Wish You Were Here

Anniversary All Inclusive Celebration of a Lifetime! June 15, 2022   Patrick and I were celebrating our 14 year anniversary. We had been through an extremely tough year of 2020 which was full of quarantine, mental illness, depression, marriage issues, our kids were struggling mentally, I had just been hired as a music teacher part-time as well as working at Personal Travel, changing churches, and the list goes on from there. Needless to say my husband and I were ready for a few days away to relax and reconnect.   So we booked the flights to Mexico and headed to an adults only all inclusive called Unico Riviera Maya. We were able to get to the Cancun airport by 10:00am and then we got our transfer and took us about 45 minutes to get to the resort from the airport. When we arrived we were greeted in the lobby and they whisked our luggage away and gave us a refreshing cocktail to sip while we checked-in. We were shortly after greeted by our "Local Host" which is very similar to ...

Our visit was over before we knew it and we could have stayed exploring for another few weeks. There are so many options and excursions to take part in, one visit is simply not enough. We are already thinking about the next time we can revisit this amazing destination! And while we were sad to be on our last day in Egypt, it definitely ended on a high note. We spent the morning at the Pyramids of Giza and the afternoon touring the museum in Memphis and the necropolis of Saqqara. We spent a lovely evening eating delicious food at a local restaurant. Then we visited a papyrus shop, where they gave us a demonstration of traditional papyrus creation. We enjoyed spending our final night at the luxurious Conrad Hotel in downtown Cairo. We might have been tired from our full day, but we were not ready for our adventures to be over! If Egypt has been on your bucket list, we encourage you to take the trip soon. You will be blown away by the beauty of its historic landmarks, enjoy t...

Right about the time we thought we'd seen extremely ancient tombs and temples, we visited Saqqara, the necropolis of Memphis, and we gained a whole new perspective of time. Memphis was the first capital after Egypt was united around 3000 BC and remained an important religious center for thousands of years. It lost importance around 300 BC when the Ptolemaic Pharaohs moved the capital to Alexandria. Then when Egypt was conquered by Arabs in 800 AD, Memphis was used as a quarry for the expansion of Cairo. Thankfully Saqqara and its pyramids and tombs survived the ravages of time, neglect, and war. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest stone building in the world, dating to around 2630 BC. And there are other pyramids at Saqqara, as well as just south in Dahshur, which we could see in the distance. We truly enjoyed touring a tomb of the princess Idut (photos were not allowed), where we got to see beautifully preserved depictions of daily life from 4,300 years ago. Simply ...

Our tour at the Pyramids of Giza was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Our guide set up camel rides for us to start, so we could sit in comfort while the pyramids came into view. You may be thinking, as I did, "isn't this a bit touristy and predictable?" But I can guarantee you there is nothing like riding on a camel through the sands around the pyramids, just as people have been doing for millennia! As the only survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, there is so much more to the Pyramids of Giza than the typical image that comes to mind when thinking of Egypt. The official "wonder" is the Great Pyramid of Giza, built by Khufu, but the entire pyramid complex is a wonder. Built between 2550 and 2490 BC, in the 4th Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the pyramids were just a part of a larger necropolis, with temples, tombs of family and high-ranking officials, and even a gigantic sphinx built to protect the complex. Words cannot ca...

The pharaoh was not simply the king of Egypt - he or she was a god incarnate, mediating between the heavens and the Earth. When the kings of the New Kingdom abandoned the pyramids and moved their tombs to the secluded Valley of the Kings, they needed another way to be worshipped and remembered by the masses. The pharaohs therefore put an exorbitant amount of effort and funds into the creation of great monuments to the gods and themselves. Each pharaoh took immense care in making his or her mark on temples like Karnak. The first temple was built at the site around 2000 BC and over the next two thousand years, with each pharaoh adding something to the complex, it grew into one of the most extensive places of worship in the world. In size, Karnak is second only to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. My favorite part of the temple is the Hypostyle Hall, a gigantic room filled with 134 columns, 69 feet high, each elaborately carved and painted to depict the various kings who added ...

From the beginning of the New Kingdom, around 1550 BC, Kings of Egypt were no longer buried in the pyramids, as they were obvious targets for robberies. They found another sacred, more remote location outside of Thebes, in what is now called the Valley of the Kings. Even walking through the Valley, one gets a sense of the sacred and eternal. The tombs were dug far into the mountain side and other deterrents were put in place to help protect the tombs from grave robbers, but unfortunately all the tombs but one were raided thousands of years ago. Thankfully, most of the scenes and scripts on the walls are intact and have been of great help to egyptologists. The tombs we visited, of Rameses IV and Merenptah, were simply stunning. It is unbelievable that so much artistry still remains 3,000 years after it was created! Buried alongside the king would have been all the things he would need in the afterlife, including chariots, weapons, food, and jewelry. Though many materials were...