Egypt

One of the most incredible trips I've ever taken was three weeks in Egypt. It was all astounding, but what captivated me, most of all, was the Nile cruise we took from Luxor to Aswan. I have never felt so fully out of time as I did on that trip. Sitting on the deck, tracing the path of history as we made our way south, hearing the calls of the people on the shore waving at the ship, seeing farmers, children swimming in the water... it could have been that year or two thousand years earlier. The golden columns of temples in the sun, the heat, the stark green of the cultivation against the sand, the blue of the river... I will never forget it. It was jaw-dropping, incredible, just the most world-shaking yet quiet experience of my life. Nothing much happened on the river, yet everything did--the literal course of civilization was laid out in front of me. There is no trip I want to take more than to go back and do that again.