traveled in 13 countries Read more
  • Day 147

    Gaudi and Pickpockets in Barcelona

    May 25, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 63 °F

    Oh Barcelona- last time I was here was in 1996. I have such amazing memories being here, visiting with my mom, for a few days. We walked everywhere, had delicious tapas, and had so much fun!

    This has been different - we’re so tired and ready to go home. That said, Barcelona is an amazing city.

    Some of the positives of Barcelona:

    - seeing everything Gaudi like Sagrada Familia and his house. His architecture - well…I can’t even put it into words - you just have to experience his art and think about his mind worked.

    - watching a swing band at the roof of Casa Batllò with the girls at night.

    - tapas to me were a huge treat; girls not huge on Iberian ham and seafood. I enjoyed it all!

    Main negative:
    I got pickpocketed the first time I let down my guard this entire trip! Someone stole my phone while at a very busy store - I didn’t even know until a security guard told me he saw a couple follow me in the store on security cameras and the woman took the phone and passed it off to the man. They got arrested and I got my phone back - hallelujah!

    Humbling experience to have travelled around the world and 2 days before I come home to get pickpocketed…hey! That’s part of the experience though right??

    ————————-

    We leave in the AM and will be traveling for about 24 hours to get back home. We can’t wait. This has been an adventure of a lifetime…and more than anything I’m so grateful that both Brian and I got to spend so much time with our girls. They are such special human beings and I know that we won’t get this opportunity probably ever again to spend this much time with them. They’re growing up so quickly and it’s been beautiful to watch!

    I hope that these experience will continue to shift and shape their uniqueness in this world; I hope they see that life goes on whether we like it or not; that there are always different ways to look at life, people, cultures, foods, love, and even a landscape. The world can be raw, beautiful, unique, harsh, and comforting all at the same time. It’s kind of how I feel about Gaudi’s work.

    We just need to continue to shift our perspective a bit, realize we will always be learning, and we have to be open to continuing to grow as human beings.

    This is my last post from the Sellers Family Round-The-World trip! Sellers girls out ❤️ we can’t wait to be home with Brian and the doggies.
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  • Day 143

    Croissants + Cats in Cassis, France

    May 21, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 63 °F

    We were originally not planning on staying in the South of France but so glad we did! It was rainy and overcast but it was so beautiful and unique!

    We stayed at an apartment that stood above small outdoor cafes in a narrow alleyway that stayed open late at night. You could hear the conversations, clinking of the wine glasses, and just felt the difference in the way of life here. Slower - more enjoyable - joie de vivre!

    The girls favorite part was the cat - that we lovingly named Cassis (it’s actual name was Maggie who belonged to the people that lived upstairs) that would sit at the door of our apartment and the second we opened the door, would waltz in and act like she owned the place. She was a enormous cat with quite the personality. One tiny little rub and she made biscuits with her paws wherever she was. She snuggled with katie doing school work; she lay down next to Maddie. She walked along the alleyways outside. It was fun!

    Our next favorite part was the breakfast at Monsieur Brun café - look at the pictures and see for yourself. Delicious and amazing!

    We were sad to leave but happy we’re closer to coming home!! One week left!!

    Next stop: lots of trains and then Barcelona!!
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  • Day 138

    Oh la la - Sellers Girls are in Paris!

    May 16, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Yay! We’re in France! After our train from Munich -> Paris was cancelled due to strikes and the apartment we were supposed to stay at in Paris got cancelled a few days before we arrived (due to electrical problems) - and having a mommy -figure- out -new -plans-in-a-new-country frenzy, we made it.

    Finally I can (usually/sometimes/a bit of the time) understand what is being said! I spent a year in Switzerland about 25 years ago so a bit rusty. Some people speak to me, say “vous Parlez bien!) and I can have a full conversation in French. Others switch immediately into perfect English; while a few lovely people have spoken…v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y in French to me. I’ll take the wins while I can and let the others go. I’m having fun with my girls and we’re in Paris!

