Beautiful Luxor

December 12, 2023: Luxor, Egypt

We arrived on our Nile cruise ship, the Viking Ra, yesterday afternoon after a flight from Cairo and a tour of Karnak Temple, which is an enormous complex replete with sculptures, columns, temples, and Sphinxes everywhere. It’s jaw-dropping to think of the construction of these enormous structures over 4,000 years ago.

Our cabin aboard ship is wonderful! It’s comfortable and cozy and we are looking forward to spending a week in this luxury! But we feel like we simply can’t manage to get a good night’s sleep since we got to Egypt. We sleep about 4 hours and then wake up and can’t fall back asleep again for some reason. We hope that passes soon!

In the evening, we toured Luxor Temple to see it lit up at night. It was glorious! Never had I felt so attuned to what it must have felt like to see these grand structures when they were first built. It must have been a wonder to see them and realize the incredible civilization that you were part of.

This morning, we rose at 4 am to float above the Valley of the Kings in a hot air balloon for sunrise. Simply stunning and magnificent! Floating on a breeze and viewing this valley that is one of the cradles of early civilization is a thrilling experience. I found it invigorating and restorative.

We returned to the ship for a lovely breakfast. We are now sitting on the Sun deck, moored in the Nile River across from the Valley of the Kings. It’s about 70 degrees with blue skies and sunshine overhead. And so it is here, in this crossroad of civilization, that I think about my own crossroad from a working life to retirement. I think about the generations of Egyptians who lived and worked and loved and died here. I am here myself because of them in some way. We all leave a mark, small or great, but I think it’s best to live the fullest life you can. We get a single pass and I want to feel like I’m really living my life.

— Scot