We spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2019 cycling through the land of the pharaohs. With stops in Abydos, Luxor and Aswan, we had the chance to visit some of ancient Egypt’s most renowned cultural sights, including intricately decorated temples and tombs.

Why tea? Because an invitation to tea is a great opportunity to reach across cultural gaps, and really start to get to know people. We’ve only been in Egypt a short time, but we’ve already had several wonderful, tea-based experiences. So, the advice holds. Always accept an invitation to tea.

We’re on our way! After considering several alternatives, we settled on the route that follows the Nile River on its western bank. It’s densely populated, so we rode through a steady chorus of friendly shouts of, “Hello, welcome to Egypt!” An early adventure involved a ferry ride from which our bikes narrowly escaped sliding into the Nile River. And between towns, the agricultural landscape of the river valley provided a lush, green backdrop to our journey.

As we begin our adventure of cycling across Africa, one of the first orders of business is to get permission to be here. The visa application process can vary quite a lot among countries. As a result, it was really helpful to do some research in advance, to have some idea about how to secure the required visas before jumping on our bikes and pedaling towards the horizon. We’ve now secured our first two visas, and the processes could hardly have been more different.