    The essence of Paris is so romantic and alluring! The cafes with people drinking their coffee or wine in open cafes. People just outside and enjoying…something we Americans miss a lot of the time. The enjoyment…the interaction…the living in the moment. Maybe it’s just me as an introvert…but here - I can come, sit and just be. So I’m excited the girls have gotten to experience this!

    Here’s the issue - we’re are here JUST at
    the beginning of the high season and it is CRAZY busy and packed with people (tourists and locals)!. It became very overwhelming very quickly. I don’t remember feeling like that when I was last here. It’s like the number of people have outgrown this enormous city. I was grateful we were here in May!

    Given the sheer volume of people, I think my favorite memory of Paris will be us 3 girls laying down on a lawn near the Eiffel Tower. There was so much buzzing around us - so many people and sounds - but the three of us were all just laying down on our jackets for about an hour watching it all happen. Weather was perfect and not a cloud in the sky.

    The other very unique thing we did was a photo shoot. I found this amazing photographer Meiry, who lives in Paris, around the time we left on the trip in ‘22. Brian captures amazing picture of all of us but I wanted something with the 4 of us! We rarely get those. Anyhow Meiry had availability for 1 day only in May - May 18th- which happens to coincide with the 1 year anniversary of Brian’s mom’s death and right when we’d be in Paris. So I took that a sign we should it and booked it. I didn’t know at the time Brian would have to head back so we still went ahead and did it - but were sad Brian missed it! It was beautiful walking around early in the AM through the streets of Montmartre. Meiry is just a beautiful person - inside and out.

    Some other highlights of our time in Paris:
    - Eiffel Tower at sunset
    - the louvre
    - staying in Montmartre (and getting crepes and ice cream scooped in the shape of a flower!)
    - walking along la seine
    - sitting at the cafes and watching the people go by.

    So now we are in a small seaside down in Southern France called Cassis (just to the southeast of Marseille). I hadn’t planned on having us come here but since our place in Paris cancelled, I figured maybe we should spend less time in Paris and more time in a quieter place! We used our eurail pass, hopped on a couple of trains and then a bus and voila - we’re here.
    It’s rainy, busy with mostly French tourists, but still just stunning…

    I’ll write more soon!
    We’ll be home in about a week!!

    ❤️❤️❤️
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  • Day 137

    German Strikes and Schnitzel!

    May 15, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    It’s our last day in Munich, Germany! It has been one of the girls favorite places! I’ve enjoyed it but it’s been in the 40-50s and rainy half of the time - so I’m surprised!

    We’ve walked a ton around the capital of Bavaria, learned to navigate the UBahn metro with decent competence (went the wrong way once yesterday but that’s part of the adventure right?), and felt like we experienced a bit what it would be to live here!

    Maddie loved: “the metro, the food, and just the feel of the town!”
    Katie loved: “this small town and the ice cream we had last night” (although the 3rd biggest city in Germany, Munich city center doesn’t feel like a huge city so I would agree with the sentiment!)

    We’ve seen:
    - a lot of underground Ubahn trains
    -surfers riding big waves on the river at the English Garden
    - local markets near the Marienplatz
    - two castles of the “mad king” Ludwig and the German countryside
    - the newest Guardians of the Galaxy in English at a local movie theater (it was much better than expected!)
    - a naked man at a local park (apparently a common site here based on our research!)
    - Maddie finally getting to do a few German lessons! Still loves it!

    We’ve tried:
    - schnitzel
    - bratwurst
    - the “famous boiled white wiener”- which had all of us in stitches. (Not very good)
    - the most atrociously drool inducing sour gum I have ever tried (we had a competition to see who would survive! Katie won the very time!)
    - after eights gelato (which may even beat out the outstanding gelato in Venice)!!

    So it’s been fun!

    We were supposed to go via train (eurail pass) to Paris tomorrow morning but train and transportation related strikes in Germany resulted in our train being cancelled. Super bummed and it’s required a huge amount of alternative planning. To top off the fun, the Airbnb I booked in Paris (the ONLY part of this last leg of the trip I booked in 2022!) cancelled yesterday!! Is the universe trying to tell me something??

