EGYPTIAN SPLENDOR
Globus tour QE 10 days
October 7-15, 2005
October 7-15, 2005
Days 1 and 2: Arrival in Egypt
We flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt and on to Cairo on Lufthansa. No trans-Atlantic flight is ever fun. This one was very long, and was made no easier by the Lufthansa staff in Frankfurt. They seem to specialize in saying "It is not allowed!" rather than trying to help travelers. However, we made the flight in fairly good shape and arrived in the Cairo airport safely.
To our dismay, so did 1200 other passengers from 3 jumbo jets which landed at the same time. They were all milling around in a huge customs hall, with no semblance of any sort of line or controls. We were overjoyed to see a man waving a Globus sign, and worked our way over to him. He said "Give me your passports." We complied, and then watched as he disappeared into the huge crowd. Renée looked at me and said "Do you realize that we just handed over our passports to a complete stranger because he was waving a sign?" With that uncomfortable thought on our minds we watched for his return. In about ten minutes, there was a puff of smoke and our genie re-appeared. (Well, actually, I guess he wormed his way through the crowd. But the effect was equally miraculous.) He led us to a sort of tiny side gate and waved our passports at the guard, and we were through, leaving 1200 people of all the nationalities in the world behind us. I still don't know how the genie did it. We learned his name was Sobahy, and he re-appeared each time there was an airport to be navigated, and then disappeared again. We are eternally grateful to Globus for sending him to rescue us!
After a short ride to the Mena House Hotel, we met our tour director in the elegant lounge while sipping a fruit juice welcome drink. Ahmed was a wonderful guide and organizer, and is working on his PhD in Egyptology so he was full of information on every aspect of ancient Egypt. Throughout the trip he proved his capability again and again.
The Mena house is located literaly a few yards from the pyramids. As we entered our room, the bellman pulled back the curtains and pointed out the light show on the Great Pyramid! In the morning we could not help but rise early, and watch the pyramids gradually loom up out of the brightening sky. It is an awesome experience.
We breakfasted Egyptian style at the buffet. Although eggs and sausages were available, it seemed more fitting to choose cheese, figs, olives and felafel, with hibiscus juice. We sat in the shadow of the pyramid and enjoyed our first morning in Egypt.
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| We flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt and on to Cairo on Lufthansa. No trans-Atlantic flight is ever fun. This one was very long, and was made no easier by the Lufthansa staff in Frankfurt. They seem to specialize in saying "It is not allowed!" rather than trying to help travelers. However, we made the flight in fairly good shape and arrived in the Cairo airport safely.
To our dismay, so did 1200 other passengers from 3 jumbo jets which landed at the same time. They were all milling around in a huge customs hall, with no semblance of any sort of line or controls. We were overjoyed to see a man waving a Globus sign, and worked our way over to him. He said "Give me your passports." We complied, and then watched as he disappeared into the huge crowd. Renée looked at me and said "Do you realize that we just handed over our passports to a complete stranger because he was waving a sign?" With that uncomfortable thought on our minds we watched for his return. In about ten minutes, there was a puff of smoke and our genie re-appeared. (Well, actually, I guess he wormed his way through the crowd. But the effect was equally miraculous.) He led us to a sort of tiny side gate and waved our passports at the guard, and we were through, leaving 1200 people of all the nationalities in the world behind us. I still don't know how the genie did it. We learned his name was Sobahy, and he re-appeared each time there was an airport to be navigated, and then disappeared again. We are eternally grateful to Globus for sending him to rescue us! | ||
| After a short ride to the Mena House Hotel, we met our tour director in the elegant lounge while sipping a fruit juice welcome drink. Ahmed was a wonderful guide and organizer, and is working on his PhD in Egyptology so he was full of information on every aspect of ancient Egypt. Throughout the trip he proved his capability again and again. | | ||
| The Mena house is located literaly a few yards from the pyramids. As we entered our room, the bellman pulled back the curtains and pointed out the light show on the Great Pyramid! In the morning we could not help but rise early, and watch the pyramids gradually loom up out of the brightening sky. It is an awesome experience.
| We breakfasted Egyptian style at the buffet. Although eggs and sausages were available, it seemed more fitting to choose cheese, figs, olives and felafel, with hibiscus juice. We sat in the shadow of the pyramid and enjoyed our first morning in Egypt.
| |
NEXT DAY