Leonard Family Around the World Adventure

Sunday January 20th. Pam negotiates a 20% discount at the hotel for another day and we decide to stay. We drop off another load of laundry on our way to Termini Station where I buy a Train Italia Orario – Train Schedule which is actually more like a catalog -it is huge. We board the metro and get off at the Coliseum station. First we visit Palatine hill and our Roma pass got us in for free. The Palatine hill is a large group of ruins very cool and some nice views including the Circus Massimo. Next the Roma Pass allowed us to skip the lines straight into the Coliseum where we got 2 audio guides as recommended by Mick. Very cool, but a little disconcerting to think of the events that took place there. Strange that killing was considered entertainment. We stopped for dinner – it was very good and then walked across the bridge Castle San Angelo which is a museum it too was amazing with tremendous views of Rome. We were there during sunset which made it even better. And of course the a...

Saturday January 19th. Up early – I have sore throat -Pam has been ill for a couple days and now I seem to have caught it. First priority as we left the hotel we dropped off laundry about ¼ mile from our room. Then we walked back to the hotel and tried to call and make reservations for the Borghese museum as they only allow a small number of people in for a 2 hour visit. The ticket office was closed but we decided to walk over anyway. We entered at 9:45 which only left 1:15 minutes and rather than paying for just the museum we purchased a 3 day Roma Pass that included entrance to another site and transport on buses and metro A and B for three days and discounts to other sites. It was 20 euro each. The museum was beautiful and the audio tour was well worth it. If you remember to bring headphones 2 people can use a single audio guide as plugging in the headphones does not disable the internal speaker – as a matter of fact I will start carrying the splitter I brought. The wall and ce...

Friday January 18 th Up early this morning as we leave for the airport at 8am. We said goodbye to Hany and Kathy and Gen – it was very sad. Aria and I spoke about returning to Egypt someday, after learning Arabic. Taken To the airport and we were escorted through check-in – very nice service. Again sad to be leaving Egypt but looking forward to Rome. We ate breakfast and our flight left on-time. It was 3.5 hours with a one hour time change backwards. Painless! Into Italy – customs and passport a breeze. Pam got us a room in northern Rome within walking distance of a park called Borghese – not sure if this is a good location or not but it was recommended by the tourist information lady. We took a cab for 40 euro. About a 30km drive and cheaper than all of us on a train. The room was nothing too great, a queen and 2 singles – one room with tiny bath for 130 euro's. Seems expensive but the first room is always the hardest as you do not know the layout of the city yet. It tur...

Wednesday January 16th, 2008 Up at 7am grabbed a quick breakfast – very excited today we see the pyramids. We were on the bus headed for Giza Plateau by 8am. We arrived very quickly about 8:15am. Found out there was an extra ticket to actually enter the largest pyramid but the smaller pyramid was included. Applying our experience from King Tut’s tomb we immediately rushed to get the extra ticket – we were luck as the number of people allowed entry to the Pyramid is restricted but everyone in our group that wanted to enter was able to. The Pyramid was amazing – I tried to imagine what it looked like when it was its exterior was intact – what an engineering marvel. The entrance is about 30 feet up and the path to the burial chamber is arrow and steep. It opens up eventually and into a surprisingly large chamber with a sarcophagus on the right side as you enter. There were no markings or paintings inside the pyramid. No pictures either but some people smuggled in cameras and took p...

Thursday January 17 th , 2008 We hired a driver from the hotel 250 EP for six hours. It was a little tight fitting 6 in the car but we managed. First stop the Museum – there was a line but we made it inside by 9:45am. The whole time in Egypt I have been trying to imagine what it must be like in summer – I am very glad we visited in winter. We spent a few hours exploring the museum – it was amazing. We paid extra to see the mummy exhibit which we had skipped yesterday and I am glad we did – it was very interesting and stirred many emotions and ideas. I especially liked the mummified cobra *which you can see as part of the regular entry fee and some of the fake mummified animals – a scam thousands of years old). So much to see – I actually bought a guide book and glad I did. We could not locate our driver at the designated spot and time – fortunately I saw where he had parked and headed into the garage – he was asleep. We loaded up and headed out. Next stop an overseas carrier TN...