    Due to all that, we’ll be flying to Paris tomorrow (hello - new claim to our travel insurance company!), spend just a couple days in Paris and then we are going to hop on 2 trains to get to a small town called Cassis, in the south of France. I’ve never been So I’m excited! We’ll be there 2-3 days and then head to Barcelona..

    At this point I’m hoping for the best but expecting more hiccups along the way!

    Hope all the mamas had a beautiful Mamas day! ❤️ We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy and made sure to get back before the strikes began so we weren’t stranded!
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  • Day 133

    What in the World is “Worldschooling?”

    May 11, 2023 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 52 °F

    —As I write this, I just found there will be a strike throughout Germany at the end of this week into next week, which means our train to France is probably going to be cancelled — so worldschooling will include navigating that now as well!—

    During Covid I pulled the kids to homeschool for the 2020-2021 school year - it was a challenging shift for all of us. While I love educating in a nursing setting,I had no idea what I was doing with the kids in terms of education. Both of our amazing kiddos have dyslexia; both have various super cool skills, beautiful talents and also challenges. How do I teach? I Dunno but I had to figure it out somehow - the best I could at the time.

    Jump forward to 2022 - I was thinking about this trip for our family after the mamas died and while googling, i saw the term “worldschooling”: Learning through experiencing different cultures, languages, histories, music, arts - perfect. I learned how to homeschool due to necessity the previous couple of years- why not learn to “worldschool”.

    So here we’re are…about 5 months in to this trip and about to come home. We have the world as our teacher, so the learning just happens by “being”. We are also very fortunate to have an amazing online weekly tutor, Alex, that helped us during Covid as well. She helps the kids with math and English. Maddie has been working on research papers, OpEds; katie has been improving her skills as a budding writer. We’re starting the Diary of Anne Frank and are learning about World War 2. The kids have had to learn to be more independent in their work habits and overall thinking. They have had to push through challenging topics, fears, new cultures and foods, and they are growing before our eyes - mentally and physically. While I’m constantly helping throughout the day- they are the ones doing it and Brian and I are so proud of them!! ❤️❤️

    As a beautiful friend reminded me recently that I should step back and look at what they’ve done in the last month or so…

    In the past month:
    - one month ago today: we were visiting my amazing aunts in Capetown and meeting family we hadn’t known about. We learned about life in South Africa, had delicious braai, learned some of the history of apartheid and Nelson Mandela, load shedding and met family.
    - we saw so many amazing animals in Kruger National Park and learned about the intricate and complex ecosystem amongst animal species and the landscape in this amazing park.

    - we traveled to Egypt - learned about Ramadan, hearing prayers over loud speakers, learned basic words in Arabic, saw the pyramids of Giza, rode camels, ate new foods.

    - we travelled through Morocco, went into the 3rd largest mosque in the world, ate tagine and drank mint tea, learned about the Berber, the royal family, and saw beautiful architecture in the narrow pathways of Fes.

    -spent a week living in an apartment in Venice, walking the canals, learned the history of Venetian masks, hearing church bells, and eating more delicious pizza and gelato than we could handle. (I also have a new favorite drink - Aperol Spritz! So good!)

    - now we’re in Munich, Germany - we have walked through the Marienplatz, visited the local market and are currently studying in a cafe; Maddie is also taking a few German lessons at a school across town 2 hours a day (per her request) so we have quickly learned to take the metro here (somehow a fear of mine that is now overcome!) to turn a rainy 30 minute walk to school into a 5 minute walk and 2 minute metro train ride.

    That is worldschooling. It’s been marvelous (!!) ❤️❤️ and challenging. Lots of laughter and tears! New sights and smells. Interesting sounds and unique ways of living life. What a beautiful world.

    I wouldn’t have it any other way!
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  • Day 127

    Ciao Bella -Exploring Venice!

    May 5, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Venice has been amazing. We rented an apartment for the week and it’s been so nice to have our own rooms, make delicious Italian coffee in the morning, having an actual refrigerator requiring us going to a local grocery store, hang laundry to dry outside our window on the 2nd floor, walking along the myriad of canals and seeing 100s of gelaterias (we have tried many so far! - Suso is my favorite!!).

