I am now back on land in Central America, after a very sedate 18 days at sea on the ‘BF Ipanema’ cargo ship. More than the hitch-hiking, this voyage was something I was anxious about when planning my trip – how would I cope with such a long time on a ship, with no one but crew to talk to and surrounded by thousands of miles of very deep ocean?

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I’m now writing from Le Havre, on the Normandy coast of France, where in 11 hours I get on the cargo ship that will take me to Guatemala. This journey will take 18 days, during which there will not be internet access, so here is a quick run down of the trip that’s brought me here, and what I know about the next trip, across the ocean.

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I did a lot of very touristy things in Egypt – as much as I could fit into my short time there in fact – and took a lot of pictures. So I thought the best way to show this stuff would be another gallery.

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I am now on my way back from Egypt after spending 2 weeks there. While in Egypt I got to relax a little with friends in Cairo (thanks Sabs and Chris!), got on a train to Luxor much further South and saw a bunch of pharaonic Egypt, and get a tiny first taste of the Arab world.

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Part 1 of my blog on my first journey through Turkey (here) focused on Istanbul, including the impact its rapid expansion is having on informal

migrant communities living on land wanted for development.

Istanbul was an amazing tourist experience, and a nice chance to relax after my journey through Europe.

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I’ve now completed the first major stage of my travelling, and reached my friends in Cairo, where I am going to stay for 2 weeks. After using a bus to get to Istanbul, I was then able to hitch-hike and couch surf all the way to Iskenderun in the South of Turkey, to catch a ferry to Egypt and complete the journey.

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I have now got a little further in my travels, and it seems a good opportunity for an update, which I thought I’d do through a little gallery.

Having hitch-hiked to Bulgaria, I have also decided to have a bit less complicated travel for the next step, and get a bus to Istanbul, and possibly through Turkey after that.

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