We rolled out of bed around 3:30 AM on Thursday April 2nd, and left around 4 am for the Luxembourg airport... A half hour plane ride to Frankfurt, and another 4 hours to Cairo, and we arrived in Egypt! We got in Cairo around 2 pm~ish. We were greeted by people from the travel company we booked through, and began our journey ...
First adventure- Navigating the airport! It was very reminescent of Tijuana, Mexico. Lots of people, lots of caos, lots of activity. Most of us needed a quick trip to the restroom before being herded through customs with our cool Egytian visa ... hmm... Lesson # 1 for Egypt bathrooms: There is NO toilet paper, there usually a lady giving you a ration of about 4 squares, the toilets are scary (IF there is even a toilet!), often they don't flush well, and T.P. goes in the garbage can (NOT down the toilet - sooo gross!). Then, the rationing lady expects a TIP. Wow, didn't know that ... lesson learned - after many angry words and gestures at us, and almost not being allowed out of the restroom! When we made it safely out of the restroom and herded through customs, we went to find our bags. Which were snatched up by busy men with Airport uniforms on, and loaded onto the luggage carts - TIP required (but our representative from the company took care of that for us). Then, hustle out of the airport to find our ride. Enter, Mohamad. He works for 2Travel2Egypt, and helps the other man help us find the van. Here, we meet our driver who loads our luggage and wisks us off to the hotel with Mohamad and the other man...
Lesson #2 - Cairo traffic!! WOW!! I'm not sure words can describe, but I'll try .... LOTS of cars, people, motercycles (generous term for most that we saw), and donkey carts (yes, donkey carts) on the freeway! People wait on the side of the road (freeway) and flag down taxis or Mini buses (those white VW vans like the Libiyans drove in Back to the Future - with the side door open at all times to allow people on and off quickly), or just try to run across the traffic... The donkey carts are usually carrying produce, or the produce would be in a truck like the one below... Yes, that is the rim of my window in the van, yep, coulda grabbed free lunch from most of the cars by us...
Back of the van with all the luggage piled in .... There were 13 of us to start... Our family of 5, plus Grandma & Grandpa Shirley, and the Boden family of 6. Uncle Bry and Ann-Marie joined us around 1am ...
Our first night was spent at the Grand Pyramids hotel. When we arrived, our driver helped unload luggage - we would see him the next 2 days ... and yes, TIP him ... until then, the bell boy helped unload luggage and cart it to rooms (for a TIP -- no choice if you want help, no choice about tipping). Then we sat on the patio with Mohamad and waited for our guide to show up and go over the next day's itinerary. We handed our STACK of cash (the balance owed by all 15 people for the trip) to Mohamad, trusting we wouldn't be left there! Kinda scary!! Mostafa, our guide, showed up and it was decided that we would meet the next morning at 8am to head for the Pyramids. Dinner was up to us, so, we ate at the hotel resturaunt. The kids had a chance for a quick dip in a COLD pool, then dinner, then bed ...
Did I mention that we could see the Pyramids from our hotel room? How cool is that!!?
More on Day 2 tomorrow ....
Lesson #2 - Cairo traffic!! WOW!! I'm not sure words can describe, but I'll try .... LOTS of cars, people, motercycles (generous term for most that we saw), and donkey carts (yes, donkey carts) on the freeway! People wait on the side of the road (freeway) and flag down taxis or Mini buses (those white VW vans like the Libiyans drove in Back to the Future - with the side door open at all times to allow people on and off quickly), or just try to run across the traffic... The donkey carts are usually carrying produce, or the produce would be in a truck like the one below... Yes, that is the rim of my window in the van, yep, coulda grabbed free lunch from most of the cars by us...
Back of the van with all the luggage piled in .... There were 13 of us to start... Our family of 5, plus Grandma & Grandpa Shirley, and the Boden family of 6. Uncle Bry and Ann-Marie joined us around 1am ...
Our first night was spent at the Grand Pyramids hotel. When we arrived, our driver helped unload luggage - we would see him the next 2 days ... and yes, TIP him ... until then, the bell boy helped unload luggage and cart it to rooms (for a TIP -- no choice if you want help, no choice about tipping). Then we sat on the patio with Mohamad and waited for our guide to show up and go over the next day's itinerary. We handed our STACK of cash (the balance owed by all 15 people for the trip) to Mohamad, trusting we wouldn't be left there! Kinda scary!! Mostafa, our guide, showed up and it was decided that we would meet the next morning at 8am to head for the Pyramids. Dinner was up to us, so, we ate at the hotel resturaunt. The kids had a chance for a quick dip in a COLD pool, then dinner, then bed ...
Did I mention that we could see the Pyramids from our hotel room? How cool is that!!?
More on Day 2 tomorrow ....