    I have been so excited to be back here - last time I was here was during my junior year abroad in Switzerland. Late 90s had felt unreal to me - we would “ditch” school to hop on an overnight train to have an extra day in Italy over a weekend. Let’s just say it’s been awhile - and a lot has changed. A lot more people everywhere…a lot more shops…a lot more gondolas - but still the same allure…

    …The same wonder hearing people speak in Italian with such an expressiveness in their hands and faces…

    …The deliciousness of the pizzas (definitely the most delicious crusts I’ve get had) and they are the cheapest thing on the menu usually!!!

    …The creaminess and delicious flavors of gelato!

    …The feeling of not knowing what you will see as you cross over yet another small bridge over a lovely small canal and turn the corner…

    …the feeling of questioning your mothering skills when the girls say they know how to get home from the grocery store…and letting them go alone(!). (Then realizing they got back to the apartment way more easily than I did!!)

    …and getting a much needed haircut felt good too!

    We’ve been here almost one week already - I can’t believe it. Time is going by so fast …and we are coming home in 2 1/2 weeks.

    We’re going to watch the 90s version of Romeo and Juliet tonight (which I’ve never seen) and hop on a train tomorrow morning to visit fair Verona for a day.

    On Tuesday AM, we’ll then take a 4 am water taxi and then Flight to Munich. We’ll be there for a week and Maddie will take her long awaited German lessons (she LOVES the German language!).

    We’ll also begin studying a bit of a world War 2 for the last couple of weeks we are here, including reading the Diary of Anne Frank and visiting some WWII sites along the way.

    Hope you are all doing well! ❤️

    Next stop:

    Munich and then Paris a week later - via train (I got a eurail pass for us!)
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  • Day 119

    Morocco - Sellers Girls Explore

    April 27, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Our time in Morocco is one of the first official “tours” we have done on this entire trip. The company is amazing - the places we have stayed are very unique and wonderful - but after traveling for so long and so quickly - this pace is a bit grueling and we’re tired.

    Our guide said that some people will do a similar trip in 3 weeks to a month. We are doing this in a 10 day trip…did I know this beforehand? No of course not - my planning of things has had to be more basic and hasty. Without that we wouldn’t have made it out our front door last December. Given our quite expedited schedule, I’m getting a lot of sighs from the kiddos. Our conversations go about like this:

    Kid 1: how long are we driving today?
    Me: I don’t know - as long as i takes. Just go with it.
    Guide: about 8 hours.
    Kid 1 and 2: muffled complaints and sighs from back seat.
    Me (inside my brain): well (bleep bleep) …that’s longer than I thought. oh well at least I get to look out the window and relax!
    Kid 1: ok I guess I’ll go to sleep…lays head down and falls asleep immediately in back seat.
    Kid 2: will there be wifi? I still don’t understand why I have full bars and the wifi doesn’t work.
    Me: cause we’re in the middle of the Sahara.
    Kid 2: but I have full bars
    Me: desert - Morocco - lots of sand dunes - bad wifi. Just look out the window! It’s beautiful!
    Kid 2: UGH and lays head against window begrudgingly…

    8 hours later
    Kid 1: wakes up and says “oh that wasn’t so bad”
    Kid 2: yah not so bad - it’s pretty here - can I call my friends once we get to the riad? I hope the wifi works!

    🙂

    Anyhow we spent two days in the Sahara - in a camp that we accessed over sand dunes by camel and then stayed at a Berber camp. We then went quad biking in the dunes (probably one of my favorite activities of this entire trip - which I was very surprised by). Maddie and I rode individual quad bikes and katie hopped on back with a guide. We felt alone out in the dunes and I got to watch Maddie sprout her wings as she rode up and along high dunes in the sunset. I then got to ride on the back of her quad bike with her driving which made me flash forward a few years to thinking about her driving. She did a great job!!

    Then we spent time in Fes, a large city with meandering pathways only understood by someone that is from the city. It’s very easy to get lost and some of the pathways were so skinny we almost had to tuck our arms in to get through!

