As Whitney alluded to in the previous post, we also have a video of our trip to Egypt!
Well, to be more precise, we have lots of videos of our trip to Egypt. Over the course of ten days, we recorded nearly 400 individual clips, totaling more than 26gb of footage! Can you tell we enjoy traveling with our GoPro?
Believe it or not, we actually recorded so many videos on purpose. Following our snowboarding adventure in Austria, I discovered that I thoroughly enjoy putting our trip into video form. So this time, we decided to document as much as we could and compile it into one movie. Of course, this meant we were often running around pretending to be filmmakers working to get the ‘perfect shot’ (warning: NONE of the shots are perfect) but that ended up being part of the fun. Unlike pictures, the videos allow us to share our trip from a first-hand experience, as it was happening. Filmmaking aspirations aside, it’s just a fun travel element that we will definitely be continuing in the future.
So, without further delay, I give you our Egyptian adventure!
I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it!
I’ve never actually sat down and made a ‘lifetime bucket list’, but if I had the Pyramids at Giza would have been on it.
But not anymore! 🙂
And they don’t call them ‘great’ for nothin!
We had three nights total in Cario which bookended our trip to Marsa Shagra for diving. The beginning of the trip was dedicated to the pyramids, starting with the amazing view from our hotel, aptly named, Best View Pyramids Hotel!
If you ever find yourself planning at trip to the pyramids we can’t recommend this hotel enough! The Australian owner, Grace, is beyond accommodating and the view is really the best! And to top it off, the hotel is perfectly primed for viewing the pyramids nightly ‘sound and light show’. That’s a savings of about $30! *wink!*
Breakfast with a view!
We planned a full day tour with a private guide & transportation to the Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, the ancient capital of Memphis, and Saqqara (the step pyramid).
Having the guide was great for multiple reasons: someone else drives you through the madhouse that is Cairo traffic, you don’t get hassled if you’re with a local, and you actually learn about what you’re looking at.
Having a guide was also great, because he insisted on being our photographer and knew all the classic typical tourist poses.
Quick recap on pyramid facts.
The Giza pyramids are actually the last of a series of pyramids that act as tombs for various pharaohs (kings) during the time of the Old Kingdom. Essentially, earlier pharaohs perfected the pyramid, so by the time King Khufu was ready to build his tomb he was able to go big or go home with the Great Pyramid. And contrary to popular belief, the Great Pyramid is the first in the series of three. The 2nd pyramid, built by Khufu’s son – Kahfre, didn’t want to outshine his dad so his pyamid was smaller out of respect. It only looks larger because the plateau on which it’s built is higher. (Strategic planning maybe?) The third and samllest pyramid belongs to Menkaure, the grandson of Khufu.
Unfortunately, the Great Pyramid (Khufu) was closed on the day we were there. We were able to go inside the third pyramid, though, which may have actually been a blessing in disguise. The tomb of the third pyramid is in the bottom. The tomb of the great pyramid is in the top; aka: we didn’t have to climb up 300+ stairs to see an empty room (all the tombs have been raided).
Next up, the Sphinx!
The second half of the day was spent at the ancient capital of Memphis and Saqqara which was the necropolis for the capital. Saqqara is home to the Djoser step pyramid (named after King Djoser) which was the first pyramid and considered highly innovative. Saqqara itself is a large complex, and we were able to go in a few other well preserved tombs.
After Giza, we headed south for a little R&R and diving at Red Sea Diving Safari- Marsa Shagra. This was the same place that we visited in 2015 when we completed our open water course. We decided to come back because we didn’t feel like we were able to really take advantange of all the diving this place has to offer. We were newly certified and still timid, and needed a repeat!
I’ll try not to rave too much and skip straight to the pictures, but I can’t say enough good things about this place. Our days went a little something like this….
wake up with the sun – dive #1 – breakfast – dive # 2 – lunch – dive #3 – beer – dinner – bed- repeat.
Breakfast view.
Any place that revolves around food & diving is my kind of place!
