“Police state” is a strong term. It can have multiple meanings, and shades of threat/protections. It may not always be easy to identify a police state, but perhaps one simple iteration goes like this: A state where armed governmental authorities seem … everywhere. One such state is the one we spent two weeks in, recently, […]

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Around the world, it seems to be assumed that hardly a jet can touch down — anywhere, at any time of year — and not have some Americans on board. With more of them already ensconced in a nearby hotel or tourist club. Americans like to get out and around. But not necessarily in this […]

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It happened on April 1 — April Fools’ Day. It is a quasi-notable pranking date on the Western calendar but it seems unlikely it meant anything to the Egyptian guys in the housekeeping department of the Nile Commodore. They like to create works of art out of items they find in each stateroom. And it […]

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I have always liked that journalistic convention … on how to handle a “dateline” when traveling via water. You write “aboard” and continue with the name of the ship. Such as “the USS Enterprise” or “HMS Victory” or “RMS Titanic”. A few decades ago, the dateline also would have included the day a story was […]

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Intellectually, we know how important the Nile River is to Egypt. It can be seen on a map; the blue line that waters a country. But the Nile’s importance is really hammered home when you leave your mooring place on the river and travel a few miles east or west. What appears to be a […]

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He gave his life for tourism. — comedian Steve Martin The Valley of the Kings is cleft in craggy limestone a few miles from the Nile river valley, and each year thousands of international visitors flock to the site just outside the Egyptian city of Luxor to have a look at it. They come to […]

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Most of us are aware of the ancient treasures of Egypt, but we might be a little hazy on what is where. It is a big country, after all, larger than Texas in square miles. Want all manner of things big and small and mummified, profoundly old? Then the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the capital, […]

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Rookie mistake? Shady operators? Inevitable issues? Doesn’t really matter when it goes bad, does it? Our last-minute visit to Egypt, which began well enough on Day 1, got a bit better on Day 2. A wet finger in the Red Sea, which is interesting but not Moses-like in impact, lots of sun while catching up […]

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Most people do not really want to be known for hare-brained schemes, but eventually a body of work cannot be defended from the reality of bunny-level planning. (Raising my hand.) This began a month ago, thereabouts. A long time ago, when it comes to groceries, no time at all when it involves international travel. It […]

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The bells rang on the hour, as they always do, here in “our” French village. And then a few minutes later the bells at the 300-year-old church rang out again, and this was a gusher of clanging and banging that could mean only one thing at 4 p.m. on a Saturday: A wedding! And the […]

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