Tuesday January 15 th , 2008 I am up early this morning – 5am and work on the blog entries. This morning we must put our luggage outside our doors as we depart. We are to visit the Aswan Dam as well the unfinished oblisk in a quarry before flying back to Cairo. We are taking dinner at the hotel – opting out of the optional belly dancing dinner. It is hard to believe we have been on the road for 41 days. I have not had any news of regarding the house or anything else for that matter – again time is warping it has only been 3 days since the email from Art and Elaine yet it seems to be over a year ago. In Cairo I plan on getting internet access. Another busy day ahead of us and tomorrow is looking large in my mind – Giza, The Sphinx and the Egyptian museum. I am having some difficulty putting all of the detail into the blogs regarding the sites we have visited. I think I will need to go back over the entries I have created and add details – soon hopefully before they are forgotten. Per...

Monday January 14 th , 2008 The day starts with a wake-up call at 6 – breakfast ends at 7 as we disembark to take a horse drawn carriage to the temple of Horus. It is a great temple with wonderful reliefs. Pam takes a car back to the ship as the horses gave her a very bad asthma attack. As we are boarding the ship Aria purchases an unfit for the dinner this evening. After we are onboard she realizes there is a piece missing but Hany – one of our guides goes to remedy the situation. We are back onboard by 11 and on our way again. Lunch and afternoon tea. I decide to sign up for the Giza and Egyptian museum portion – they give us a break and only charge for three instead of four. The ship is moving quite slowly with a most other ships passing us. We see a couple of cruisers under sail and the professor tells us they are a very luxurious way to travel the Nile. Aria wants us to return after she graduates high school – just her and I to trek into the desert and camp. I think it is a f...

I wake up at 5am -I get to see the sunrise – very beautiful. I do some work and debate paying for internet access – it is very expensive. I downloaded pictures – it seems that we are missing some – I do not see any photos of the Water Palace from Jaipur for example. Nothing I can do about it. I also validated that we had maps loaded in the phone for Egypt – looks like we are good to go. The Marriott we are staying at in Mirage city is very nice. It has a water park with wave pool, great workout facilities, a spa, 5 restaurants and a golf course. The room rate is pretty good but everything else is very pricey. It seems to be NW of Cairo. I wake the girls up at 7am and we start to discuss what we are going to do. Aria takes her malaria pill and becomes ill and I start saving with the razor provided by the hotel but can only finish half of may face before it becomes dull. Ouch – it has been a while since I shaved. I weigh myself 88 kg's – less than 190 lbs – I hope the scale is accura...

Sunday January 13, 2008 Some of this morning is in the previous entry. The girls are still asleep and I am getting ready to head downstairs to check on them. My fingers are cold from typing on the deck. This morning we are cruising and it seems a good opportunity for the girls to do some school work and for me to catch up on some work. We are going to pass through a lock later and then stop at a village of Edfu. The cruise on the Nile is very peaceful – I am reminded of the Agatha Christie novel as I walk the decks and meet the 40 other people on the cruise – each with their own story. A couple from L.A – teachers, another teaching couple from Missouri, people from Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, a Professor and wife from NY – they actually give us an unpublished book to read. An Egyptian man married to an America on vacation from Cairo. The girls order cartouches – charms for a necklace with names spelled in hieroglyphics – they are pretty cool. Aria purchases and Ankh from...

Saturday January 12, 2008 I am writing this entry (and the previous) Sunday morning sitting on the top of our Nile River Cruise Ship – The King of Thebes. I just watched the sunrise. It was spectacular. We are cruising up the Nile towards Aswan – Upper Egypt. As the Nile runs south to north Northern Egypt is called Lower Egypt and Southern Egypt is Upper. East is Sinai and west is well – desert. We are rabidly closing in on the half way point of the trip. The dates are really blending together – I am glad I am keeping blog's. Each time I make an entry I have to look at the calendar to see what day it is and what day of the week. It is a little chilly on the deck of the ship so I might end up finishing this later. I have so much to write about as we did so much yesterday. It was an exhausting day and a little overwhelming – I am so proud of the kids – they were real trooped being up so early – so much walking and so much to see and learn. Allysha crashed when we got back to...