    My favorite city other than Marrakech was Chefchaoun, a small city nestled in the mountains, with predominantly blue colored buildings here in the north. We spent the afternoon “getting lost” in various narrow walkways through town and amazingly ended up coming out at an ice cream shop. Delicious. Then while the kids stayed happily in our room, I got a traditional hammam, a cleansing of the skin in a steam room. The woman was amazing, scrubbed so much horribly dead skin off and sang in Arabic. It sounds cheesy but it was this beautiful connection and while I was having my body cleansed, I feel a bit of my soul was as well.

    While we’re happy to move on to Venice today - all day travels once again - and will be happy to explore on our own rather than on a tour I’ll miss some things:

    - tagine
    - the hammam (I’m not great at taking care of myself but loved this)
    -being so surprised by the varying landscape - some of the country felt like wine country - some like Virginia - other like you would expect sand dunes.
    - the beautiful mosaics on every wall/building/mosque
    -prayers over the loud speakers
    - pathways where each time, you don’t know what you’ll experience around the next turn
    -watching the girls yell out “another kitty” around just about every corner in every town. Their love for animals is special.

    So we are leaving the continent of Africa now after 4 weeks…we have experienced so much here…but I’m ready to wander along canals with the girls.

    We’ve been FaceTiming Brian multiple times a day and while he’s missed so much, we are so happy he’s back home with our pups - and we’re just about ready to be back too!

    We’ll write more soon! ❤️
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  • Day 115

    Marrakech- Time to Say Goodbye

    April 23, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Brian and I have always wanted to come to Morocco - and Brian in particular has always wanted to go to the Sahara - so we’re bummed about him heading home a bit early and missing the desert portion of Morocco - that said it’s been an AMAZING trip together and it’s time to start preparing to come home.

    We all spent 3 days all together in Casablanca and Marrakech before Brian headed home (via Istanbul) and us girls headed to the Sahara. Brian got to see the outside of Ricks Cafe, homage to one of his favorite movies Casablanca. We got to watch sunrise from the rooftop of our riad together, having Moroccan mint tea tour and watching things come to life in the old Medina. We also got explore some Berber villages with the girls before taking Brian to the airport and say goodbye for the next month. It’s a strange thing to have literally been staying in the same room or being side by side 24/7 for 4 months and then to part ways - will take some adjusting for sure.

    If you were to ask the girls their favorite part of Marrakech - they would say the cats. Oh the cats! On the small walkway to our riad/hotel, 3 separate cats gave birth in a 24 hour period. While the cats are feral, many people make an effort to care for them so the cats are quite friendly! We saw lots of little kittens and cats kept trying to get the kids’ attention.

    If you were to ask me my favorite part- it’s the winding pathways along ochre colored walls, colorful clothing the Muslim and Berber women wear, along with the all of the beautifully decorated mosques and frequent prayers over the loudspeakers. It’s the sunrise from the rooftop of our riad. It’s been watching the kids connect with the animals.. Another lovely jolt to the senses…

    ————-
    As I write this, Brian has just made it home safely — and is girls are currently in Fes, just having finished our time in the Sahara.

    We’ll be touring the city tomorrow and then have one more night before we head to Western Europe. Venice—Munich—Paris—Barcelona. Some flights - lots of train time and then will be time to come home.

    Ill do another post at the end of Morocco - pics here will reflect time in Marrakech and maybe a teaser from the Sahara 🙂

    Hope you are all well - lots of love to all of you. ❤️
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  • Day 111

    Cairo - pyramids and cattle?

    April 19, 2023 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 91 °F

    Egypt was originally just supposed to be a layover from South Africa to Morocco but we decided early on to extend it for a few days just to see Cairo and Giza. It was a bit more than we bargained for and my least favorite place so far (more due to the nature of the tours)- but still definitely worth the stop.

    Our hotel, located in Giza in a non touristy neighborhood off a dirt road, was very unique. It has narrow stairs and hallways was located up on just the 13-15 floors of a large building. This hotel happened to have a spectacular view of the pyramids on its rooftop and we were served traditional Egyptian breakfast each morning - with cooked eggplant, fruit slices, egg and bread.

