As I reflect on 2011, I need to be realistic. It was a good, educational and exciting year full of getting to know other cultures, exploring the world and trying new things. Like any year, though, 2011 had its down sides. I traveled and I loved, I lived and I lost. I’m a private person [...]

Muslim countries aren’t exactly full of Christmas joy at this time of year. Yet for the second year in a row I, an avid lover of all things Christmassy, find myself living in such a country on Christmas. Last year it was Sharjah, UAE, an ultra-conservative Islamic emirate on the Persian Gulf. This year it’s [...]

When I was just passing through Dahab, Egypt for the first time last June I didn’t have time to discover of one the most popular local dishes. This is probably because this meal is not commonly served at the scores of restaurants where travelers head along its main street. Once I settled into the heart [...]

I’m privileged to have my eyes so often opened to the ways of the rest of the world as I travel a little and spend a lot of time living like a local. While I’ve found that my native land of America has more stuff than most countries, other countries actually have some things that [...]

Note: The area in Cairo that is the subject of this post was an anomaly, as it was directly in the center of the recent protests. The rest of Cairo was its normal wonderfully chaotically calm self. After months of media reports on the Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath, it may seem as if violent [...]

Last week I traveled overland from the very bottom of Egypt to almost its very top and back again when I took a cross-country private van trip from Dahab to Cairo, courtesy of my favorite tour company in the world, King Safari Dahab and then a bus trip back to Dahab. When I climbed in [...]

I had no intention of going into Tahrir Square yesterday. I’d been through the area once before when I visited the Egyptian Museum in October of 2009 during my first trip to Cairo. Back then, long before the January 2011 revolution during which thousands of people were injured and hundreds killed, I hadn’t even realized [...]

Can eating a delicious meal at a lovely seaside outdoor restaurant be totally spoiled by a dozen flies landing on your plate? I can only guess the answer is yes. Thankfully I am not positive because when I and the aforementioned flies were dining on a delicious meal after I snorkeled in the Blue Hole [...]