Thursday January 10, 2008 Up very early and on our way to the airport – we arrived by 3am. We took a picture with Mr Sing – I gave hime my contact information and got his – ecept for an email address which I hope he will send to me. I told him all of the amounts that we had spent to hopefully ensure he would get his commission. I have grown quite attached to him and hope to see him again someday. I had daydreams of helping fund his dream of setting up a spare parts store front. I gave him 100 US and 500 Rupees – I would have given him all of the rupees I had remaining but I am afraid to go anywhere in India without money – including the airport – who knows what bribe might be necessary – what unique tax might be imposed. We checked in and the ticket counter lady asked for more money – I told her I had paid last night and thankfully had the receipt. We were at the gate by 4 am. I was envious of Allysha's ability to curl up on the chairs and sleep. Pam and I made a couple of ca...

Wednesday January 9 th , 2008 Up early this morning about 5am. A busy day – the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and back to Delhi. I spent over an hour blogging. Still do not know if we have tickets for our departing flight. Got a couple emails – our house sounds like it is in a terrible state – the washing machine seems to have failed and even after the first cleanup leaked again. I wonder why they do not just turn off the water to the machine in the meantime? I try not to worry too much. We have to get internet access soon so we can figure out what is going on and what we are going to do. Hopefully tonight. We are well over a month on the road. I am looking forward to our upcoming Egypt segment – I just hope we can get internet somehow. I have not been able to work much during this last week and expect the same next week. I should be able to catch up in Italy where we can slow the pace. I am concerned about what our burn rate is going to be in Italy – everything has been more expensive than ant...

January 8 th , 2008 Tuesday Up early – I have been catching up the blogging entries over the last few days. I am writing this on Tuesday January 8 th at 5am so I am only a day behind at this point. This visit to India has been a whirlwind of sites and sensory overload. I have learned and experienced much. I can feel my perspective broadening with each day. We still had no confirmation of our tickets to Cairo – did receive an email from our travel agent (Shonne) that she had a backup plan so I am hopeful we will reach Egypt as planned. I am surprised at how difficult it has been to get internet access and to keep up with blogging. I think it is a by-product of trying to fit so much into this visit to India. Each segment from Delhi to Jaipur, Jaipur to Agra and Agra to Delhi is about 250km. That is about 6 hours of driving because of the road conditions. I actually work on some blogs on the road today. We travel through Rajasthan to another state – our drive pays a tax for oper...

Monday January 7 th , 2008 Most of the early morning hours were spent talking to America. I hate to see my iPhone bill. Still not clear what really happened but the Garrets and Wurtzs spent a lot of time at the house cleaning and drying. Our housesitter called our insurance agent Chad and he seemed to get things moving forward. An appraiser and clean-up crew seem to be being sent to the house. The electricity seems to still be out. What a mess this is and so hard to coordinate from afar. I am so grateful to our friends for all of their help. I heard that our neighbor was at the house checking things out – a lock box was to be installed to allow crews access to the house. I have no idea how much damage has been done and I am very concerned. We grab breakfast from out hotel – it is pretty good and our driver and guide show up at 8am. It seems we are in a hurry to get to the Amber Fort where we are to take an elephant to the top of the mountain to tour the fort. There are only 180 elephan...

Sunday January 6 th , 2008 Another fitful night sleep – I awoke to find an email saying that our roof was leaking, through the laundry room and into the kitchen. WHAT! The email was not even from the house-sitter – it was from Jake and Wendy – she had noticed the mess and then headed out of Town. It turns out our friends – what great friends we have we love you guys and thank you came through for us and said they would check out the house in the morning. There is not much more we can do and we are already an hour late meeting our driver. We grab some muffins to go and hit the road at 9am for the 260km drive to Jaipur. Endless peoples – roadside stands. Trucks, cows, camels, elephants all sharing the highway. Monkeys on the roadside. Everything is going pretty well until we come to a slow-down – there is road work being down and the oncoming lanes of the 4 lane highway are diverted into the fast lane of our side – we are driving along in this condition for a while until we come to a ne...