    Our trip happened to coincide with the tail-end of Ramadan and as you can imagine not many restaurants were open during the day. We were lucky we got the breakfast! We had to survive on thai chili Cheetos and way too many cashews and dried apricots for our digestive tracks during the day. In addition, the owner of the hotel was extremely kind in inviting all of us to break fast with them on the last night of Ramadan - so we had a fabulous Egyptian meal while overlooking the pyramids.

    However, the tours felt different here. I felt for the first time since a zip lining tour in Costa Rica in January, like we were cattle getting pushed along all day. In Costa Rica, there were tons of people zip lining so while it was super fun, we got pushed on each zip line quickly. There was no rest. Here in Egypt it was the sites - “Go see this quickly and we got the best seat just for you!” “Then let’s go across town and we chose this best thing for you…” “Oh and my manager said that if you want, after this whole day tour, to hop on an overnight bus (12 hours!!) to do another tour tomorrow in Luxor and then another overnight bus back - we can help you pack and go in 2 hours” - ah heck no!! I just want to rest.

    While I am surprised frequently by our experiences in new countries, I’m usually happy to encounter these surprises - things that are different from our expectation. Why? Because I like when my preconceived notions are incorrect! If they’re positive or negative - I’m constantly learning and adjusting my way of thinking.

    That said, Cairo has 30 million people and it’s massive highways don’t have ANY markings to separate individual lanes - basically their highway reminded me of a bumper car ride where the track starts and cars basically go in which and all merge and sway - except in this case - miraculously no bumping! My eyes were wide open in the back watching this phenomenon / kids asleep on my shoulders. (They have become seasoned travelers for sure)
    ——————-
    Anyhow we just completed ANOTHER overnight flight and have landed safely in Morocco.

    Many of you may not know but Brian is cutting his trip short to help out with some things at home…so we are all parting ways on Tuesday April 25th to start making his way home.

    The girls and I will continue on for another month and then will head home a bit early as well!
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  • Day 105

    Kruger National Park Splendor

    April 13, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 59 °F

    I hadn’t given Kruger National Park much thought before going this past week. Part of that is due to the sheer volume of planning involved in this trip and the other part is due to…naïveté, ignorance maybe, lack of understanding of how this type of natural environment can wallop and overwhelm your senses in its vastness and beauty…but it got me. I was mesmerized each and every time I went out into the park.

    We spent almost a week - 6 hours east of Johannesburg at a lodge inside of the Numbi Gate of Kruger National Park. Our lodge was without a doubt glamping - and I’m ok with that. We ate delicious meals on campus and then Either went out on game drives with the lodge or did our own “self drive”. When I say we did a self drive, I mean Brian drove (amazingly well on the Left side of the road - and steering wheel on right side of the car). He was a champ! There is NO way you would get me to drive - I do enough back seat or passenger seat driving for all of us when I don’t drive on the opposite side of the road!

    He would drive us on these bumpy dirt roads past zebras, enormous giraffes, curious hyenas, one of my favorite - the mystical Kudu, lions, elephants, baboons and even rhinos!

    The complexity, adaptability and interdependence within each group/pack of animals, plants, and birds were remarkable. Every time I went out - I learned something new and loved every second of it. I went on some sort of game drive daily and just let the wind blow in my hair , watching the landscape change, animals come out of hiding from the hot sun to get water, and experience animal life awaken as the sun went down.

    Whether it was learning what type of leaves “bush” locals use if they don’t have toilet paper! Don’t accidentally use the similar looking leaf with hidden spikes!

    Or learning first hand about puff adders (highly venomous snake) because Katie almost stepped on one near our tent!

    Or seeing hippos up close at sunset, learning
    About their territorial behavior in the water and soon after seeing the hyena mom, on the side of the road, who was breast feeding a bunch of hyena pups. Hearing our guide yell at said pups and then explaining to us “don’t let the hyena pups bite our tires - they’ll pop them and then those pups won’t seem so cute anymore because we’ll be their snack!”

    Or seeing the myriad of colors in the sky at sunset. I didn’t know that many colors were possible!

    Kruger - you won over my heart. We’re forever grateful and we’ll definitely see you again!

    Next stop: quick stop in Cairo and then Morocco!
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