Went for lunch at a restaurant in Cairo then spent some time at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. Learned a lot about old Egyptian pharaohs and saw the tomb of tut-en-Karmen and all the jewels 💎 from the solid gold sarcophagus. Toured the mummy room and totally amazed at how the bodies have been so well preserved for over 3500 years. Hair and teeth are clearly visible.

Wandered around an Egyptian bazaar and stopped off at a jewelry store where Kathryn bought a silver cartouche thumb ring.

Spent the night time cruising the Nile and watching a show involving Egyptian male dancers and belly dancing.

We had a 1.5-hour ride to the Serengeti airport. On the way to the airport, we saw an Ostrich, so we managed to see all the animals that we expected to see on this trip with the exception of a Cheetah. Got on a “crop duster ” – Cessna 208 I think 🤔 with 12 seats 💺.

The plane was so small that I was literally bent over double getting to my seat. We had a 1-hour flight which I had to meditate through (with help from Bev, many thanks). I kept my eyes closed for most of the flight. I only opened them at the end for a quick glance at Mount Kilimanjaro from 30,000 feet.

We arrived at Kilimanjaro airport, repacked our baggage, and flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Flew on an A350 for the first time. We then flew from Addis Ababa to Cairo, Egypt on a 737Max, before all the issues were discovered.

We arrived at around 2 am, got our bags 💼 back, and went through customs, then arrived at the Marriott hotel at 4 am.

We had a full-day safari on the Serengeti, which is 14,800 square km. It is a vast expanse of beauty and bountiful animal life.

We saw guinea fowl, antelope, monkeys 🐵, and a leopard in a tree. However, the most amazing 😉 thing of all was a “lion tree”. A tree that was full of 5-6 lionesses and their cubs.

We then saw flamingos, a crocodile, mongoose, hartebeest, a leopard, turtle, hippos, and gazelles.

Back to Sopa lodge for the second chakra teaching, meditation 🧘‍♀️, dinner, and watching the service staff sing and dance 💃 to a couple of Tanzanian songs.

Epic day today. Left the SOPA lodge in the crater, for Serengeti. Got stuck in a Tanzanian “traffic jam”. 1 truck pulled from the road with a caterpillar. 2nd truck pushed to the side with ~50 locals.

Drove out of the crater to Olduvai gorge. Majestic countryside and passed by Maasi tribe members on the road and in the bush.

Fun fact – as soon as a Maasi male has more than 1 wife he has to build a fence around his property to protect and house his wives. In the center of the camp is where the cows are kept.

At Olduvai (should be Pai) first, human remains were discovered and the first human footprints discovered in the volcanic ash.

Went on a late afternoon safari and saw our first Giraffe 🦒 a cheetah kill and 2 elephants 🐘 playing. (See amazing video)

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Our driver Sheban helped to pull a stuck Jeep 🚙 out of the mud. We then raced a hyena on the road and had to drive in the Serengeti at nighttime. Experienced an “Indiana Jones” wild ride, bumps, and slides plus hitting an Acacia tree. We arrived at the Sopa lodge feeling like we had been on a roller coaster ride for about an hour.

Left Arusha for Ngorongoro crater after about 2 hours sleep 🛏.

3.5-hour drive and then lunch 🥙 with the animals. Saw a huge Maribou stork drop in right next to us. Went on an afternoon safari in the crater. Saw so many animals in their natural habitat. Wildebeest, Zebra 🦓 , buffalo, deer, elephants 🐘, rhinos 🦏 lioness, hippos, and lots of amazing 😉 🦅.

Had a meditation 🧘‍♀️ at the hippo pool and discussed the 1st Chakra (root chakra).

Our guide told us that we were lucky to see all the animals that we did.

A major thunderstorm 🌩 occurred right after we got back to the Sopa Lodge.

In bed 🛏 at 9:30 pm. SOO tired 😴

Onto the next day.

We went on a quick morning tour of Istanbul. We started off at the ancient hippodrome where chariot races used to be run. We saw 3 ancient columns with hieroglyphics.

We saw the “blue mosque ” and Haggio Sofia museum, which is the only religious place in the world where a Christian mosaic is flanked by Islam symbols. We saw some very old double knitted rugs and had lunch 🥙.

We walked past the cistern caverns which were written about by Dan Brown in his book Inferno.

The flight to Kilimanjaro Tanzania was ONLY delayed by 30 minutes. We arrived in Tanzania at 3 am and got a couple of hours of sleep 💤 before day 3.

Arrived in Istanbul at 9:30 pm local time.

Missed the connection so not sure 🤔 when we start the next part of our trip.

Probably will spend the night in Instanbul now. We ended up staying at the Marriot and got a few hour’s sleep before waking early the next day for a morning tour of Istanbul.

#AWGP2018,

#AwakendWorldPilgrimage, #AwakenedWorldPilgrim, #AroundTheWorldPilgrimage #AwakenedWorldGlobalPilgrimage

Left LAX 4 hours late because of “Stinky” parrots, yes Parrots in the cargo hold.

I know it sounds like a Monty Python 🐍 sketch, but this was real.

Parrots were removed and so was the smell after opening the emergency 🚨 doors 🚪 on the runway. However we were still delayed, I guess to make sure there was nothing else stinky on the plane ✈️. Other theories of the flight attendants were carrots 🥕 and cheese 🧀 but they proved to be unfounded.

Interesting start to the pilgrimage, you cannot make this stuff up.

LAX to Istanbul- 13-hour flight on Boeing 777. On our way to Tanzania.

Leaving at 6:30 pm on Friday and arriving in Kilimanjaro at 5:15 am

Let the adventures begin with many more smiles😃😀 to come.

Nice 👍🏻 ceremony at the Gate to kick off our intentions for the pilgrimage. New countries and cultures to explore. Here’s to meeting everything with an open heart ♥️ and mind.

(CLICK LINK BELOW FOR FULL BLOG POST)

Uneventful trip from San Diego in under 2 hours, amazing.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Just had lunch and we will be meeting the group soon.🥗🥗

Excitement building for the long trip to Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania.✈️✈️⛰⛰

Pictures of our interview with Jason yesterday and our departure from home 🏠 this morning.

We will see you in a month Gavin👍👍👍