Not-So-Monthly Travel Update: From Middle East to Middle Europe

As we’re about to disconnect from stable Internet for nearly the next month, we figured that now would be a most opportune time to give a quick travel update since our last not-so-monthly update from back in August having just left the Philippines!

Now we’ve been roaming around the world on this non-stop adventure for the past 21 ½ months and we marked a milestone this month by visiting our 50^th country!

But enough with the pleasantries. This is a big fat update covering our travels through the Middle East and our return to Europe, so lets get to it!

Dubai & Egypt at a Glance:

• Time Period: 19 days
• Countries: 2
  • United Arab Emirates, Oman (transit only), Egypt
• Number of beds slept in: 6
• Distance: 2,858 miles
• Place-to-place transport segments: 6
  • Planes: 2
  • Boats: 1
  • Trains: 2
  • Busses: 1
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites Visited: 3
  • Historic Cairo, The Pyramid Fields, Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis

Route & Highlights of Roaming Around Middle East

Our Middle East adventures began after a nine-hour flight from Manila to Dubai. The UAE was never initially on our itinerary but a series of cheap flights made for a nice fit into our ever-evolving route. Ultimately we enjoyed our stay in this ultramodern city, far more than we expected! We managed to really pack in a few days of fun here and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as hard on the budget as we anticipated.

Oh My, Check Out Dubai!

Upon arriving, we immediately realized how much we missed Middle Eastern food. After months gorging on different Asian cuisine, all of those delicious olives and fresh cheeses were such a welcomed return to our diet that was a pleasant shock to our tastebuds. Yum!

After filling our bellies with as much hummus as possible, we set out to explore the vast open desert that encompasses the area, so we set off on 4x4s to check it out and revisit our camel friends.

Racing around a new city for a day of DIY sightseeing is becoming a favorite pastime for us and Dubai was no exception. We quickly understood that everything is Dubai is done big and to excess, from the crazy skyscrapers lining the marina to the pounds of gold being sold at the souks. Of course, we had to make a pit stop at the largest mall in the world (Dubai Mall) and the tallest building in the world (Burj Kalifa). We were simply fascinated by the grandiosity of everything! Yet perhaps our favorite activity in Dubai was our skiing experience. With temps hovering in excess of 110 (F), what better way to cool off than in the winter wonderland of Ski Dubai to try out their indoor ski runs? It was awesome! Well, perhaps it wasn’t quite as much fun for Heather. #Fail.

 

Having seen what is currently the tallest building in the world, we then had our course set to see the structure holding this designation for nearly 4,000 years! We were heading to Egypt! So from Dubai, we made a quick layover in Muscat, Oman before arriving in Cairo as the sun set over the Sahara Desert.

Entering Egypt

What a difference a 1,500 miles makes! While Dubai felt like we had walked into a land of the future, in Cairo we felt like we had stepped back in time. Cairo will remain among the most chaotic cities we’ve had the pleasure of visiting. We were taken back, from our first few minutes in the taxi as our driver shouted at other motorists in attempts to get directions to the Great Pyramids while horse & buggies trotted alongside us on a congested highway and accidents ensued. Welcome to Cairo!

We were thankful to have stayed in Giza, outside of the city, where we could easily get to the Great Pyramids. The renowned site lived up to its fame and we felt so fortunate to be visiting at a time where we had this ancient wonder all to ourselves! It was indeed hot, crazy hot (115+ F), but totally worth the experience!

After taking in a full day of chaos in downtown Cairo, we hopped on the overnight train to Luxor to embark on one of the few remaining Nile river cruises which began our wonderful southbound journey up the world’s longest river. I won’t recount about this awesome 4-day excursion in this post because immediately upon disembarking we wrote all about why this Nile River Cruise was our highlight of Egypt.

The Nile River cruise ended in Aswan but our journey continued with a train ride back to Luxor for a night, before continuing onward towards the Red Sea. After this fast pace of travel in the scorching heat in this sometimes-hectic country, we simply wanted a place to chill out so we could work on our upcoming travel plans in Europe. When uncovering some deals on all-inclusive resorts in Hurghada, it became a no-brainer to snag one to let the relaxation ensue.

But what we really came to Egypt’s Red Sea area for was to get salty! There’s a vast marine eco-system underwater here that we just had to explore. We were thrilled to go on a few dives in the open ocean and countless snorkels right from the shore of our hotel, which we were pleasantly surprised to have a quite healthy reef that we could pop right into!

But after kicking back our last few beers on the beach during of our all-inclusive week, it was time to bid farewell and hop on our flight to Europe. See our full travel guide post which details our two week Egypt itinerary on a budget.

