I have wanted to go to Egypt for almost as long as I can remember. I am not sure what
triggered this desire; studying Egypt in the 5th grade, seeing the Treasures of Tutankhamun
at the Met, or my general fasination with history. Over the last couple of years I have
traveled to China and Rome as part of my historical
nations tour. But the buildings and structures in those places are relatively recent when
compared with the pyramids, temples, and tombs in Egypt.
In July, I saw an article on the MSNBC website about a cheap package to Egypt. Only $899 for airfare from New York and six nights at either the Ramses Hilton or the Mena House, two of the nicest hotels in Cairo. The trip also included a couple of half-day tours, one to the Giza Pyramids/Sphinx, and the other to The Cairo Museum/Khan el Khalili Bazaar, breakfast at the hotel, and transfers.
There was also an optional Nile Cruise for $499, which also increased the trip by three days.
I told my sister and parents about the trip and my mom and sister were quite interested. I
was not sure that I would be able to go because I was starting work and was not sure if I
could swing the cost and vacation. Plus, I wanted Becca to come along, and she had the same
vacation and cost issues that I had.
After a flurry of E-mails, we decided that my mom, Anne, Becca and I would go on the basic
trip, leaving Tuesday November 25 and returning Tuesday December 2. Becca, who started work
almost a month later that I did, worked extra hours in order to earn enough time off, and I
earned my fourth vacation day on November 30, so everything worked out. I really wanted to
do the cruise, because it seemed like a waste to go all the way to Egypt and not see the
temples at Luxor and Karnak, or the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple, etc.
Anne found flights from Cairo to Luxor for about $250, and figured we could get rooms at the
Möevenpick for about $40-50 each. We asked MISR travel if they could get us a deal and they
said for $245 per person they could get flights, the Movenpick, and transfers. We said "sign
us up!" Little did we know that this also included a tour to the temples at Luxor and Karnak
and another tour to the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's Temple! One note about MISR
travel. They are pretty quick about replying to E-mail, but we had problems getting written
confirmation of our trip. What they do is bill your credit card and send you tickets and a
brief itinerary a month before you leave. So don't give up!
So now, four months later, I am actually on my way to Egypt. We have researched the places
we will be visiting, and the types of products sold in Egypt. We know, basically, what we
would like to see and do, and have some vague idea about some things we would like to buy.
The flight from Roanoke to Cincinatti was uneventful. It only took about an hour and we landed a bit early. I had a three-hour layover in Cincinatti before my flight to JFK, so I ate a lousy cheeseburger in the airport and sat down to start my journal, which you are now reading. I almost forgot to bring my journal. I was all packed and ready to go, and was awaiting my cab to the airport when I first remembered to bring a journal to write in. After scrounging through moving boxes for ten minutes I finally found a blank journal to bring along.
I sat outside the "Thoroughbred Grill" in the concourse in Cincinatti. I can't imagine who
would think that this is a good name for a burger/hot dog joint. I guess the tie-in to the
Kentucky Derby, and images of fast-food make some sense in the Cincinatti and Northern Kentucky
airport. However, it just begs the question "What exactly is this burger made of?"
We landed in JFK a bit early. However, we waited for fifteen minutes to et a tow into the gate. I did not check any bags on the flight, so I just went downstairs and caught the free shuttle bus over to terminal 4. Fortunately, I started at terminal 3, so it was not a long trip. Just as I got up to the departure level I saw Anne and my mom walking over to the Egypt Air counter. We all checked in and tried to get better seats. No such luck. Although she was friendly, the woman behind the counter was not overly helpful. After a great deal of discussion about the availability of seats, she assigned us our original seats, 25A-B-C. The plane was in a 3-4-2 configuration. Apparently, Becca, who had arrived an hour or two ahead of us, had changed her seat, but somehow ended up with an aisle (33H) instead of the window that she had requested.
The boarding pass said that we were supposed to board at 5:00, for a 6:30 flight. So we
headed over to the gate and met up with Becca. Well, 5:00 p.m. came and went, as did 5:30 and
6:00. A little after 6:00 they announced that they would be boarding from the back of the
plane starting with rows 40 and higher. A large throng of people got up and waited in line . . .
for about 20 minutes. then, they once again announced that they would be boarding rows 40
and higher, and this time they actually started to board the plane.
We eventually got on board and there were a fair number of empty seats. Once we thought
everyone was onboard we grabbed some extra seats. I took the aisle seat across from our
seats in an empty row of four. Then, mom noticed an empty aisle and window together in 23H-K,
so I grabbed that while my mom took the aisle seat that I had been holding. Once the doors
were shut I got Becca to come up with me and my mom had half of a row or four and Anne had
three seats to herself.
The flight took about nine-and-a-half hours. They showed Holes, Shanghai Nights, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I watched parts of Pirates and got about four hours of sleep in one- to two-hour intervals. They served dinner and breakfast, which were both OK.