Dubai, Cairo, Rome, and Home!

So I realize I never got to post about my travels after Kenya!  Some of you may be a little concerned! Hopefully not.  But I just wanted to do one final post about my trip about how I got from Kenya back to the United States.  I was coerced into making a stop in Cairo, Egypt while in Africa to visit some friends.  It made a lot of sense because I was already on that side of the Atlantic Ocean, which is by far the most expensive leg of traveling internationally.  I kind of planned it where I would just have a three day layover in Cairo.
My flight from Nairobi to Cairo also had a layover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  The layover was over night from about 11 PM to 8 AM and I didn't have to retrieve my bag.  I found a cab driver that spoke some English, and got him to help me find a nice area of Dubai to walk around.  Many people either love or hate Dubai for how clean and modern it looks.  The whole city is basically high-rise condominiums and business offices.  From what I understand, the city seems to pride itself on not being a residential place, but more a place of temporary residence and a destination for business.  I walked around a canal area with lots of shops.  The canal was filled with yachts, and surrounded by massive sky scrapers.  It was quite a sight.  I walked all the way down the canal until it led to the PERSIAN GULF!  I was kind of on the wrong side of the canal where, instead of beaches, there were industrial ports.  But after climbing through a couple fences and scaling some rocks, I found a small beach and put my feet in the gulf, just to say that I did.  It was about 3 AM by the time I accomplished this feat.  I then took a cab back to the airport to await my next flight.

The yachts in the middle of the city.  Pretty crazy sight!

Finally 8 AM rolled around and I boarded my flight to Cairo.  My time in Cairo was nothing short of magical- for a number of reasons.  One of which was just that my guest house had a clothes washing machine AND A DRYER!  This was the first one I had seen in all of Africa, I'm pretty sure.  Even my friends that live in Cairo were jealous.  But I also had the best tour guides that helped me see all the incredible sights the ancient city had to offer.  I'll just try to speak about each experience with photos!

Two of the Pyramids of Giza and then on the far right is the Sphinx.
Overlooking an area full of ruins from old temples and tombs.

Tourists standing at the entrance to the Great Pyramid.

I don't think any photo I've ever seen does justice to how massive
the pyramids are.  They are literally man-made mountains that tower
over ever high-rise of Cairo.  You can see them from most anywhere
in the city. 

Climbing up into the Great Pyramid!  It is a serious hike!
I have way more respect for Indiana Jones now.  It is pretty steep in there.

The power was out in one of the pyramids, which just made it
even more fun and adventurous.  Taking photos of hieroglyphics by
flashlight and iPhone light.

There were these beautiful stars engraved into the roof of the chamber
inside one of the pyramids.

The color in these carvings is the original color that was painted
probably around 3000 BCE.  So insane.

Here you can see the oldest pyramid which you can go inside,
and next to it is another early pyramid that is more squared off
at each level.  It is called the "Step Pyramid."

Our driver jokingly pointing at a sign that reads "no cameras in tombs."
I definitely took my camera in, with the support of the guards.

The power was out in this chamber also.  Only flashlights and the flash
of my camera illuminated these sarcophagi.  There were 24 along a long
hallway in this chamber.  Each was made to hold one sacrificial water buffalo.
Don't ask me why.

The benefits of exploring Cairo with locals.  Our driver made good
friends with the guards, and there was no one else in the chamber,
so we got to do some "extra exploring."  Here I am standing inside
a water buffalo sarcophagus.  

A panoramic of the Pyramids of Giza from our camel ride.

Pictured riding my friend Carl the Camel.
It is harder than it looks!

Making friends with all the stray dogs at one of the
ancient sites.  Our driver specifically stopped to buy bread
for this purpose.  It was kinda cute.

Random produce vendor on the side of the road.  I really trust that scale.

This is the Egypt Museum.  It is at least as big as the Met in NYC,
but is just filled with thousands of years of artifacts.  We walked around
at a good pace for at least three hours, and barely scratched the surface!

You are absolutely not allowed to take photographs inside the museum.  You're welcome.
This is a mummy. You're looking at the person's actual original skin and bones. Kind of crazy!

There is a row of tanks parked outside the museum.  There was apparently
a problem with looting from the museum's collection during some of the public demonstrations
last year.  I don't understand that at all.  Why would the people want to damage their rich history??

Schwarma is a popular food in Cairo.  Basically they load tons of meat onto these rotisserie
skewers until it looks like a solid block.  It spins and cooks from heaters on one side.  Then they
shave it off per customer.  It is SO good.

Sail boat ride on the Nile River.

Some of my friends in Cairo are seniors in high school and happened to have this sign with them.
I realized this sign also applies to me, so I took a picture with it too!

My last day, we went to a place called the Citadel, or the Muhammad Ali mosque.
It is located at the top of the tallest hill in the middle of the city.

The Architecture inside the mosque was breath-taking.  I certainly
feel like just crafting a gorgeous building like this can be an act of worship!

