North Africa
This was one of the most important and amazing trips we ever took. Unfortunately, we have very few photos from the journey.Related Posts:The Dirtiest Girls at the Public Bath in Fez, Morocco -- By Jennifer Shipp ...
The intuitiveness of washing machine models in foreign countries tends to reflect the extent to which women have been "liberated". In Tunisia, the washing machine was particularly silly. You had to put the clothes in one side where they were sloshed around in water and then they had to be moved to the other side for the spin cycle. The clothes dryer was the metal grid-like contraption sitting there in front ...
John tends to make friends on short (and long) flights across the globe. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it ends in disaster. For example, on our first international flight back to the states from Istanbul, Turkey, a man named "Aleksander" made friends with John. This man opened up a giant vat of tuna as the flight took off and he kept poking John, asking him if he wanted some.Related ...
The White Desert is a strange place with landforms that are hard to comprehend and a social dynamic that's decidedly rural. Check with the Egyptian government before traveling there. Local tour agencies took a big hit when eight Mexican tourists were shot (or bombed...it depends on who you talk to) by the Egyptian military on their way to the White Desert. Now, there's a lot of competition for tourists and ...
The White Desert was a challenging destination to travel to. It felt scary and it was scary. Eight Mexican tourists had been killed there only months before our trip and the details of their death were still "speculative". But we survived the trip, so no regrets. The White Desert is a spectacular and otherworldly destination. There's a very "rural" flavor to the experience though...where Cairo's city-rules ...
People were so scared for us when we traveled to Egypt in 2016, but it just wasn't a scary place. It's definitely a place where there are gender-related tensions, but terrorism just isn't something we had to worry about very much. There were fewer violent acts that happened in Cairo while we were there than in comparably sized U.S. cities like Chicago. Online, we were warned to avoid places like Khan al ...
Khan al Khalili is a bazaar in Cairo, Egypt where you can find almost anything you can imagine. We bought a hot-plate while we were there since our vacation rental featured a tiny little stove that could only cook one thing at a time. This video shows the hustle and bustle outside the center of Khan al Khalili. It's a must-see tourist destination for anyone traveling to Cairo.Related Posts:Khan al ...
The Crystal Mountain is located between the White Desert and the Black Desert in Egypt. This video shows the quartz crystals that are scattered everywhere on the mountain.We did a day-trip into the White Desert in the winter of 2016. We found out later that a trip like ours was technically "illegal" though the tour company reassured us that it wasn't. Some Mexican tourists were killed on a tour like ...
When we arrived at our vacation rental in Cairo, Egypt in 2016, the pillows were nasty. They were caked with stains and different colors of bodily fluids left from...whatever activities they'd been involved in before we got there. So, one of the first things we did the day after we got to the rental, was go get new pillows. In this video, we're riding in the taxi back to the rental from a large department ...
Cairo is not the prettiest city in the world, but we still enjoyed the view from our 14th floor apartment where we lived for 2 months in 2016. Cairo is polluted and the buildings are all barren concrete. There's little decorative lighting in the city and for most part, no attempt is made to make things "beautiful". But the sunsets are nice. And with a good view there can be some good people-watching on the ...
In 2016, we were scheduled to travel by air from Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan at 11:00 AM in the morning, or so we thought. When we arrived to the Cairo Airport at 9:00 AM to check-in, we found out that, in fact, our flight didn't leave until 11:00 PM. So our family set up shop in these comfy chairs near the check-in station for the day...and waited.What with the time we spent waiting in the middle of ...
We spent a considerable amount of time at Cairo International Airport when we visited Egypt in 2015 and again in 2016. In these photos, we were waiting for a flight to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia where we'd do a layover on our way to Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2016, we arrived 12 hours early for a flight to Amman, Jordan, so we got to know a different part of Cairo Airport then. All-in-all, we've spent ...
Related Posts:Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum: Photo GalleryThe White Desert, Egypt: Photo GalleryLydian's Belly Dance Classes in Cairo, Egypt 2015: Photo GalleryCairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt: Photo Gallery ...
Related Posts:Lines in the Sand: Speaking Arabic in Cairo, Egypt (as a Woman)-- By Jennifer ShippTahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum: Photo GalleryThe White Desert, Egypt: Photo GalleryNazlet Al Sammam Near Cairo, Egypt: Photo GalleryCairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt: Photo Gallery ...
The White Desert, Black Desert, and the Crystal Mountain can all be accessed on the same day-trip from Cairo (it's a long day, but it can be done). We didn't feel safe spending the night in the desert when we visited Cairo in 2016 so we left early in the morning and arrived back to the city well after dark.Related Posts:The Crystal Mountain in Egypt (video)The White Desert in Egypt ...
Seeing the Egyptian Museum without having to navigate through throngs of tourists was nice. We visited in 2015 when tourism was down, but there was still a line waiting when we got there in the morning on the day of our visit.Related Posts:The White Desert, Egypt: Photo GalleryLydian's Belly Dance Classes in Cairo, Egypt 2015: Photo GalleryNazlet Al Sammam Near Cairo, Egypt: Photo ...
We visited Cairo, Egypt for the first time in January 2015. We stayed in a town just outside of Cairo called Nazlet a-Sammam where we were able to see the Pyramids from the window of our vacation rental. During our week long trip, we saw the Pyramids both from afar in the desert after a camel ride, and also from the inside.Related Posts:Egypt Tourism: Sandstorm at the Pyramids in Egypt ...
We visited Tunisia for five weeks in the winter of 2014 during the country's presidential elections. Out of all the countries we've visited, we felt the most unsafe in Tunisia. In this video, a Tunisian policeman had just waved John over because he thought that we were taking pictures of him. Jennifer started recording because she wasn't sure what was going on, and thought that having documentation of the ...