Just for you, mom. 😉
Of course, the resort itself is beautiful. We choose this particular company becuase they work hard to preserve the reef by treating their properties as marine protected areas, having designated days for ‘reef clean-up’, they offer conservation courses, and have an overall focus on ‘earth friendly’ practices. For example, each person who comes is given one water bottle (if you don’t bring your own) and you’re asked to refill at various water stations placed around the property.
The main area: dive shade and relaxing shade.
What makes this place particularly special though, is the attitude. The staff are beyond friendly and helpful. The dive instructors go out of their way to get to know the guests, and the boat drivers may not know your name but they know your face and they know your dive preferences. “North reef zodiac-zodiac?” – yes please.
Here, your unlimited dive package allows you to dive as much as you want in their house reef, which in itself has 6 different options and, according to the instructors, is “one of the best in the Red Sea”. Everything is completely relaxed and at your own pace. You just write on the boards where you’re going, what time you leave, and your expected return time and off you go!
“The Board” (North side)
When we arrived I would say we were relativley inexperienced even though we have our advanced certificate. But this trip, we literally doubled the number of dives in our lifetime and used the time to practice some important skills.
Such as…
Flipping off a zodiac.
Getting back on a zodiac.
It’s really unfortunate that I don’t have a picture or video of this because let’s be real. No one is graceful getting back in a zodiac. Just imagine a fish out of water… 1-2-3 heave! … and you’re flopped head first over the side of the boat with your fins flappin’ in the air trying to wiggle all the way in.
Descending in open water.
Ascending in open water, and deploying our surface marker bouey (SMB).
Jumping off a big boat for a dive.
Underwater selfie skills.
Clearly the most important of them all.
We started and ended the week with beautiful weather. The middle of the week (you may want to sit down for this) it RAINED. Yup. I call it the curse of The Netherlands. I mean, it didn’t’ rain for three days straight or anything, but on three afternoons there was high winds and a passing storm which, as you can imagine, drastically changed the visibility.
Same spot, different day.
Overall though, we can’t complain. Now, here are just a bunch of diving pictures.
I call the next series “The Shwits with Jellies”.
And our favorite dive: Long Canyon
I think you can understand why we didn’t want to leave, but we had to.
Back to Cairo for one night. Main goal: The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which (no lie) every Egyptian person we spoke to asked “Have you been to the museum?”. Egyptian people are very proud of their museum, as they should be, becuase it’s quite literally jam packed with cool things. And yes, we were able to see King Tut’s mask (his mummy is in Luxor). No photos allowed though. It is amazing how well preserved it is.
And that was our trip! The only thing we could have asked for is more time. There is so much to see in Cairo, and we weren’t able to make it to Luxor as we orignally hoped. But that’s ok, because we are already daydreaming of our next trip.
As for safety, because we’ve had a lot of peole ask, never once did we feel unsafe, even in the wake of the attack in Alexandria. Every Egyptian person we met bent over backwards with kindness and was THRILLED to meet two Americans who were not afraid to come to their country. For example, as we were leaving the Egyptian Museum a man just struck up a conversation with us (“I’m not a taxi driver, I’m an English teacher!”) and proceeded to tell us about Tahrir square, the oldest street in Cairo, the festival that was happening that evening for Easter, and where to find “food that is OK for American stomachs”. And perhaps this is just an illusion of security, because I realize that the government isn’t held in the highest regard by locals these days, but we experienced more security checks at varioius points in our journey than in any other country we’ve been to so far.
I think the key to Egypt, as with any country, is to be aware of your surroundings, know the basics of the local culture, and be respectful of it. For instance, I wore pants and shirts that covered my shoulders despite the warm weather and I wasn’t offended when people addressed only Shane for any decision making (even our tour guide).
Long story short, don’t be afraid. Egyptians are friendly and welcoming people and the extremists who commit terror acts do not represent them. So if you have a chance, GO TO EGYPT!
endrant.
Shane is working on a video compilation of the trip, so keep a lookout!
