Egypt 2009 - Day 2

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 – Arrive in Cairo 

Everyone that was on our tour (all 34 of us) were on the same flight. This had the advantage of not needing to wait for more flights. Once everybody had their luggage and those that didn’t had submitted the proper paperwork, we all got on the bus and headed to the hotel.

Egypt 2009 Day 2

We were with a larger tour group, but our small group of friends numbered 6. We were all women over 50. Kathy was our group leader. I met Kathy in 2002 on a Go Ahead tour of Lisbon, Seville and Madrid. She and I have been close friends ever since and we have traveled together many times. She lives in Albany, NY. Also in our group was Marianne. I first met Marianne in 2006 on a Go Ahead trip to Sicily, Italy. She lives in Hartford, CT. I also met Linda on the Sicily trip in 2006. She lives in the Detroit area. I had not met Pat and Beth until this trip. Pat works with Kathy and also lives in Albany. Beth was my roommate and lives in Atlanta, GA. Kathy and Beth met on a Go Ahead trip to Turkey in 2008. Kathy knowing both of us thought that we’d be a good match-up as roommates. For my part, she was right. I thoroughly enjoyed Beth’s company. I have since named our group of 6 the Sensational Six. 

Egypt has attempted to beautify the airport area with some landscaping. The airport is away from the Nile River – the only water source in these parts - and in the Sahara Desert – the biggest sandbox on the planet. One of their landscaping choices was to “plant” fake saguaro cactus in the median. It looked like it was made out of plaster and looked weird and out of place. The cell phone towers were disguised as palm trees. (Unfortunately the pictures that I took did not come out.) We drove around what they call Circle Drive towards Giza where we would be staying. On the way, we crossed the Nile River and got our first look at the Great Pyramids of Giza. The pyramids are actually very close and would be visible from our room if it were not for the fact that our hotel is in a depressed area and an elevated highway blocks the view.

When we arrived at our hotel, we first entered the hotel grounds through a guarded gate then we had to go through a metal detector to enter the hotel lobby. This is a statement of the poverty and crime rate in this country. Furthermore, being Americans in a Muslim country makes us targets.

When we first saw the  room to which we had been assigned, we both immediately noticed a problem. There was only one bed. This resulted in the need to move and also got us a room upgrade which included a large safe. Since I had a laptop, I appreciated this and made use of it when I was out of the room touring.

We had our organization meeting at 2:00 PM. There were no individual introductions and no meet and greet with wine and munchies as there usually are at the first gathering of a tour group like this. The objective was just to give us the schedule, discuss the optional activities and get us signed up for them. I signed up for everything that I had not already signed up for as our tour director Atef recommended everything. I always wait on the optional events involving primarily food for the tour director’s opinion as often, the meal is not what is advertised in the description that Go Ahead provides. Dinner was in an attractive dining room. The soup was cold and the food so so. The dessert section was wonderful. A bottle of water and a drink including beer were included with the dinner. The beer is brewed in Egypt. We had a choice of 2 brands - Stella and Sakara - both are subsidiaries of Heineken, in green bottles and pretty decent beer. I had a beer and was ready for a shower and a long sleep. It had been a very long day.

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