| July 10th, 2010 | 6 Comments » | Greece, Travel
We pull up to the port of Santorini with no reservations. We’re hoping that we’ll find a better deal on accommodations by simply just showing up at the port and haggling a little bit with the hundreds of hotel and apartment owners. As we step off of the ferry we’re bombarded by these hotel hawkers yelling at us asking “Where do you want to stay?”. “Fira, Oia, Perissa”, they call out excitedly.
I step up to talk to a guy trying to advertise his hotel in the capital of Fira. He explains that his hotel is just two streets back from the famous “caldera” view. “Only 40 Euro per person” he says. I tell him to take a hike and all of a sudden a man steps into our circle and says “Why not try Perissa?”. I take a quick look at his brochure and after talking with him for a few minutes I feel that he’s somewhat trustworthy so we decide to spend the night at his place which is supposedly a two minute walk from the black volcanic sand beach known as “Perissa Beach”. I’m also thinking that we’ll check out the rooms first and get the free ride from the port to Perissa. If we don’t like the rooms, we walk down the road and find something else! 
| July 9th, 2010 | 6 Comments » | Greece, Travel
It’s just after midnight in Athens and we’re just arriving. We spent the last sixteen hours sitting at the Cairo International Airport and then we hopped on a very short two hour flight from Cairo to Athens. We’re exhausted!
We pass through immigration, snatch our bags from the luggage belt and find our way to the public bus which will bring us to Dafni. Dafni is bus station and also a metro station that is very near to where we’re staying tonight. The last time I spoke with our soon to be Couchsurfing host, she said she would meet us at the Dafni bus stop. Fifty minutes later we find ourselves at an empty bus stop. There’s not a soul in sight. It’s 1:00 AM and my mobile has no credit left on it. We’re two foreigners with oversized backpacks full of gear, and no backup plan. Plus, right about now we’re looking like the perfect targets for a robbery, something that happens quite often in Athens. Especially at night.
| July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments » | Egypt, Reviews, Travel
Greetings from Sham’s Restaurant here in Dahab!
We loved Sham’s so much that we ended up spending a lot of our days here. It’s okay though, because we have nothing else to do! Sham’s is a relaxing sea side restaurant with bedouin style seating with hundreds of big puffy pillows, colorful rugs, and small sit down coffee tables.
The staff make this place a fun atmosphere to hang out at, and one of the most important services that Sham’s offers is the free Wi-Fi internet. As far as food goes, Sham’s has the best value for the money. The food quality is excellent and tended to taste much better than the other restaurants that we tried during our visit to Dahab. The prices are on point and are much cheaper than our hotel’s restaurant (Penguin Restaurant).
We’re known here on a first name basis now. As I walk up to Sham’s each and every morning I hear one of the owners yell “Hey, my brother from another mother!”. They treat us very well here, and usually bring out desserts on the house, give us discounts on meals, and more. If you’re in Dahab and you’re looking for a chilled out spot with good food and good prices, head to Sham’s.
| June 30th, 2010 | 4 Comments » | Travel Video Spotlight, Travel Videos
Today’s Travel Video Spotlight is an video that we took while horseback riding on the beach in Dahab, Egypt. Our guide offered to take this video and as you can see it was a pretty shaky ride!
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| June 29th, 2010 | No Comments » | Egypt, Travel
There’s something about Dahab that makes us very sleepy. It must be something in the water. We’ve been lounging here for a week now and we pretty much do the same thing everyday. First we wake up and head down to our favorite sea side restaurant called “Sham’s” to grab breakfast and our early morning dose of free Wi-Fi. After an hour or three of lying in the Bedouin style seating we get up and head for a sunny spot so that Liz can catch some rays and I can swim like a fish.
Over the last few days we’ve tried our best to actually do at least one activity during our long days filled with napping, lounging, eating, swimming, snorkeling, and conversing with our friends about how great life can be when traveling the world.
Here’s a sneak peek on what we’ve been up to these last few days…
Swimming:
We hear that there’s a sandy beach called the “Lagoon” and it’s about a 30 minute walk from our hotel. It’s supposed to be a prime spot for swimming, snorkeling and especially windsurfing! About 20 minutes into our stroll down to the Lagoon, we’re offered a ride from a local named “Friday” and he takes us the rest of the way. When we arrive we’re amazed by how many shades of blue there are. There are hundreds of windsurfers here today, so many that I’m not sure how they avoid running into each other. I jump in and spend about an hour swimming around while Liz bakes in the sun.
There are many places to swim in Dahab, but if you want a sandy beach, the “Lagoon” is the place to go. If you’ve got water shoes, or flippers head straight into the sea at any point along the boardwalk and you’ll be sure to find all sorts of great swimming spots. You can swim along the whole coast if you’d like!
| June 25th, 2010 | 6 Comments » | Egypt, Travel
We’ve been in Dahab for three days now and we just absolutely LOVE this place. Our days consist of lounging around in the endless piles of pillows along the sea front, walking along the ocean, haggling at the shops, eating falafel, wasting our days away on the free sea side WIFI, snorkeling, and more.
We’re staying at a super cheap sea side budget hotel called Penguin Village. We’ve got a double room with ensuite bathroom, full sized bed, and air conditioning all for a measly 90EGP ($15 USD/per night). Our friend Crumb has his own single room with two twin beds, a fan, and shared bathroom and he’s paying only 40EGP ($7.03USD/per night). The rooms are immaculate and the grounds are extremely clean. This is the cleanest place we’ve been to in Egypt so far.
| June 21st, 2010 | 13 Comments » | Egypt, Travel
Our 4×4 tears off from our desert guides home. Were a group of nine; 5 in the first jeep, 4 in ours. A few miles from siwa and were entering the desert. Giant sand dunes surround our 1980 something Toyota land cruisers. There’s obviously no speed limit in the desert, our driver is making that quite apparent.
Five minutes into the desert and we’re climbing this huge dune. All of a sudden there’s a loud boom! The water pump explodes…
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When I had money in the past, I would always travel rather than spend it on big apartments or cars. And I still feel exactly the same way.
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