Flight Stream

To many people the Pyramids are Egypt. The massive ancient monuments never fail to dazzle all who see them, whether for the first or the fifteenth time. But the splendor of the pharaohs lives on in many sites in Cairo besides the famous Giza pyramids. The pyramid and tombs complexes of Saqqara and Dashur and the Egyptian museum combine with the great pyramids to make Egypt’s capital a superb place to immerse yourself in the splendor of ancient dynasties, combined with the comforts and excitement of a major world capital.

The highlight of Cairo’s pharonic monuments are the Pyramids at Giza, commonly described with a dazzling array of superlatives that still fail to do justice to the spectacular sight. There are three main pyramids at Giza, built by the Old Kingdom pharaohs Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus; the Great Pyramid of Cheops is the oldest and largest. The Greek traveler and historian Herotodus tells how some Egyptians claimed that Cheops’ daughter demanded that each of her lovers provide a stone for the Pyramid; it’s more likely that the pyramid was built by peasants conscripted to work for the king when agricultural work was light. Chephren’s pyramid is slightly shorter, but it still has its limestone cap ? all the pyramids were originally sheathed in smooth limestone, which was later pilfered for other building projects. In addition to the main pyramids, there are several small pyramids built for the wives and children of the pharaohs.

The pyramids were designed as tombs for Egypt’s pharaohs, and visitors can climb into the hearts of the pyramids to see the burial chamber. All three tomb chambers are empty, looted by grave robbers centuries millennia ago. Although there is no decoration inside the tombs, the unique and indescribable feeling of awe at being inside a man-made mountain is more than worth the extra ticket needed to go inside. Next to the pyramid of Cheops is the Solar Boat Museum. The ceremonial boat used during the funeral ceremonies of a dead pharaoh was taken apart and buried in the sand, which preserved it so well that when archaeologists discovered it a decade ago they were able to rebuild it and put it on display.

Basilicata is an overlooked region above the instep of Italy’s heel, most famously immortalized in Carlo Levis groundbreaking 1945 novel, Christ Stopped at Eboli, as a grim and impoverished area whose inhabitants were seen as subhuman by the rest of Italy. In fact, it is a fascinating tourist destination where windswept colls crowned by forbidding, sunbaked citadels stretch across vast expanses of solitude. Nowhere else in Italy does life go on at such a simple and traditional pace. And Basilicata’s most interesting destination is Matera, an amazing town dug out of the living rock and dating back to prehistoric times.

The town, one of only 630 UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the globe, is situated along two dramatic gorges, the Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano. For more than 7000 years, the inhabitants of Matera dug their houses out of the soft limestone walls of the gorges, and it was only in the 1950?s that the Italian government deemed the cave-like dwellings to be unfit for habitation, a move motivated more by a desire for the semblance of progress than by actual danger. The older habitations, found on the Sasso Caveoso, are more primitive in appearance: the sassi, as they are called, are piled on top of each other, with holes serving as doorways and chimneys. Inside they are cool and damp, and it is amazing to think that these small spaces once accomodated entire families and their livestock. The sassi of the Sasso Barisano are more recent, and consist mainly of caves onto which bright white fronts have been built. And, while the Sasso Caveoso is completely uninhabited, the Sasso Barisano is undergoing something of a revival: many sassi there have been converted into new homes and boutiques. The oldest caves in Matera are the chiese rupestri across the gorge from the Sasso Caveoso in the Parco della Murgia Materana.. These are ancient religious shrines, many with their altars still standing. Those wishing to explore the sassi should follow the signs in town to the APT Tourist Office (Via de Marco, 9; tel. 0835 33 19 83; open M-Sa 8:30am-1:30pm) and pick up a map.

The cause of the “Changeover Jitters” for Honkies (Hong Kong residents) was the spotty record of the PRC government and its decision to send in military vehicles and troops for the changeover festivities. This manifestation of Chinese might made many nervous, particularly those who felt that they did not conform to the PRC government’s agenda. The prodemocracy movement, the gay and lesbian movements, and young activists were concerned about the threat of censorship and the PRC’s track record on human rights in its other Special Administrative Region, Tibet. (The number-one hit for several weeks this summer on the Hong Kong pop chart was David Bowie’s Mandarin rendition of his anti-PRC protest song, Seven Years in Tibet, marking a first for a European singer.)

Surprisingly, there was little excitement on the part of the hoi polloi. Most people to whom I spoke evinced little interest in the new government. After all, the British were a colonial government, and it was only in recent years that former Governour Chris Patten pressured Her Majesty’s government to permit democratic elections in Hong Kong. Some of these newly granted privileges were revoked by the incoming governor, Tung Chee-Hwa (Dong Qihua), whose commander-in-chief was Chinese and represented the Motherland-or so ran the justifications of the enthusiasts. I felt, however, that the locals were as unconvinced of such attitudes as I was.

South Africa offers a ridiculously regal realm of refinements for the budget travelers brave enough to realize that the foreboding visions of a heart of darkness have no place in this sunny, gorgeous, and lush land. So much of the country seems like a traveler’s analogue to Parkay margarine, with awed nomads muttering, “I can’t believe it’s not costly travel!” This is not a demanding landscape for travelers – to the contrary, it’s quite easy at almost every stretch, given the overall quality of facilities and the fact that traveling on a budget doesn’t necessitate sacrifice. The biggest hurdle is getting there (anyone who says that this is half the fun is either mad or arrived by a means other than a cramped, full-day flight that placed a large dent in her finances), which is perhaps why such sparkling and stunning destinations as Cape Town and the Garden Route can maintain a sense of intimacy for visitors. Because South Africa remains a budding destination for travelers, and still has yet to be flooded with the tourist deluge, prices remain obscenely low for the quality of life and leisure in which visitors indulge.

This here is an abbreviated Let’s Go how-to travel manual, a budget travel primer clueing y’all in as to how to travel in style, in the know, and on the cheap. Like much of Western civilization, most of what travel entails is actually reducible to a single basic trinity:

1) flexibility,
2) planning, and
3) budgeting.

To be totally accurate, let’s throw in:
4) gastrointestinal happiness.

Packing the pink stuff solves 4). Since flexibility and planning seem to be at opposite ends of the preparatory steps spectrum, I would add that another thing crucial to stylin’ budget travel is the ability to strike a balance between what may appear to be contradictory behaviors. Plan, but don’t overplan. Take risks, but don’t be foolish. This means you should stray from the beaten tourist track. Just don’t smuggle grass along its borders. Know where you’re going, roughly, and have a backup plan. But always be willing to take deviations from what you’d originally planned. You’ll come across festivals you didn’t know about, monsoons arriving earlier than expected, a hostel owner closing for the winter, museums closing for construction (hi, Paris, anyone?). So allow room in your schedules for deviations.