More changes - We are getting used to plans being changed. Originally we were to be picked up at 9am for our flight back to Cairo, but last night it was changed to 10am. So time for a final leisurely breakfast at Moevenpick Hurghada. This is a very luxurious hotel, such like I never expected on a VENUS Adventure, but very much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyable. It was pleasing to see a number of tourists still, but nowhere near capacity - a few f...

LL and I were met by our guide Nourden who took us out to Safari Land. Here we road a quad bike, drove a dune buggy, road a camel, had lunch and then squished in a van for a bumpy, dusty erratic drive through the desert to a bedouin camp All a bit ho-hum for us after all the amazing stuff we have seen and the brilliant places we've stayed and the delightful people we've met, but glad I did the trip anyway. The others in the van were from the UK and this was ...

Time to move on, and this time we head off to Hurghada. This was not part of our original itinerary, and has been added in place of the White Desert and then Fayoum. We headed out of Luxor and travelled through rural communities, hurtling along at 130kph amidst cars, trucks and donkey carts. As we got into the desert area we drove along a new highway - at 80 because it was monitored by radar. Yep - go figure. Nothing makes a lot of sense here in Egypt!!! ...

Luxor - Valey of the Kings OMG - Gobsmacking, Unbelievably amazing. The Venus brochure says "Just when you think you have seen enough temples and tombs to last you a lifetime, we visit the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor and the infamaous Valley of the Kings. See where the Kings of Egypt were mummified and laid to rest with all their treasures. Amazing." And it was. There are 63 tombs on this site and we visited just three of them. Carved into th...

We pulled back the curtains this morning at 5.30am to see hot air balloons floating by - so Leader Linda and I went up on to the deck to take photos. It was rather chilly up there - and because our room is air-conditioned I was expecting it to be warm outside and had just thrown my gelabaya on over top of my nightie- aha big mistake . The balloon ride had been an optional extra, but at $125 US we gave it a miss. I wasn't too worried as I did a balloon ride ...