The 2024 total solar eclipse was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience. Couldn't stop thinking about it for months afterwords. Since then I've been obsessed with observing the night sky and have been lucky enough to see a number of celestial events including a deep partial lunar eclipse and northern lights. I was also right at the edge of the 2026 eclipse path and while it was only about 20% coverage, it was nonetheless quite amazing to observe.

After 2024, I looked up where future totalities would occur and saw there's one scheduled for Australia in 2028, which is perfect because I've always wanted to visit the place. During coverage of the 2026 eclipse, however, I learned that the one next year will last as long as 6 minutes and decided I absolutely have to see "the eclipse of the century."

Well, today I decided to sit down and plan out my trip thinking I should start early since this would be my first time traveling outside North America, but it seems I'm actually an idiot and way late because most of the rest of you had your trips planned out months ago, some even as early as last year. I don't get it, what if something goes awry in your lives and you need to cancel? Won't you lose all your money? I've only ever been on trips that need a week or two of planning ahead (by which I mean submitting a request for time off from work), so this is all new to me.

Well, anyway, at this point I'm wondering what my options are. Egypt was my first choice, but it's apparently a rough trip if you aren't an experienced traveler (though I think I could handle myself well enough). Morocco is an option, but some say it might be overcast. Cruises are all sold out (and I'd prefer to be on land, anyway). There's still Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), though I've read there's a possibility of haze or sandstorms, not to mention a number of other reasons to avoid the place.

I'm not a millionaire, but I'm ready to spend money for this. Can I just fly into Jeddah or Luxor for a day or two and fly right out?

Update to this post

I read all the comments. Maybe I was too naive to think "we'll figure it out as we go" for a country like Egypt. It was starting to sound too risky. I took some actions after that post, found a travel agent, booked a private drive to Luxor. I tried contacting my Luxor Airbnb host to make sure we were still good but I got ghosted. A lot of comments said there's a risk they might cancel and that's what I was most afraid of - no place to stay in a city like Luxor with accommodation and travel cost sky rocketing. When I didn't get any response from the host I just had this sinking feeling that they'll cancel or something will go wrong.

ON TOP OF THAT I'm not a US citizen (legal resident tho) so I would've had to send my passport away to the Egyptian consulate and reviews for that were also not looking good.

All in all bad vibes. I cancelled everything. Took a little penalty ln the flights but nothing I can't recover from. I don't know if that was a rushed decision and I got influenced by the people on the Internet or if it was a wise decision to cut my losses while I'm at it. Time will tell, or it won't. Road not taken I suppose.

Anyway, update is that we're now going on a cruise. Yes, it'll be a little more expensive but can't put a price on peace of mind at this point. I have not researched it well enough yet but it says they'll steer the ship in the path of totality soooo 🤷‍♀️

I've been very lucky to have totality right in my "backyard" a couple times in my life. This is my first attempt to actually put in any effort to go see it. Hope it goes well 🤞

Thanks all!