We had to meet in the lobby at 6:00 for our bus to the airport, so we got up at 4:30. Yeah, there is a 4:30 in the morning and we kept seeing it. We got all packed and left our bags outside the door and headed off to the lobby. I checked out and Becca headed up to get some breakfast. When I arrived at breakfast I found that the waiter was putting together a box breakfast for us. We got out to the bus, ensured that all of our belongings got on, and headed to the airport -- stopping at the Ramses Hilton to pick up four of our tour-mates.
We had no real problems at the airport. We had a little over an hour and mom, Anne, and I checked out the shops, while Becca guarded our luggage. I didn't spend too much time in the shops, and just after I got back they started to board the plane . . . or at least so it seemed. In fact, they were only putting us into the waiting room for our gate, which entailed going through our third metal detector.
There was an Egyptian man a ways behind us that got all upset with the people manning the metal detector. I am not sure exactly what happend, but there was quite the shouting match going on there for awhile. Which reminds me, while we were at the check-in counter one of the passengers got into a shouting match with one of the counter personnel. The supervisor attempted to get the counter guy to be quiet, and when he didn't, the supervisor sent him off. It looked just like a hockey game with one of the players going to the penalty box.
We eventually got on the plane . . . which promptly left late. The flight to New York took about twelve-and-a-half hours. The worst part was between England and Greenland. It was interminable. There was a strong head wind and we were going about 380 mph, as opposed to 570 mph earlier, and later, in the flight. The GPS screen was on and the time to destination kept going up and up. I got a couple of hours of sleep and ate a couple of meals that were so-so. They showed Down With Love, and a couple of other movies that I can't recall a week later.
Becca was intrigued by a cartoon that featured a goat . . . wearing a hat. At one point the young boy tells the goat to go get the boy's friends in order to scare off the evil tomb-raiders. We expected an Egyptian Lassie . . . with a goat . . . but no such luck, that sub-plot seems to have gotten editted out in the last cut. I watched Down With Love, which was OK. We finally landed at JFK around 3:00-3:30. Becca had some lovely shooting pains in her temples from the change in pressure affecting her sinuses, and then felt light-headed upon landing. She looked in vain for an air-sick bag, but apparently Egyptians don't get sick. We were quite disappointed that after years of air travel, when the air-sick bag was actually needed there were none about. Becca decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom when we touched down rather than ponder the irony of it all.
Mom and Anne had not checked bags, and they had a close connection -- as a result of landing late. So they headed off while Becca and I waited for our checked luggage. We eventually got our bags and passed through customs and immigration without a hitch. Becca got a cab to Laguardia and I took a tour of the airport on the bus. It took quite a while to check in and go through the metal detectors, and I only had 15-20 minutes until my 5:30 flight to Cincinatti boarded.
The flight to Cincinatti was uneventful, and I even got a little sleep. Just enough to make me feel worse than when I went to sleep. In Cincinatti I got a Great Steak and tried to get fries and a shake at McDonalds, but their shake machine was down. So I had a couple of milks and fries instead. I sure do miss milk when I am out of the U.S. I still had plenty of time before my 10:00 p.m. flight to Roanoke. Once it was finally time to leave, the flight to Roanoke was quick and pretzle-filled. I landed about 15 minutes early and it did not take long for my bag to show up. I got a cab from the airport and was home by 11:30 . . . only 24.5 hours after I left the Mena House. After talking to some of the others who flew back on Friday in the midst of the big snow storm, it turns out that my trip back was reasonably short. When I got home I unpacked my purchases and was pleased to find that they were all intact. I was asleep by midnight, and my Egyptian adventures had come to a close.