EuroTripping at a Glance

Note: the stats below also reflects our upcoming travels until leaving Europe.

• Time Period: 45 days
• Countries: 8
  • Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia
  • Forthcoming: Austria (transit only), Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom
• Number of beds slept in: 19
• Distance: 2,482 miles
• Place-to-place transport segments: 19
  • Planes: 0
  • Boats: 5
  • Trains: 3
  • Busses: 12
  • Shuttle/Car: 2
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites Visited: 6
  • Budapest, Durmitor National Park, Kotor, Old City of Dubrovnik, Historical Complex of Split, and Plitvice Lakes National Park

Roaming Around Europe – Route & Highlights

Our first stop in Europe was Budapest.

Mo’ Baggage, Mo’ Problems

We arrived on time but unfortunately my bag did not. Heather carried-on but I checked my baggage, which contained all of my belongings other than my laptop. I arrived to Europe with literally the shirt on my back and the shoes and pants I was wearing.

Unfortunately, much of our time in Budapest was spent trying to track down my bag and finding a fresh pair of underwear. After about ten days of the missing bag debacle, we received a text from my mother informing us that my pack had somehow landed on her doorstep in Florida. WTF!? But at least my huge bag got a free ride home and I get to pick up some new clothes thanks to our travel insurance policy!

Beginning in Budapest

Despite this little baggage fiasco, we still managed to squeeze in some time to explore Budapest and absolutely loved it! The architecture, the Danube River, the food, the beer, the ruin pubs, and the incredible value all made it a winner in our book! We fell hard for Budapest.

The Syrian Migrant Crisis in Budapest

Yet something interesting about our visit was that it coincided with the rise in media coverage of the ongoing Syrian migrant crisis. Our hotel was situated directly at the Keleti Train Station where the migrant transit stations were set up. We tried to do what we could to help. While I was on my shopping spree to replace my clothes, I picked up a few extra packets of t-shirts to donate and we grabbed a few doner kebabs to help fuel their arduous northbound journey. It’s not much but hopefully it helps and we’ve continued offering up warm smiles whenever passing ways.

And despite what the media was reporting we were actually warmed at times when catching glimpses of children running around laughing while their parents sat nearby playing cards to pass the time. Despite the unfathomable tragedies they’re facing, it was consoling to occasionally catch a few smiles back.

Barging into Belgrade

From Budapest we took to the rails to make our way southbound to the Balkans. Our first stop in traveling to these former Yugoslavian nations was Belgrade, Serbia where we enjoyed walking around town as much as the rakija we drank (both were quite good).

Marvelous Montenegro

We then continued onward to Montenegro and our first line of business was exploring Durmitor National Park. We even took to zipline to soar over Europe’s deepest canyon!

 

Our travels progressed towards the coast, first to Budva and then to Kotor, where we got our first tastes of the scenic walled old towns that apparently fill the area. We could spend hours walking through the labyrinth of narrow alleyways in the ancient walled city of Kotor. We just loved Montenegro overall and it has become one of our most unsuspectingly awesome detours over the past years.

Coastal Croatia

Eventually, we bussed our way to Croatia, which became the 50^th country we visited! We started our journey here using a network of ferries to make our own island hopping tour over the span of nearly two weeks, with stops in Dubrovnik, Mljet, Korcula, Hvar, and finally Split.

We have mix feelings about our time exploring the Dalmatian Coast. It had been a while since we’d been to locations where there are selfie-stick waving tourists swarming around a seemingly endless array of candy stores, gelato shops, and nightclubs, all with pretty high prices to match. It was a bit of a turn-off. We regret not getting off the beaten path a bit more throughout Croatia and that’s our fault.

But the Dalmatian Coast was more beautiful than we had even imagined. We really can’t blame people for flocking to the southern Croatian coast. It is absolutely stunning! The incredibly blue ocean waters against these fabled old cities was like something out of a painting.

Each island offered its own unique qualities and features. But our highlight among the five Dalmatian Coast destinations we visited was cycling around the vineyards surrounding the remote village of Lumbarda on the island of Korcula. This provided an incredible day of tasting the one-of-a-kind Grk wine, which is only produced here and bottles of this ultra rare wine tend to not make it far off the island. This was the Croatia experience we were looking for!

Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

Beyond Split, we ventured inland where we were absolutely delighted by Plitvice National Park. As if Croatia’s islands weren’t gorgeous enough, she stuns us again with more natural beauty of the countless waterfalls that flow all throughout the area!