Just a beautiful system of lamps and chandeliers in the mosque.

A panoramic look inside one of the other mosques at the Citadel.

A panoramic view of the city from the top of the Citadel.

After spending four quick days in Cairo, it was time to take the final leg of my trip back to the United States.  Thursday I took a flight from Cairo to Rome, where I had a 14 hour layover overnight.  So of course I left the airport and explored!!!

This beautiful square is called the Repubblica.

The Piazza Venezia

Just some ruins that my camera was able to see a lot better than I was!

The Colosseum is lit up and looks gorgeous at night.

The Arch of Constantine.

Next to the Colosseum is a street filled with cool bars!
It was hopping, even at 1 in the morning, when I walked by!

It is unreal to see these historical structures in person. 

This is the Pantheon, where the artist Raphael is buried.
Originally constructed as "a common place for all gods"
(the meaning of "Pantheon"), it is now a church.

The Castel Sant'Angelo from across the Tiber.

A cool view of the lit up Tiber river, with St. Peter's Basilica in view.

This is as close as I could get to St. Peter's Basilica, home of the Sistine Chapel.

Another view of the Tiber.  I walked down and put my feet in the water here.

These are the Spanish Steps.  Not sure why I decided to save the
135 steps for the end of my night, but it was about 3 AM by the time I got here.

I landed in Rome, took a train from the airport to Old Rome, had some dessert at a cafe with wifi, and downloaded a travel guide for the city.  I began walking around 9 PM.  I did basically everything referenced in the travel guide that I could do throughout the night.  By the time I finished walking and arrived back at the train station to go to the airport, it was around 3:45 AM.  I walked for about six hours straight, not wanting to miss a thing.  At the station, I was informed that trains didn't resume until 5 AM, so I wandered and was a vagabond in Rome.  Not a bad place to feel homeless!

Finally, I got back to the airport, caught my flight to Atlanta, enjoyed about 10 hours of flight time, caught my layover in Atlanta, and then landed in Jacksonville same day at about 6 PM.  I slept the whole flight from Atlanta to Jacksonville, but not much on the flight over the ocean.  I landed in Jacksonville and was welcomed by brother, mom, step-dad, and surprisingly my sister and nephew!!  I went to my first dinner back in the states at Chickfila.  No complaints there!  I spent the evening visiting with my family a bit, went to bed around 9:30 or so, and then spent the morning visiting some more.  Finally, it was time for my mom and step-dad to catch their flight back to where they live and work in southeast Asia.  We went back to the airport at 10 or so.  We had all just been there about 15 hours prior.  I said farewell to my parents, which was not so fun.  I only got to spend like 40 hours with them this summer after not having seen them for a year.  But such is our life!  We're to busy traveling and doing cool stuff!!!  Hopefully I will be able to visit them at some point before they return to the states.

There was an advertisement for JU with my photo
in it at the airport.  Kind of fun to see right when I
got back to the states.

That afternoon I went back to work at my church in Jacksonville for a special concert with Natalie Grant and Sandi Patty.  It went super well!  I worked again the next day and then started class the day after that.  No time to rest!  Amazingly, I was never really jet-lagged at all!  I slept really well immediately once I got back, and jumped right back into normal sleep times.  I don't know if it is just because I stayed up SO long between Cairo, Rome, and Atlanta or what.  If I figure it out, I'll just write a book on how to travel and beat jet-lag.  Who needs a career in music?





I have been back in class for two weeks now, trying to jump right back into school and work.  Things are going so well!  I am in my last year at JU, taking 18 credits, working on grad school applications, composing music, plotting an undergraduate thesis, giving tours as an ambassador for JU, working at my church, AND I just got an awesome job nannying for some family friends on Saturdays.  My mother is rolling her eyes as she reads this.  "Typical craziness," I'm sure she would say.  It's just how I like to do things!

I'm not sure how many loan officers get asked
if they will take a selfie with a client,
but that is just how special Uncle Karl
is to me!  Cannot thank you enough, sir!

Best of all, I went in to 121 Financial Credit Union last week and wrote a check for the full amount of my loan I took out for this trip.  Thanks to all of my incredible supporters, I was able to write a check for the entirety of the loan for $5,826.  This is beyond any blessing for which I could have asked.  The title of my car is back in my name, and I am sure my credit score will be rewarded for this payment plan, rather than the 5-year financing plan I had signed with the credit union.  I cannot thank 121 enough for their help in making this whole experience possible.  At just the right time, before I had any idea of how much money I would be able to raise, my old friend "Uncle" Karl Rogers was able to help my finance my whole trip.  Now, thanks to all of you, my trip is paid for and I don't have to live under any financial burden from this experience.  What an insane blessing!  It is so humbling to have had this opportunity, and I can't wait to share more of the products of my trip in the future.  I hope you know I was thinking of you all the whole way!  Thank you so much for supporting, encouraging, and reading!