My Birthday with Pharaohs in Egypt

Trip date: December 2022 

Last year I finally was able to visit a country that had been on my list since I was a kid; Egypt! My friends and I went for my birthday, Christmas, and New Years. It was amazing!

I flew from Seattle to London on Virgin Atlantic. Virgin had had a points transfer deal which made my Chase points worth 30% more so I booked into their Upper Class which I had never flown and was excited about. Virgin shares the Delta Lounge at SeaTac, which is really a great lounge, so I had a lovely snack paired with champagne before boarding my overnight flight. 

I always love a layflat bed when flying but I have to say that the configuration of Virgin's B787 was not good. All the "pods" face into the aisle (instead of forward) and have their back to the window. This means you are facing everyone; so weird!

Service was very good, all my food was fine (the airplane salt & pepper shakers were a cute touch), goodie bag was basic, but the jammies were great! I wouldn't choose to fly this particular metal again but that is a first world problem, I am aware. 

In London I met my friend Caitlin at our terminal for our Egyptair flight to Cairo where we would be connecting on to Luxor. As we waited to board we found out that Egyptair is a dry airline, aka no alcohol served onboard due to their Muslim ownership, but you could BYOB! So I grabbed a couple of mini bottles of wine and away we went. 

I had booked my London-Cairo-Luxor flights using miles via Amex so was also in business class. The layflat seat was very comfy and there was a ton of room! I asked the flight attendant for a glass for my wine and had a very enjoyable flight. Unfortunately Egyptair is known for being delayed and our flight was 2 hours late getting into Cairo, meaning we had missed our connection to Luxor (with our friends Forest and Thibault on it!).

Egyptair was very helpful though and not only put us up in a hotel but let us choose the Marriott which was in the airport. Since I am Marriott Gold they gave Caitlin and I a huge room with a lovely big bathroom. We ordered up some room service and caught up, forgoing any actual sleep as we had a 4am wake up call for our rebooked 6am flight. TOO EARLY!

Our 1 hour flight to Luxor was uneventful, I was even served a good breakfast and coffee in nice china in business class. We landed at Luxor airport, picked up some gin in duty free, and grabbed a taxi to meet our friends at the Embrace Hotel on the west bank. 

Dec 22nd, my birthday, and boy did we hit the ground running! We got to the hotel at about 9am and our private guide picked us up at 10am for our day in the Valley of the Kings. Hiring a private guide, we used Gaber and booked thru Yalla Travel, meant that we had an Egyptologist and a driver for 3 days to show us around and more importantly to explain the over THREE THOUSAND YEAR OLD history of what we would be seeing. 

As soon as we were on the road heading west to the Valley, Gaber was pointing out excavation sites, ruined statues, and other tombs in the hills. It was absolutely surreal! All of the area is an excavation site basically. I was thrilled!!

There are 63 tombs in the valley and 11 are open to the public, but not all on the same day. We chose to visit 4 of them, including Tutankhamun's (did you know he was buried in Luxor?).

Our first tomb was KV14 which was originally built for Queen Twosret, who was the last ruler of the 19th dynasty of Egypt. She was buried here in 1189BC. The tomb was then reused and extended by Setnakhte, the first pharaoh of the 20th dynasty. It was very unusual for a tomb to be used like this and also makes it one of the largest tombs in the valley. For an idea of the the layout of these tombs this site is fascinating! 

Next we toured KV11 which is the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses III. Setnakhte originally started this tomb but abandoned the project when they accidently broke into the tomb of Amenmesse! 

KV62 is everyone's favorite child pharoah, King Tutankhamun. Immediately upon entering you go down a set of stairs and through a small hall before entering a chamber where Tut's body is on display! This isn't the burial chamber, you continue just a bit to enter into that small but lavish room. It's just incredible that you can be that close to the 2000 year old mummy!

And finally KV6 the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses IX. The walls of the entrance here are covered completely in hieroglyphics but as you continue on the decorations aren't complete. They think that maybe the had to rush the finish when the pharaoh died.

Nothing can prepare you for walking into these tombs. The fact that the colors on the walls are still so distinct is mind blowing. It would be very easy to spend the day here but we had more to see! 

A short distance away we stopped at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, built into the base of the cliffs just outside of Luxor. It looks like a movie set!

 

Queen Hatshepsut was the wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and reigned from 1479 BC until 1458 BC. She is remembered as one of Egypt's greatest rulers. 

This 3-level temple took 15 years to build and was like nothing else at the time. Originally there were rows of sphinxes guiding you to the 900 foot long building adorned with 22 Hathor columns. There are chapels dedicated to various gods and walls covered with reliefs of every known plant and animal in all of Egypt. It's truly a marvel.  