Which is the whole reason we went for a short city break in Budapest, Hungary! Last year, we went to Prague, which happned to fall roughly on Valentine’s day. Shane and I aren’t really big gift-givers to one another, but that trip felt like a nice way to celebrate the occasion.
So, on to the 2nd Annual Valentine’s Day trip!
(maybe I should work on a catchier name…)
To be honest, we really didnt know anything about Budapest before we went, and the main reason I wanted to go was becuase we could get there for pretty cheap. We arrived pretty clueless, but left feeling like we actually had a good sense of the history of the city, and like we should have paid more attention during history in high school.
…speaking of arriving. We didn’t until 2:30am due to a 3 HOUR delay on the runway. Ice in Amserdam… (insert eye roll). But, the hotel must have felt bad for us because we got a free room upgrade, which included this fancy chair which we dubbed as “the coffee chair”.
And here is where the shamelss plug for the “Budapest Card” starts. I think that every major European city has one of these, but when I’ve looked I never felt like they were worth the money. Not this one! For 25 euros per person we didn’t pay another entrance fee the entire weekend and had full access to all the public transportation! I’ll start from the beginning.
Pest Walking Tour:
Budapest is actually split into two sides, Buda & Pest (pronounced ‘pescht’ – as we learned). The card actually gives you access to two walking tours; one in Buda, one in Pest. Convienently enough, our hotel was literally just around the corner from the starting location of the Pest tour, so we kicked off our Saturday with a tour.
Ya find Americans everywhere!
St. Stephen’s Bascillica
And you know we went up the dome….300 more stairs under the belt.
The Hungarian National Museum
Lukács Thermal Baths
We don’t have any pictures from here… but there really wans’t much to see. One of the things Budapest is known for are their thermal baths so we were excited to give it a whirl, especially after a day of walking. Three things to note about this particular one.
It’s free with the card which is why we picked it.
It’s not flashy… at all, unlike (apparently) some of the other more well-known baths. (Probably why it’s included on the card).
The whole place is a damn maze! The complex has multiple wellness areas, and seriously took us 20 minutes and some directions from a local to find the indoor baths.
No, they aren’t naked baths. We confirmed this before we went.
I didn’t really know what to expect here, but it was a series of different sized pools heated to different temperatures. You just hop from pool to pool whenever you feel like it, and let the magical hotsprings water make your skin glow! If you’re like me… an hour here was more than enough.
Shane did take some really nice night shots on our walk home though.
We capped off the night at one of the famous ‘ruin bars’. After WWII, and Budapest had been bombed, a lot of the ‘Jewish Quarter’ was left ruined. See where I’m going here? These bars are built in the ruins of the bombed buildings. It’s hard to describe this bar, but it was probably the coolest one I’ve ever been in! Two levels with a main corridor on each level, and small mini-bars all along the main corridor. And the most random, insane, yet coherent decorations! These pictures won’t do it justice. (Needless to say, these weren’t included in the Budapest Card lol).
And that about sums up our short time in Budapest! There is a lot more to do than we expected, so it will definitely require a follow-up visit. 😉
After nearly 3 years of living in Europe, we FINALLY went snowboarding in the Alps!
It’s ironic that it has taken us this long as snowboarding was one of the opportunities we were most excited about when first moving – it’s the Alps after all! Luckily, the Sufrinkos wanted to come back for another taste of Europe and so we had no excuse to put it off any longer. So, without further delay, I give you (as Whitney has so aptly named it)…
The Shwitfrinko Snowboarding Adventure!
Innsbruck
Our adventure begins in Innsbruck, Austria. For a quick back story, if you are going skiing in the Alps, you have multiple countries to choose from – Switzerland, France, and Austria are among the most popular. We chose Austria for no other reason than we had yet to visit that country. So, as I was saying, we began in Innsbruck. For Whitney and I, it was a short one hour flight from The Netherlands. For the Sufrinkos, not so much. So the first day was just causal exploring of Innsbruck and jet lag recovery.