There was no safe in the room and there were signs posted saying do not leave valuables so we took 2 backpacks – one with our tickets, computer etc and one for carrying on our back. We ate a continental breakfast – nothing spectacular and met our driver promptly at 9am. We stopped at an ATM and I took out about 13000 rupees – a little over 300 American. What a wad of bills. We drove to our first destination where we were told we would meet our guide. We spent most of the journey interrogating our drive Mr. Singh (a Sikh). On the way to the hotel the previous night the greeter had asked an interesting question – what was so great about America. I had provided an answer but it made me think. I said our constitution was one thing, a secular society with freedom of religion and equality for all but neglected After briefly studying the history of India I was amazed at how bloody it's history was and mostly due to religions conflicts. It seemed that under each rule there ws progres...

January 4 th , 2008 We got out the door and caught the 5:30am shuttle. There was a man from Philadelphia on out flight. He said he came to Thailand every year to study woodcarving – it was his hobby. I gathered that he worked at an Oil refinery in Saudi Arabia – the biggest in the world. We checked our bags all the way through to India – even though we were switching airlines – crossed out fingers and hoped the bags would arrive. I did pack more intelligently this time ensuring all adapters; computer gear, medications and our India guide were in my carry-on. The security lines were a breeze – even the check in line was quite small – once we found it row W. We had to sit and wait for the check-in to even begin then through custom and we grabbed lunch, purchased some toiletries and books. I got a book about the 1997 economic meltdown in Thailand and a pleasure reading book – Koontz – The Good Guy. We were on the plane and ready to go about 30 minutes late. They served us peanuts,...

January 3, 2008 Today is our last day in Thailand – we fly out tomorrow morning at 6am for Bangkok and then on to Delhi. We ended up starting the day out with a river boat cruise in one of the Thai long tail boats. It was relaxing. At the turn-around point we disembarked for about 30 minutes and walked through a garden that had native plants, fruits and herbs labeled. We were also served fresh fruit and juice. It was nice. On the ride back we ended up talking to a couple visiting from Houston, TX. Their children actually were studying abroad – the father was a dual British and American citizen. We talked about politics and the education that our girls were receiving by taking this journey. They seemed to agree with our motivations and supported what we are doing. When we got back we decided to head to a food court near the night bazaar – it took a while to find it but the meal ended up being pretty good. From there we went to a Spa located in the night bazaar and got tradition...

January 2, 2008 Last night Pam and I went t a nightclub. We had a couple drinks and then decided to order a bottle of Whiskey. There was a live band and a number of singers. It was fun – nothing great but nice to see what the nightlife was like. We drank about ¼ of the bottle and gave the rest to the table next to us. The waiters would come around and fix a drink the moment your glass was empty. We headed back to the room about 11:30 – and hit the McDonalds across from our hotel. Went to bed and nobody in the family woke up until 11:30am. We lounged around the room and the pool. Pam and Aria – I went out to get Mexican food – it was interesting – Thai influenced mexican cuisine – I actually liked it. Allysha and I stayed in the room as her eye was still bothering her. Eventually the girls decided to hit the night safari – I was tired and my toe was infected and hurting so I stayed in. They said it was a very pleasant excursion and were back in the room by about 9pm – they al...

January 1, 2008 Happy New Year everyone! I slept in this morning until about 8am. I read for a little bit and eventually Allysha came knocking on the door in tears. She says she has something in her eye and it has been hurting her. Aria had tried to help her by washing her eye out – we did the same. We give her a painkiller and start her on her malaria antibiotic – this was the scheduled day for that anyway and she said her eye had been bothering her since Phuket and we are concerned about an infection. We probably should have given her some food first as she gets very nauseous and throws up – but she says she feels better. Aria soon joins us in our room. I blog the last couple days – and decide not to work. As it is approaching 11am here we decide to order a snack/lunch from room service. French onion soup, fresh fruit, clam chowder, fried rice and chicken satay - a nice snack. We watch the ball drop in Times square – welcome to the New Year America. I envision Santa Cruz wal...