When Travis invited me to Egypt, I thought, wow that’s a trip of a lifetime! I imagined seeing the pyramids, lots of ruins and riding a camel. I feel silly admitting, but when Travis said we would dive and snorkel I was shocked! I had no idea Egypt had one of the top 5 reefs in the world. I didn’t know at that time, was how much more we would get to do!

 I decided to make the plunge and researched the details on what we would be doing, or most of it, but until you are there you don’t fully understand how incredible it is. The pyramids, Luxor and all the other historic ruins are absolutely incredible and almost overwhelming to see. Each place seemed taller than the last and made you feel so small. The thought of how these were created so long ago was mind boggling. Egypt was more than I expected.

We flew to Luxor on day 2 of our trip, to board the Nile cruise. OMG how many people can say they went on a cruise up the Nile? – Yes up. Our tour guide, Sam, met us at the airport and we knew instantly the trip would be fantastic! Sam was knowledgeable and personable, very interested in what we liked to do on trips to make sure he delivered – and oh did he deliver! We wanted to do as they do in Egypt. So that night, he took us out to a local café. Now don’t think Starbucks, this is completely different. These cafes are mostly outdoors and social places to talk to friends.

We let Sam order for us, so Turkish coffee it was. And OMG – I fell in love with this coffee from the first sip I didn’t know is it has something like 10X the caffeine of Expresso, so I didn’t sleep much those nights – LOL. Along with the Turkish coffee, it is customary to smoke a Hukka – just normal tobacco. So of course, when in Egypt. It came in flavors, which my favorite was apple. Sitting outside in the evening chatting with Sam and his friends, that would say hi, having coffee and a hukka, was relaxing! One of my favorite things I did! But there was so much more.

Hot air ballooning was a surprise addition to the trip. I still remember the day my ex moved out, one of my very good friends and I committed to going ballooning. We wanted to do something I wouldn’t have done during my marriage. Now, I never would have gone to Egypt, so I got to do 2 things 😊! Unfortunately, the day we went hot air ballooning Travis was slightly under the weather, but he still came. That early morning pick-up was the hardest part – but worthwhile to see the sun rise from a hot air balloon – and even better over the Valley of the Kings. It was spectacular.

Travis was sick that morning. We took a short boat ride to where we were taking off. I felt a bit bad for Travis getting on a boat not feeling well, but he was a trooper! When we got to the balloon take-off area, they were the largest balloon baskets I had ever seen! Each one had 5 compartments. We climbed into our area and hung on. It was still dark out as we took off, which made it more dramatic watching all the balloons lifting into the air, glowing as they filled up. What a gorgeous site! If Travis wasn’t about to keel over I would have had him pinch me. I couldn’t believe I was there.

The views were amazing. Watching the sun come up over the Valley of the King gave me chills, a perfect blazing circle waking up. It is hard to describe how incredible it was! I took video so Travis could experience what he didn’t really get to enjoy.

Wow – as we made our way to Hurgauda, I knew we had lots more to come. The beach- town of Hurgauda was different than where we’d been so far. It looked much more like the shore back home. And there was plenty to do while we were there. First up was ATVs in the desert. I had always wanted to drive an ATV and never had a chance. Once again, I did something new! Got to love that! Our ATV trip in the desert was Awesome! We went later in the afternoon as it included riding a camel and dinner. Which was perfect because it wasn’t too hot.

They wrapped scarves around our heads to keep out the sand and dust. With the scarf and goggles, we looked pretty funny. It was just the 2 of us and our guide, which made it even better! As we zoomed through the desert I was getting used to turns in the sand. We came upon a hill and I didn’t quite make my turn, sliding down the side! Shoot! I just didn’t want to flip! I got to the bottom and stopped! What an adrenaline rush! Travis and the guide were yelling down to make sure I was ok. I think my exact comment was, “Can I do that again!?” LOL The rest of the ride went smoothly as I got more used to riding. Seeing the sunset in the desert was phenomenal! To top if off we got to ride camels and have a great Egyptian meal and show before riding back to the main building. What a fantastic time!

We still weren’t done. When Travis invited me on the trip, he mentioned diving/snorkeling on the Red Sea. What? I didn’t even know you could do that in Egypt. Actually, they have a reef rating in the top 5 of the world! We were lucky they let me snorkel from the dive boat. In the end that ended up great as I was the only snorkeler on the boat that day.

Once all the divers got in the water, it was my turn. I jumped in, intimidated never having snorkeled out in the middle of an ocean like this before. I was scared of sharks and big fish so I tried to stay above the divers. I started following them. But the guys on the boat yelled over to me. I picked up my head and they were waving me to go a different way. I was like, no way! I’m not going all by myself in a different direction. After a couple of minutes, I braved it up and swam where they were pointing. And thankfully I did! The reef was right there! My fear seemed to melt away as I started see the beautiful coral and fish all around! I wish I had my camera, although I knew Travis was taking pictures on the dive. I was swimming all around the reef from one area to the next having a blast! There was something about being in open water out there with no other snorkelers, that gave me a bit of courage. I did see the divers below me and they waved up at me. I didn’t see the turtle that I was hoping to see, but I saw tons of colorful fish! It was a great day on the water!

Egypt was a surprise to me. In my mind I thought we would be looking at the pyramids and ruins the entire time. I couldn’t believe all the other things we could do! This trip exceeded all my expectations.