From Luxor is Grand by lisaaltieriatcal

Home of King Tut’s Tomb, the Valley of Kings, and other famous archeological treasures, Luxor is a special destination rich with history and wonders. Traveling across Egypt this spring, lisaaltieriatcal got to see this special city from a unique perspective — the basket of a hot air balloon. Sailing over houses and buildings, lisaaltieriatcal caught a bird’s eye view and wrote about it in her journal, Luxor is Grand:

“At 4:30 the next morning, I went for a hot air balloon ride over Valley of the Kings with this character of a guy who is 30 years old and has traveled everywhere on Earth that the sun shines. It was his fifth hot air balloon ride, but it was my first and it was SO COOL. Our balloon (there were also about 10 other people in the basket) went farther and lower than any of the others, which made it even more special. We swooped over this little Egyptian village and were practically lowered into peoples’ houses. All the kids and the ladies were waving…” (more…)

For more on Egypt, see:

Egypt Travel Photos
Egypt Travel Blogs
Luxor Travel Blogs

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From Get Mellow in Bello by Smashling

If you’re tired of the big city and want to relax amidst the quiet valleys and soft skies of a quaint small town, try Bellingen, a picturesque shire in New South Wales, nestled between Sydney and Brisbane. The locals affectionately call the town “Bello,” as if nicknaming a friend. This friendly town is seeing an upswing in tourism lately because of it’s investment in the arts — Bellingen hosts a number of festivals each year, and also is home to hip cafes and colorful markets.

RealTraveler Smashling recently relaxed in Bello, where she describes enjoying a day of tubing, touring a nearby rain forest, and enjoying the small town life. Here’s a passage from her journal, Get Mellow in Bello:

“We went tubing down the river which was pretty lovely. We saw a snake swim across in front of us that turned out to be a little lizard, and we saw a kingfisher. Getting in was a bit of a kefuffle but as soon as we were soaked and floating away it was fine. We went to this amazing old fashioned posh coffee house in the high street filled with odd characters. In the evening we cooked and chilled out and i talked to some boys from Norwich.

The next day we went on the rain forest tour. Our turtle man driver who was really cool failed to inform us about the leeches until we got there. But we bravely set out for the 7k walk. We learned a lot about strangler figs which grow around another tree and kill it so it rots away inside, then become trees of their own. And spikey plants. And things like that…

Bellingen is such a chilled lovely place, we miss it.” (more…)

For more on Bellingen and New South Wales, visit:
Bellingen Travel Blogs
New South Wales Travel Guide
New South Wales Tourism Information

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