Mary and Maurice World Tour 2023

Egypt reminded us of India in many ways. Same glorious chaos everywhere, same interesting driving style. One of our guides explained thay there are three simple rules in the Egyptian Road Code - You can drive: Anywhere; Anyhow; Anytime. Regarding someone driving the wrong way on a one way street: "It's not allowed. But it's not forbidden... "  No visit to Egypt could be complete without seeing the pyramids, and what better way to see them than from the inside?  It turns out that the ancient Egyptians weren't very tall, and that the pyramids weren't designed to be visited by tourists. Mary was able to crouch while climbing the tighter sections, whereas I had to crawl on hands and knees in parts. It was made more 'interesting' by the passageway being used for 2 way traffic, especially as some 'plus size' tourists almost filled the entire available space.  It was hot, crowded, and fabulous to be inside a monument almost 500...

To all intents and purposes, New York and Manhattan Island are pretty much one and the same. The contrast having come from Grand Abaco Island in the Bahamas couldn't be greater. Apart from the obvious numbers of people and buildings, the people seemed more hard-nosed than elsewhere in the US.  One example: A huge part of New York's history is linked to the waterfront so what better way to start our visit than a boat tour circumnavigating the island? Only we couldn't. One of the storms that skirted the Bahamas turned up instead off the US East Coast. One of the features of such storms are unexpectedly high tides, and the captain decided that we probably wouldn't fit under the lowest bridge.  The Tour Guide, Dave, carefully explained this problem before we set off and offered that anyone who really wanted to fully circumnavigate could rebook the next day at low tide. Nobody took that option so off we went on the Plan B route.  On our return, one passenger comp...

Fortunately for us, Hurricane Lee headed safely away from the Bahamas just before we arrived, with only a slight swell on the beach and some distant surf on the horizon to remind us of its presence. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian wasn't so obliging, instead sitting right on top of the Bahamas for several days. The resulting devastation was the worst in recorded history and the impact is still very evident today.  In the foreground of the photo below is all that's left of a restaurant: We were therefore very mindful that hurricanes can develop quickly, and every day the weather forecast was scrutinised in case a rapid departure became necessary.  We needn't have worried. The weather was tourist brochure beautiful most of the time, with balmy breezes and the warmest sea we have ever swum in.  Note that most of the time did not equate to all of the time, and it was the hurricane season. One night we were treated to a tru...