We stayed in Innsbruck for two more days, exploring more of the city,
completing an escape room,
and of course ringing in 2017/celebrating Whitney’s birthday!
January 2 saw the end of our Innsbruck stay (we would return again at the end of the trip) and on to Ischgl for snowboarding!
Ischgl
For the next 5 days, we stayed in Ischgl. When we arrived, the entire area had snow, but it was all man-made. However, by day 2, the real snow started and we ended up with nearly a meter of fresh powder (2-3 ft). The view from our room really shows the difference: from no snow to dog sleds in the period of 4 days!
before…
after.
Speaking of rooms, if you happen to travel to the Ischgl area, we cannot recommend Hotel Verwall enough. Great family-run hotel with amazing food!
…conveniently located on the border of Ischgl, not-Ischgl.
The views from any given piste/gondala/mountain top in the area were spectacular! Photo credit to Brian for many of the snowboarding and scenery pictures, as he manned our camera for a large portion of the trip.
He also commandeered my phone…
As an added bonus, you can ski into Switzerland as part of the “Smuggler’s Run” challenge. Two countries in one trip! Now Whitney can claim that she has been to Switzerland as well.
All-in-all, a fantastic snowboarding trip! Aside from the pictures posted here, I’ve also put together a video of the GoPro footage shot throughout.
Check it out!
Innsbruck – pt. 2
As I said before, we returned to Innsbruck after snowboarding for one more day before our flights the next morning. Despite the fact that we had already spent three days there, it was a completely different experience – no more holiday festivities and lots of snow! Naturally, we spent the day indoors, relaxing in the hotel sauna and getting massages. The perfect end to a vacation!
We’ve had them for a few weeks, but we wanted to surprise the parents for Christmas. In the meantime, I’ve been dying a slow death on the inside not being able to share them.
We’re on Christmas season #3 in The Netherlands (crazy right?!), and what does that mean?
Christmas market time!!
So far we’ve been to Munster, Valkenburg (NL), & Dusseldorf. This year, we were off to Cologne, Germany! I was particulary excited about this one becuase I’ve been eyeballing it since we’ve been in Europe, and we dedicded to be smart this year and stay the night.
2016 was also a little different because we had a visitor! Everyone, meet Luna. She’s our self-proclaimed god dog, and we just happen to be dog-sitting this particular weekend!
The three of us hopped in the rental and three hours later ended up on Cologne, Germany!
First stop. Breadcrumbs for Luna (sorry Sarah & Barend) & glühwein for us!
We stayed in a hotel right on the Rhine river, and we were in walking distance of the really nice river walkway & four, count ’em… FOUR! Christmas markets!
In our professional Christmas Market Attendee opinion- Cologne markets are awesomeeeeee. The best so far.
So beautiful! So festive! So gezellig!
…and so committed to the theme! (lol)
One market was set in the main square next to the Cologne Cathedral. Luckily for us, it was still open so we hopped inside for a peek. We’ve come to realize that one of our favorite things about Europe are all the cathedrals. Regardless of your religious beliefs it’s practically impossible to not be impressed by them.
The next morning, the three of us headed out to the river walk, and towards the Hohenzollern Bridge. In case you were wondering, we left for this walk about 9am. Yep, 9am and the sun is barely up.
It was quite peaceful though, and a nice change of scenery. Also, it turns out the Hohenzollern Bridge is completely covered in love locks!
And that was that…Cologne market in the books!
Next up? A week from today we head to Austria for an Innsbruck city trip, and a week snowboarding!
It’s been a while, and Meatball is disappointed in us for not updating the blog lately.
I mean look at her. Judging us. Not cool cat.
Since the wedding, we’ve taken a little travel hiatus, so I thought I would do a round-up of the things that have been going on here in Groningen.
First.
I see all the beautiful fall leaves at home on Facebook and Instagram, and think ‘aw, that’s cute’. We’ve blown past fall and are into full winter mode. Wet, cold, and dark at 4:45. Plus side, the city center has all their Christmas lights up.