The entire complex was to be used as a place for people to worship Hatshepsut in her death and to remember her greatness. Unfortunately her stepson Thutmose III hated her. After her death he tried to erase her existence by removing her name from buildings, demolishing statues of her, monuments, etc. There's a lot of drama with these pharaohs! 

And all of this was before lunch!! Gaber took us to a restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the nearby fields for some traditional Egyptian food. And then we were off again...

Next we visited Medinet Habu. There is so much history at this site! Originally Hatshepsut built this as a Temple to the god Amun in the early 18th Dynasty. 

Then Ramesses III had more construction done to make it his Mortuary Temple. It's a huge complex with courtyards, temples, storage rooms, a palace, etc. It was very cool seeing this after visiting his tomb earlier in the day.

When you visit these sites you will see security men keeping an eye on things in the ruins. They will also offer to show you areas and rooms not open to the public... for a fee. It's a good idea to keep 5 and 10 Egyptian Pounds (20-30 cents each) in your pockets for this. We were shown a few interesting spaces including the area where animal sacrifices were made. 

It was late in the day when we visited and the light was just beautiful! And we were the only people there by the time we left. Honestly, this site wasn't on our list but our guide Gaber recommended it and I'm so glad he did! It's his favorite as he grew up in the village next to it and he use to play in the ruins as a kid! Amazing!! 

We made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon on the way back to our hotel, which were built in 1350 BC as part of a massive temple that no longer stands. 

And then it was time to have a drink, get cleaned up, and go out for my birthday dinner! We went to Marsam which is inside a very cool hotel by the same name. The food was great, and the restaurant served wine (most don't since it's a Muslim country), and the company was even better!

Happy Birthday to me! In Egypt!!

All Luxor photos here. 

Other posts from this trip:
Day 2 & 3 in Luxor, Egypt
Four Nights on the Nile
48 Hours in Aswan, Egypt
New Year's Eve Inside Egypt's Pyramids
Exploring Cairo
48 Hours in Dubai, UAE
Emirates International First Class

Santa Fe Weekend

Trip date: April 2023

I had never been to New Mexico so I asked my friend Gail if she wanted to do a weekend in Santa Fe. We used one of my Alaska $99 Companion Fare certificates and flew in Premium class after work on a Thursday. Unfortunately our flight ended up being 1 ½ hours late; fortunately we both have access to the Amex Centurion Lounge at SeaTac. 

We flew into Albuquerque and while joking with the car rental agent at Alamo about getting an upgrade, their manager offered us a brand new Chevy convertible for the same price as our basic car. Nice!

It was about a 1 hour drive to the Marriott La Posada de Santa Fe. Gail had stayed here before and was excited about returning but when we checked into our room we were in a very old room with 2 Queens and a tiny bathroom. We had been upgraded to a room with a patio but the only place for my suitcase was in front of the patio door so we didn't use it. It was really too bad as the rest of the property looked pretty nice and many of the rooms had wood fireplaces! We were both disappointed.

Because of our flight delay, it was too late for dinner but we had a couple of nightcaps in the bar, which also had fireplaces burning the local piñon wood which smells incredible. 

The next morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel. New Mexico is known for their Christmas sauce, which is both red and green chili sauce on your enchilada's. It is absolutely delicious, and much spicier than I expected! Especially at breakfast!

On the agenda was a visit to Ten Thousand Waves spa. It's about 30 minutes outside of the city, situated up in the hills. We chose to park in the lower parking lot and walk up the 90 steps to the reception. 

Modeled after a traditional onsen, they offer public or private baths, and also a foot bath. There are also meditation rooms, a sauna, and a great gift shop. We soaked in the foot bath and then the public bath before each having a massage. The masseuses each had their own little rooms they worked out of. It was incredibly relaxing and we both loved our visit here!

Back in town we hit up Coyote Cafe for a late lunch of nachos and margaritas. So good!

Afterwards we walked around the corner to Gruet's tasting room. We had reservations, and it was a good thing as it filled up right after we arrived! The tasting room is beautiful and their sparkling wines are delicious. What a fun afternoon!

On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at Joe's Tequila Bar which is inside the Inn at the Alameda. I was quite impressed with their selection and their service. It was the first time I had tequila served with orange and cinnamon and I liked it!

On Saturday we started our day at The Teahouse where I had a huge breakfast burrito. Then we made the hour drive to Bandelier National Monument. Wow! What an incredible area this is! 

We took the Pueblo Loop Trail, which is very easy and takes you past the remains of an indigenous village that had about 400 people living in and near around it about 500 years ago. Walking through the ruins was awesome but you could really see the layout once you walked up into the hills a bit.

