Back Home Again
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2009
1
52
Trip End
Nov 09, 2009
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
It has been a long, noisy flight and we search for some respite somewhere in the airport. We have a few hours to kill in Minneapolis so we head off to the Rock Bottom Restaurant which always has a good selection of their own brewed beers. We have a sampler tray and it doesn't disappoint. Their extra pale ale is an explosion of grapefruit flavor and aroma; their nut brown ale temps one with chocolate malt and a hint of raisin in the flavor; their wit beer is a nice subtle balance of orange and coriander. The best is their Copper Ale, a really nice amber colored English style pale ale with a great balance of hops and malt. To complement the beers, we have a Brewer's Cobb salad and a Hickory Burger with malt kettle chips. Mmmmm, really good.
Our flight to Edmonton leaves 20 minutes early as everyone booked on the flight has already boarded it. It is a really quiet flight, a welcome condition given our previous flight. We both fall asleep for most of the flight. It touches down at Edmonton International Airport at 11:30 PM. Like a botox injection, we feel the dry air already pulling our skin tight.
As good as our trip has been, as John Denver puts it, "hey, it's good to be back home again". The best thing about being back home again is the familiarity and comfort of being in your own home and community, and re-connect personally with family and friends.
Our friend Earl is waiting for us and gives us a ride home. We spend an hour with him reminiscing about our travels together in Egypt and Jordan and catching up on local events over a couple of beers that are left in the fridge by our daughter and son-in-law (who have been looking after our place while we were gone and practically drank us dry).
We want to thank all of you who have followed us on our great African adventure through this travel blog, and especially those who provided comments to us on our blog which we always looked forward to reading. We hope that it has given you a sense of Africa, although it has been through our eyes and experiences. It is an amazing continent and one worth visiting. Here's what we would recommend or not recommend.
Going on safari is a must, especially in a small group and in Kenya where the vehicles can get much closer to the big game than in Tanzania. We would recommend a lodge safari trip instead of a tented camp option because we found the standards in the tented camps, in our case, not to be consistent. The lodges are much more consistent in terms of standards of accommodation. As the tented camps cost more than the lodges, we found them not to be as good a value as using lodges only.
Zanzibar, as a destination, is fine if you are in the area anyways, but it can be expensive and there are cleaner beaches to be found elsewhere. The place where we stayed (Matemwe Beach Village) is very good for those who just want to get away from it all and relax.
From Johannesburg to Cape Town, consider independent travel. The roads are excellent. However, if it is high season, there could be a problem getting accommodation, particularly in the resort areas.
Cape Town is worth staying for awhile given the number of sights and things to do in the area, including the winelands. The Victoria and Alfred waterfront is fun, Table Top Mountain provides outstanding views of not only Cape Town but the surrounding area including Robben's Island, and there are plenty of good restaurants and wines to sample. We certainly recommend the Cape Town Lodge as a place to stay.
Cape Town to Victoria Falls has diverse scenery and excursions but involves great distances and the road will be gravel in places. Although possible, it would be a grind to drive on your own and try to sight see at the same time. We particularly liked doing this segment as a small group tour and our guides and travel mates really made it a lot of fun and very memorable.
Egypt has some amazing antiquities and an excellent road and rail infrastructure (we only recommend the first class or tourist trains though and, if traveling at night, get a sleeper car for sure).
Cairo is a really dirty, noisy, and over crowded city. The traffic is chaotic and pedestrians are like bait for vehicular traffic. You can expect to be hassled and conned most of the time. While it is not a relaxing or fun place to be, if you want to visit Egypt, you will likely have to be in Cairo for a part of it (after all, the Egyptian Museum, the pyramids and Sphinx are all located there).
Alexandria is not aging gracefully although its waterfront and library are worth seeing. Luxor has more artifacts and antiquities than anywhere else in Egypt and is cleaner, quieter, and not as crowded as Cairo. Aswan is even cleaner yet and has many nice settings on the Nile River for felucca rides and coffee shops and is the gateway to Abu Simbel, a must see.
Traveling within Egypt is difficult at the best of times. The country is fraught with inefficiencies. Not all speak English and that can be a barrier as well for visiting Egypt on your own. That means using a tour company, but we do not recommend using Imaginative Traveller for Egypt as they seem very disorganized in that region at the moment.
Jordan has a completely different attitude and feel than Egypt. The motorists actually give way to pedestrians and the shop keepers give you samples for free. The people are genuinely friendly and outgoing. It is a very clean country, with a more laid back and relaxing tempo, and there are plenty of sights (remember, this is part of the Holy Land) to keep you busy for more than a week. In fact, if you have the time and are so inclined, seeing the other Holy Land sights in Israel would be a worthwhile option.
Everyone likes a good ending to a story so here's our good news. Apparently our luggage has been located. It is still in Cairo (not surprisingly) and will hopefully rejoin us via London later this week. Hey, after traveling almost 45,000 km. (28,000 mi.) it's good to be back home again.
Comments
Hey Rose.....glad you are home safely. Wow what a trip you were on.....loved the blog and the song titles!! Hope to see you soon!
Excellent, I have come across your travels by accident and saw that you have travelled South Africa, our home country, We are Canadians now but our roots are in South Africa. So Glad you have enjoyed it. We travelled thru Cairo in July of 2001 and it seems to me that nothing has changed over there. The only reason why I would never go back to Egypt.