We Heart Zagreb

We then reached the unassuming capital of Croatia, Zagreb, which turned out to be our favorite city in the country! Sometimes there’s just something intangible about a place that captures that delights you and that is exactly what was Zagreb did to us.

Slipping Into Slovenia

Next up was Slovenia but the our train was canceled due to border closings caused by the migrant crisis. It seemed that we may be stuck in Croatia for a while but we thankfully were offered a lift from some other travelers heading our direction.

Once across the border, we made a beeline for Lake Bohinj so we could attend the annual Cows’ Ball. This annual event which marks the cows’ return from high pasture coincided with my birthday, so it was a really fun and random way to celebrate!

We then bussed over to a place called Lake Bled, which is somewhere right out of a fairy tail. There are castles on cliff sides, churches on islands, and graceful white swans swimming all over the place. We were simply planning to use Lake Bled as a base to hike around a bit and explore the Julian Alps but have since discovered this is a destination all to itself!

Continuing in Slovenia, we crossed a few mountains to the small village of Bovec where more hiking and seemingly endless adventure activities have awaited us. Our pick: whitewater rafting!

And finally we’ve come to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, which has been a picturesque place for us to regroup before our onward travels.

As I write this update, we are savoring our final few days in an actual bed. During the next week we’ll be sleeping in a tent and a series of overnight busses before injecting a little luxury back into our travels. Its gonna get interesting!

Where We’re Roaming Around Next:

Oktoberfest or Bust!

From Slovenia, we’re catching a bus to Munich to take in the final days of the world’s ultimate beer bash, Oktoberfest! We’re going to be camping out for four full days of insanity in Munich. If you want to peek into our drunken shenanigans, connect with us on SnapChat, where we’ll be making our SnapChat debut by embarrassing ourselves at Oktoberfest. Expect blurry beer-fueled updates from the big event, which won’t ever make their way onto the blog. If nothing else, we just hope to give you a few laughs.

Our username is: roamaroundworld or you can scan this QR code.

Belgium Bound

After our best attempts of partying hard for four days straight, we’ll try to catch some sleep on an overnight bus to Brussels, where we’ll have a good twelve hours to walk around in a daze. By then delirium should be setting in, so we’ll look forward to returning to one of my favorite beer cafes in Belgium, as if we didn’t get our fill of ale in Germany. (For those of you familiar with Brussels, you’ll get the pun I just did there.)

From England to Florida… on a Boat!

Hopefully we’ll manage to catch our next overnight bus, which will dump us off in Dover, England in the wee morning hours. It’s here that we’ll be upgrading our standard of living as we transfer onto the Norwegian Star. This repositioning cruise will be giving us a lift all the way from England back to Florida. What’s kind of crazy is that we will have made it all the way from Budapest, Hungary back to Florida without taking a single flight!

Its going to be quite the change camping and partying with a bunch of young drunken teens & twenty-somethings at Oktoberfest to then completely switch gears as we try blend in with the mostly older crowd at the bar on formal night on this cruise ship. Each are so completely different scenes that we don’t fit in with entirely, yet somehow we enjoy ’em both very much. Its all part of the fun we have with our unique travel style of mixing it up!

During the 13 day voyage across the Atlantic, we’ll be making a stop in the Azore islands and then again in Miami before ultimately winding up in Tampa.

Yet after a month and a half of rushing around Europe at a fairly fast pace, we’re just looking forward to relaxing, maybe getting a little work done, finally writing some looooooooong overdue blog posts (stay tuned!), and perhaps making use of our ultimate beverage package by indulging in a few cocktails (if our livers are still functioning). Yet after having spent the prior week sleeping in tents and busses, we’ll simply be looking forward to having an actual bed again!

The End?

Is that the end of our travels? So what’s next after Florida? 

Oh, calm down!

Once in Florida, we plan to visit friends & family while rediscovering what makes our home state so awesome. We’re going to spend a few days in the Tampa area, where we once lived, before returning to my hometown of Fort Lauderdale. Then we’ll figure out what “next” is.

See Ya Next Update!

As always, thanks for joining us on this weird little journey of ours! Its been a lot of fun for us to expose some of these far flung destinations as we make our way around the world. And we just love being able to interact with all of you awesome people, who our joining us for the ride virtually (yay technology!).

Since we’ll be camping, on busses, and in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean we may not be posting as regularly, but we’ll be trying to keep our Facebook feed alive and maybe fumbling around with snapchat if there’s enough of you to play with on there. And we’ll be sure to post another no-so-monthly update at some point once we’re back in the US and we do figure out what’s “next!”

So until then, happy travels to you! Wish us luck as we make this final push back to complete our circumnavigation of the world!