I WAS able to fit in a 4-mile race before winter took up permanent residence. Each year Groningen hosts the ‘4 mijl van Groningen!’ – aka: The 4 mile of Groningen (tough translation right?). A few coworkers and I ran together this year. It is actually quite a large race with over 23,000 participants! I finished in 33:32 (8:20min/mile) which I was happy with.
Before…
and after!
And of course, it’s that time of year again. The arrival of Sinterklaas! All the way from Spain with his Zwarte Pieten.
This year we were lucky and had actual SUNSHINE during the parades!
This was actually an exciting weekend. Sinterklaas came on Saturday, and then Sunday was my main squeeze’s 31st birthday! In lieu of birthday presents, we took a day trip to Amsterdam for brunch and a few museums.
The birthday boy with his birthday omelette!
The first museum we went to was called Micropia. It’s all about….. microbes! Hah, which sounds really nerdy and but it was pretty cool. Very interactive, and makes you feel like you should immediately wash your hands – and change your toothbrush head.
After Micropia we headed to Dam square to pick up some cupcakes and noticed two things.
The square was completly empty! Every time we’ve been there an event of some sort has been set up in Dam square, so you were never able to get the full effect. Not today folks!
We found a Marilyn Monroe exhibit in honor of her 90th birthday! So, we gave it a shot and it was pretty neat. Lots of her old scripts and costumes, and information about her personal and professional life. Definitley worth the impromptu visit.
THE famous white dress from the movie The Seven Year Itch.
And finally, on a completely different note, they are replacing the gas lines on our street. They are currently in front of our apartment, which I rather abruptly found out about one morning on my way to work.
Yeah….
‘at least we have a bridge!’ – Shane
Always looking on the bright side.
We have a few trips coming up. In a few weeks we’re headed to Cologne, Germany for the Christmas market, and then over New Year’s Eve we are meeting the Sufrinkos in Innsbruck, Austria for a snowboarding adventure!
Until then, Meatball and I will be resting up.
Tot Ziens,
Whitney
(p.s.- still no Croatia wedding pictures. We’re impatiently waiting!)
I’m finally back with part two of our wedding adventure in Banner Elk, NC at the Cornerstone Cabins.
First, we’ve said it before, but we’re saying it again! HUGE thank you to my mom and sister who were the creative geniuses behind this. Shane and I said we wanted an ‘outdoor, cookout, tailgate-feel party with BBQ’ and they more than delivered.
We would also like to say thank you again to my Dad, Shane’s parents, and the rest of the family who helped execute the vision! We know there was a lot of coordination to make this happen, and we can’t thank you enough for it!
Instead of a lot of chit-chat, I’m going to let the photos do the talking.
The Venue
Our suprise bluegrass band!
Our Surprise Ceremony!
Yep, you read correctly! We know we were a little untraditional, having the wedding just the two of us in Croatia. While Croatia was absolutley perfect, we decided that it would also be a fun idea to share this with the friends and family who traveled to celebrate with us.
We made the announcement about the ceremony, Shane and I ran inside to change & our guests were entertained with bubbly!
The ceremony was written and officiated by my one and only sister! Sis couldn’t have written a more perfect ceremony. It was a fantasitc balance of thoughtful and funny… particularly when she had me quoting Taylor Swift to Shane as part of my vows.
Many thanks to my awesome cousin, Linsdey Milani, who took pictures during the party, ceremony & all the group family shots! Love ya cousin! 🙂
Let the Party Begin!
The ECU crew.
The Family Photos
The Wright Gang
The Crosson and Christopoulos Crew
All in all, we could not have asked for anything better! We went back to Holland looking for excuses to have ‘A Shwitastic Party 2.0’.
Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us in person, and in spirit! We love you all!
Tot ziens,
The Shwits
p.s.- we’re still waiting on the professional pictures from Croatia. Once we have them then we will share! 🙂 ❤
The Shwits 