Thanksgiving: for a good fortune [cookie] and sales

In the very beginning of this year, I was out to lunch with some coworkers, and I got got the following fortune in my cardboard tasting cookie:

Most of the time, I would have a laugh at the generic words of the fortune and leave it there on the plate or stuff it in my pocket to be thrown away when I emptied my pants for the night. This time however, I put it in my wallet. I had plans brewing in my mind that I had mentioned in passing to some people, but hadn't really set the wheels in motion. A couple of weeks ago, I was searching the depths of my wallet and stumbled upon this piece of paper. Rediscovering this simple, generic fortune brought a big smile to my face. It was a reminder of the plan that I had made, the steps that I took, and the reality was created.

Boat ride

I will be sailing down the Nile for the next couple of days, enjoying a hopefully relaxing journey affording me time to write another post! It has been substantially harder to find internet connectivity here in Egypt than it was anywhere in Europe. I was fortunate to have free WiFi most of the places I went in Europe, but now, even if you can find internet, you usually have to pay for it! I had the opportunity to post some pictures already, so those of you that are friends on Facebook can see them there! After the Nile boat trip, I go straight to a weekend trip to an oasis East of Alexandria. Thus I will be out of connectivity for roughly a week. I am sure to post some things upon my return, so stay tuned!

Leaving Europe

Train schedule first day in Cairo

Greece - land of the Gods, originators of democracy, the olympics, and the marathon. Destination for party-going youth, and romantic couples alike. It is a country rich in culture, food, and scenery. The daily strikes, and the graffiti everywhere are just as much a part of Greece as are gyros,ouzo and the Parthenon. I had the privelege of spending three weeks there - one week on the island of Rhodes, and two weeks on the mainland.

During my time, I ate my fair share of gyros, greek salad, souvlaki, and other wonderful food. The weight I had lost on my trip (about 6 pounds) I'm sure I gained back in Greece! I do love to eat and I did it well while I was there. I witnessed various strike demonstrations, I visited the ever-famous Acropolis (Fun Fact: practically every city has an "acropolis" but the one in Athens is so famous it is commonly known as "The Acropolis"); I visited a couple of islands and went to Delphi. I also watched runners finish in the 2500th Anniversary of the Marathon going from the city of Marathon and finishing in Athens. I didn't run because by the time I heard about it registration was full!

For the week before I left Greece I was trying to figure out my next step. Since my Schengen Visa was running out (a total of 90 days for practically all of Europe) I needed to leave the Schengen zone if I wanted to remain legal. I looked into applying for a residency visa, but it wasn't worth the money or the hassle so I figured I would leave the zone, but to where?? I had Turkey on my list, Croatia, and at the bottom of the list was Egypt. So on my last Tuesday in Greece, I went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask where I should go! I returned Athens sure that my next stop was Egypt, and on Wednesday I booked my flight to Cairo.

I have now been in Egypt for over a week and will update with info and pictures when I get the chance!

Cheers!

Theory of [Beer] Relativity

Einstein's Theory of Relativity was something that boggled the minds of scientists for decades, therefore, I am not going to attempt to discuss it here. Instead, I am going to address a traveler's concept of relativity as it relates to price differences in countries. And the easiest benchmark in this case is Beer - common currency in [almost] every country!

The most I have paid for a beer is in Norway - $12, and the cheapest was in Czech Republic - about $1.30. For my examples, I use .5L (half a liter is a little more than one pint, or 16.9 ounces), of draft beer, seved in a decent bar, not purchased at a store. As you compare to prices in the US, then you think the $12 beer is REALLY expensive, and the $1.3 beer is REALLY cheap!  (This obviously depends on where you are - a $12 beer in a Las Vegas nightclub is about normal) However, if I sold you a beer in Czech Republic for $1.50 it would be an "expensive beer". If I sold you a beer for $10 in Norway it would be a "cheap beer". Thus we get into the relativity of it all.