In these surrounding hills are over a thousand caves that were dug into the soft rock and used as dwellings. Many of them are accessible by ladder, all of them are super tiny inside!

As we continued along the trail there were areas with ancient petroglyphs. You barely had to search for them they were so obvious!

When we got to the Alcove trail we headed toward the large cave which is located 140 feet above the floor of Frijoles Canyon. It is believed that around 25 Ancestral Pueblo people lived here between 1250 and 1600 AD.

We decided to climb up. Eek! There are a series of 4 wooden ladders as well as some stone stairs. I'm not the best with heights (fear of falling!) and there were a lot of people but Gail was a great coach!

It was much harder coming down, for me anyway. My arms definitely got shaky and I had a little vertigo, but once you are up there, there isn't any other choice but to also climb down. I've never been in anything like it before and I was super glad we did it!

It was a stunning drive back to Santa Fe, cold and sunny, we had the top down and the heat cranked up!

Back in town we had another late lunch, this time outside at the Plaza Cafe. Afterwards we did some shopping at a few of the pottery galleries.

We decided to do a little happy hour cocktail crawl starting at Secreto which is inside the Hotel St. Francis.

Drinks were good and it's quite a fun vibe; they have a nice little patio also but it was full when we were there. We walked over to La Fonda and for another margarita before heading back to our hotel for some tacos. La Fonda is known for the bar up in their bell tower but it wasn't open for the season yet.

Sunday was Easter and we hadn't made any big brunch plans so we headed back to Plaza Cafe for a last enchiladas with Christmas sauce outside in the sun with mimosas.

We spent the rest of our day touring through some of the art galleries, shopping for chili powder, and checking out the Loretto Chapel and its mysterious staircase. Spoiler alert... it's a spiral staircase that reportedly was built by a mysterious carpenter, without anyone witnessing him. 

I was much more interested in going inside the Cathedral but as it was Easter weekend it was open for mass only. 

Before heading to the airport for our evening flight home, we drove to Happy Accidents cocktail bar in Albuquerque for one round. It's super fun, has a huge selection of tap cocktails, and a wonderfully nice staff. I highly recommend a stop if you are in the area!

It's an 8 minute drive to the airport from there. Easy peasy!

All New Mexico photos here. 

Exploring Corsica

Trip date: September 2022

The Mediterranean island of Corsica, or Corse as it is called by its country of France, is quite an unique place to visit!

Corsica is thought to be settled in about 560 BCE during the Mesolithic period. Corsicans are pretty fiercely Corsican first, French a distant 2nd! The island birthplace of Napoleon was purchased from the Genoese in 1767 and many locals still would like to see independance. They speak Corsu as well as French (and many speak Italian). They have their own very distinctive flag with an image of a (supposedly) decapitated Moor head on it, representing defeating the Moors in ancient wars. 

Corsica is also incredibly beautiful and is known for its lush mountains, pristine beaches, and postcard-worthy vistas. Forest and I flew in from Marseille and met up with our friend Nicola in the capital city of Ajaccio. We had a 3-bedroom Airbnb with some seriously fantastic views of the sea. 

We spent a lot of time on our terrace, eating Corsican cheeses and charcuterie, drinking Corsican wines, and watching the big ferries come in and out of the port. It was very relaxing and the scenery was just fantastic!

We also did a wonderful hike at Pointe de la Parata which has one of the 90 Genoese towers built in 1550 to defend the Corsican coasts against invaders. It's a bit of a steep and rocky climb to the top where the tower is but the views of the Îles Sanguinaires were a great reward!

The 2 ½ mile loop skirts around the point and has beautiful views from all sides. It's an easy hike, except for the tower!

We then drove down to Marinella beach and had a very fun lunch at KOS. The location absolutely can not be beat! It's stunning, staff was good fun, and all of our food was quite tasty. If you are around this area I'd definitely plant yourself here for a glass or two of rosé!

After a couple of days in Ajaccio, we set off for Bonifacio on the very south tip of the island. It's a 2 ½ drive so we had plenty of time for a few stops along the way. 

The first was the seaside town of Propriano; the drive through the mountains was absolutely beautiful! 

Once in town we did a short hike along the coast and down to the beach. The color of the ocean was stunning and the wind was crazy strong!

We had a quick, and not very good, lunch in a random cafe and then continued our drive to the medieval town of Sartène. I think our Airbnb host had recommended a stop here, it's a super cute tiny town built into the hillside. 

We walked around a bit and did some shopping for some local cheese and charcuterie for apero hour.

The rest of the drive to Bonifacio was just stunning! It was all mountains, cliffs, and sea!

