Chad and I have developed a bit of vocabulary to describe various phenomena we’ve experienced on our travels. One such term we call the “Japan effect.” It refers to our experience in 2019 being disappointed by Bangkok and Bali following five weeks in Japan. While they had several qualities we generally don’t like regardless of…
Author: Jaime
From Palermo to San Telmo
I’d planned to do four blog posts about our time in Buenos Aires. And honestly, the wonderful experience we had there warrants four posts. But my real job is very busy at the moment and that’s what keeps us traveling, so instead I’m just doing two BA posts – our We’re Home from a couple…
Buenos Aires: We’re Home!
Well, the digital nomads were right. Buenos Aires is amazing and we LOVE it. I’d been a little nervous before we left based on the political and economic news coming out of Buenos Aires, but in our first two weeks here we’ve found it to be beautiful, friendly, efficient, and extremely livable. Here are some…
FAQ – What Did We Learn in Africa?
Spending almost 10 weeks in Africa was eye-opening. We had a number of incredible experiences and learned so much. Here are a few of the lessons we’ll take with us: Beware of Bad Reputations Egypt really does have a terrible reputation among travelers – mostly due to the touts (the people constantly trying to sell…
FAQ – How Well Did We Budget for Africa?
Leg 13 was our first time visiting Africa, our first new continent since 2019. I tried to budget a little high for this leg since there was a fair bit of uncertainty, even reallocating part of our year-end time-at-home budget to Africa. Turned out that wasn’t necessary and we finished the leg $455 under my…
Last Days in Cairo
We ended our time in Egypt back in Cairo where we could be ready to catch our flight home. This time we chose the island of Zamalek as our home base and I booked our Airbnb for 5 nights, though we left before sleeping on the fifth night to accommodate our 1 a.m. flight. Before…
Nubian Aswan with Abu Simbel
After our tough week in Luxor, we were eager to get to Aswan and see what life on Elephantine Island would be like. Our travel day was slightly stressful dealing with aggressive porters and the train delayed for over an hour, but we met a nice couple on the platform that made passing the time…
Overnight Train to a Week in Luxor
Luxor held the most spectacular sights of our trip to Egypt. I think it is a must-visit for any Egyptian itinerary. The week we spent there was probably a bit too long, even with balancing work with sightseeing (especially because we had internet issues there). But it was well worth it to see the amazing…
Three Days in Alexandria
Chad and I both love history, so we couldn’t resist spending three days of our Egypt itinerary to visit the famed city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. To be honest, I’m not sure it was worth it and we had many challenges during our time there. But we saw some…
Egypt Arrival and the Pyramids of Giza
Our arrival in Egypt involved a little bit of luck. When we checked in our luggage at the Nairobi airport, the airline asked to see our yellow fever vaccinations cards. Nowhere in my Egypt research did I find any mention of this being a requirement, and it appears that it is only so if you’re…