited Egypt last year I did witness some of the poverty and the helplessness that people felt. People couldn’t do something as simple as marry because they didn’t have enough money.

More than that? Police routinely used citizens for fun. People were afraid of Police rather than witnessing them as there to help. Read this interesting article in The New York Times today.

The unrest in Egypt, however, will not and did not remain in Egypt. Nope. It spread to it’s neighbour Jordan (another one of my countries visited) and will have massive consequences for Israel (they had a peace deal with both Egypt and Jordan. Oops.)

So what I’m saying is it could be a while before I’m strolling along the Nile again. Or you for that matter. Which is too bad. For a country that has such a regal and curious past (pharaohs and mummification?), I hope a new leadership might emphasize these positives and bring a country together to respect its past and its future!

But while we might not be able to go there right now, I thought I would bring it to you: A Walk Along the Nile. From Abu Simbal (only miles from Sudan) to Cairo.

Lake Nassar, which was dammed and ensured the relocation of the tombs at Abu Simbal (sometimes you can see crocs here!)

The temple at Abu Simbel for Rameses II (he built a second one for his Queen Nefertari next door)

The gorgeous (!) Aswan Dam: Don't blink or you will miss this monstrosity that was built for hydroelectric power and also flooded the lands of Nubians causing 150,000 or so to have to be relocated to Aswan and further north.

Near Aswan is this unfinished Obelisk. Some poor man was just chipping away on this enormous object when it suddenly cracked. Can't imagine he was much liked at the water cooler that day.

The Nile cuts through Aswan creating stunning views and Elephantine Island

A window into life on Elephantine Island located in the Nile passage of the city of Aswan

Life is not always so pretty on Elephantine Island where many of the displaced Nubians have made their home.

Lost in the desert! I had to run along the sand dunes for the ferry, which turned into a lift with a man rowing home from work and his sons, so we could get the train north to Luxor!

A sunset in Luxor!

The long entrance to the Luxor Temple

A closer look at the Temple

One of the Sphinx statues that lines the 3 km stretch between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak temple along the Nile (or used to. The city is trying to recreate the connection between these two temples)

The entrance to the Karnak Temple (the largest ancient religious complex in the world)

Crossing the Nile in Luxor to visit the Valley of the Kings (i.e. where Tutankhamun was buried)

Washing his water buffalo on the other side of the Nile

A feluca ride down the Nile

Looking at Luxor from Banana Island

Making a Living on the Nile

Skipping through the Valley of the Kings

Time to head even further north to Cairo. This is the famous "Mirror" Cafe in Cairo's bazaar.

Cairo's extensive Museum (amazing place that you could and should spend hours sifting through). It's also right near the Tahrir Square where the protests are taking place.

And Finally:

These guys (the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx) run near the Nile and just as close to the city of Cairo....I just hope we can all visit again soon!

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step,” Lao Tzu

Wandering the streets of Buenos Aires

“Robyn, I don’t know if I can come to Buenos Aires.”

“What! Why not?”

“They say there are street protests by students often and there are pickpockets. My mom is worried.”

“Uh, Rachel you live in New York City. Seriously?”

The absurdity must have hit home; Rachel met me in Buenos Aires. And not a minute too soon. I had been traveling for almost a year around the world last year and I was tired. I wanted a friendly face.

I couldn’t believe the United States’ Government had almost gotten in the way. I’ll be the first to admit it: I never check travel advisories. They seem like a waste of time. Unfortunately my friend, and travel buddy, Rachel wasn’t quite so reckless and nearly ruined her trip! We both survived. We actually even saw a protest (it was a bunch of students with a sheet, monitored by Police and controlled through the streets).

Which got me to thinking this week, as I watched Egypt erupt into flames, Tunisia turn upside down and foreigners flee for the first flight, how do you know travel is safe?

Well I suppose my Rock Fever column in The Royal Gazette this week starts with an obvious one: you don’t know. Each time you board that plane you don’t know if you’ll land. When you sail away into the sunset, how are you sure you’ll come back? You don’t.

Which is why you have to head to two which is: plan for what you can control. Get your vaccinations, bring

Be careful with the water when visiting Egypt (and there are no protests!)

your hand sanitizer and check whether you can eat raw food and drink water in your destination! At least if you can keep yourself healthy you’ll be better prepared for anything that might come your way.

Of course, you could check three: the United States’ Government travel advisories at: http://travel.state.gov/travel. On their website you can check the country you are going to travel to and see what the American’s worry about.

I’m afraid they worry about a lot. That’s why my tip four is to take that website with a good dose of perspective. Look at Rachel? New York was the centre of one of the most internationally, transformational terrorist attacks in the last decade or even two and a NewYorker is worried about some pick pockets in Buenos Aires?

What I’m saying for tip five, then, is not to let these advisories advise you against travel to “exotic” places. We don’t think for two minutes about boarding a plane to go to New York, but to head to Malaysia?

Well in Malaysia (and anywhere outside of Bermuda, of course) my tip six would be to adhere to the warnings and advisories of your bank! Tell them where you are going (even if you don’t tell anyone else!) or face losing the use of your credit cards. Or in my case, know which countries are entirely blocked by your bank. Yes, the entirety of Malaysia is blocked for ATM use by Bank of Butterfield clients, apparently. In Malaysia I spent my trip visiting banks to withdraw on my credit card. The trip could have been a lot less safe if I hadn’t had a travel buddy with me to provide cash until I could get to a bank (it was a holiday when I arrived).

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

I’m lucky my Malaysia emergency proved to be easy enough to resolve when I knew why my ATM card was being declined. What’s not easy to resolve are major clashes in countries. Which is my tip seven and make sure you check the news for the country you are going to visit or where you are!

Sound obvious? Well I’ll be the first to say I didn’t think about it while navigating the world. When I was in Chandigarh, India it was my mother who was thousands of miles away, mind you, who told me there were violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims miles from me. Luckily they were far enough away from Chandigarh, which was perfectly calm and quiet. I boarded the bus to Delhi and, as you know, I made it.

Of course my mom was worried, but tip eight is a reason I don’t always check the news and the advisories: clashes and protests are never (almost) as bad as the lines in a newspaper or the screen explain it. Well unless the country has literally shut-down internet and countries are evacuating their citizens. Then I might worry. But more often than not the problems are in a particular area of the country. Not in that area? Worry slightly less.

And tip nine is, unfortunately for women: take extra precaution wherever you are. Don’t go out at night on your own; an innocent walk in Cusco, Peru could turn into a drive-by bum grab even with male travel buddies there! Imagine if I’d been on my own?! Leave a bag (light enough so you can move it in an emergency and heavy enough so you hear it move if an uninvited guest arrives) in front of your locked, hotel room door. Want more ideas? Visit my post on female travelers or Wanderlust and Lipstick!

La Cholita wrestling in La Paz, Bolivia: Bolivian women in skirts and braids wrestle with their foes!

And finally tip ten, after scaring the daylights out of you, is: don’t let any country intimidate you from visiting it. Some countries will be poorer. Some will have infrastructure that could use some help. All countries will have a tour that can help you navigate pitfalls that could arise and provide you with tour guides with local insight. That is, if you’re worried about doing it on your own. Just don’t let that stop you from experiencing cultures, food, landscapes and languages that include women with plaits wrestling in Bolivia or the crackling of a glacier in Chile.

Of course if you’re Bermudian or a resident you will be facing questions when you visit these new places, right? You said….you promised you would try somewhere new! Well when you do you’ll want to take with you my travel cheat sheet in next week’s column and of course visit here for your daily dose of travel tips and tales!