Unfortunately that is where the day turned a bit poor. We had a hell of a time finding our Airbnb and when we finally did it was NOTHING like what we thought we had rented. It had been listed as a bungalow and apparently that means trailer home in French. Not only was it an absolute dump but the 3 rooms were so tiny I could barely walk into my room! And we were in the middle of nowhere! Luckily we had a lot of snacks and salad makings for dinner and of course a good traveling bar!

Nicola called the hosts and explained that this would not work for us, I went online and booked us a hotel in Bonifacio proper, the next day we checked out of our trailer home and checked into Hôtel A Madonetta (which was a great location and fine room but pretty surly service).

Bonifacio is a tiny and beautiful town that sits right on the Mediterranean with Sardinia just an hour away by ferry. It was super windy so we scrapped plans for lunch in Italy and decided to take the tourist train up to the citadel. Sounds very unlike me, but that is one steep climb to the top and none of us had slept well in the trailer!! The little train gave us great views of the yachts in the harbour and also the commercial boats in the port before dropping us off in the upper town, the oldest on the island.

We made our way through the tiny pedestrian only streets and found the King of Aragon's Staircase, steps build directly into the rock wall, for some more amazing views.

Because of the wind, it wasn't advisable to do the entire walk, so we decided to grab lunch at U Castille. What a great meal we had! We were seated in an old room with a stone walls and vaulted ceilings. The restaurant is known for their traditional cuisine so I had their fish soup, which was served with rouille (similarly to Marseille's bouillabaisse) but this soup was very smooth. 

I also had the wild boar stew and raspberry souffle ice cream. Yum! Highly recommend a stop here if you are in town.

We wandered around some more after lunch, exploring the little ally's and doing some shopping along the way. It's a super cute medieval town!

Nic decided to head back to the hotel for a bit so Forest and I found a little café overlooking the incredible limestone cliffs and watched them change colors in the light while having some rosé. We walked back down to the lower town at sunset and had a casual pizza dinner at one of the many restaurants that line the port.

The next day Forest and I decided to hike up to the cliffs; Nic wasn't feeling well so stayed back at the hotel. This time there was no tourist train! We walked through town, up the steep streets to the citadel and then headed left over to the trail that runs along the cliffs we had been viewing the day before. Now we could see the walled city that is perched up high.

We could also see Sardinia out in the distance. It was interesting to get closer to the limestone, it's so unique looking, and to peer down at the little coves that line the shore. There were others on the trail but it wasn't crowded at all and it took us about 1 ½ hours round trip from the port. It was really a beautiful hike! 

We grabbed some very good burgers back in town for lunch and then met up with Nicola. Forest drove us to the local Figari airport to pick up a rental car, as Nic and I had our flight out of Ajaccio the next morning.  We had a tiny Fiat which made the 2 ½ drive on the twisty roads a little nerve wracking. It also decided to dump rain for a while!

Back in Ajaccio, we had rooms at the Holiday Inn which was super close to Bonaparte airport. Nic and I went grocery shopping for some things to bring home and then had drinks and dinner on the hotel property. The rooms were very nice for a Holiday Inn!

At 7:30am the next day we headed to the airport to return the car, but really we could have gone an hour later as it took no time at all and there isn't much of anything to do at the airport except shop for local specialities which we had already done at the grocery store.

By the way, if you visit Corsica don't pass on the local Canistrelli cookies! You can find them everywhere, in both sweet and savory varieties. They are similar to a biscotti and are fabulous!

We were on Easy Jet for the quick 1 hour 50 minute flight to CDG. I said goodbye to Nicola, collected my bag, rechecked in with Air Canada for my flight home, and was in the Maple Leaf Lounge just 45 minutes after landing! 

I had booked Business Class from CDG to Montreal with points and my pod was quite nice and comfortable. Air Canada was still following COVID guidelines so masks were still mandatory which was a bit strange. They also didn't pass out any toiletry bag which is very typical on international flights. The food was great, including my foie gras! And I had a nice snooze on the 7 ½ flight to Canada. 

In YUL it took quite a while to get through customs and security; I was very glad to have Global Entry to speed things up a bit. The Maple Leaf Lounge here had smoked meat sandwiches which was very Montrealian! 

Then I was on my way home, 5 ½ hours to Seattle in Business Class on a 737, so no lay flat but still a very pleasant flight.

Corsica is absolutely beautiful so if you get a chance to go, do it! The roads are very twisty and it takes longer than you think to get around so take that into consideration when deciding where to stay. 

All Corsica photos here.

Other posts from this trip:

Paris For Free
Paris by the Numbers 
(Michelin) Stars in Paris

36 Hours in Marseille