Egypt Oct-Nov 2021

After breakfast (the hotel provides a buffet every morning), we got our group orientation from the tour director Walid, and then hopped on a bus (which always has a machine-gun-armed guard aboard, though Walid said it is totally unnecessary...it's just a government job that can't be eliminated!) for a ride thru Giza and Cairo (adjoining cities separated by the Nile River).  Along the way we drove thru mile after mile of ugly brownish apartment buildings in various stages of deterioration.  Some looked at least partially uninhabited, some being demolished.  Walid said that during the Arab Spring (2011-2013), the Muslim Brotherhood (whom he obviously thinks little of) built lots of these buildings illegally on agricultural land, and now they are being torn down and the occupants relocated.  Traffic is always terrible.  It is a mix of motorcycles, trucks of all types, and cars driving down roads which often have no lane lines (where they exist, lane lines are just ...

We headed out from the Trouts to George Bush International at 4pm on Oct 28, it took 1.5 hrs for the 45 min drive (thank you Houston rush hour).  Had a nice visit to the United lounge (a perk of flying business class on Turkish Airlines).  Took off an hour late at 9:30pm due to "technical issues" with the plane.  The business class seats were really nice, they were little pods that allowed the seat to recline horizontally into a "bed", though with the noise and constant turbulence during the flight, sleeping was difficult.  Included in the pods were a small table, lights, and connection ports. Arrived in Istanbul 11 hours later, immediately boarded the connecting flight to Cairo, which got off to a rough start pre-takeoff because of a passenger violently ranting about a bag that was in the baggage compartment containing $5000, and he had to have it, so the flight was delayed while they fetched it.  We were extremely well fed on both flight, lots of fish and oth...

 We went to bed on Oct 26 with an Uber reservation to make a 7:30am departure at CVG.  We got up this morning at 4am to an email saying our flight had been cancelled due to a "disruption in our original itinerary", and the new flight time was 6am.  We quickly grabbed an earlier Uber and got to the gate minutes before boarding.  Unfortunately, the 2.5 hr direct flight to Houston turned into an 8 hour marathon, landing in Baltimore and Savannah on the way to Houston.

Wednesday Oct 27  Fly from Cincinnati to Houston, overnight at Trouts Thursday Oct 28  Fly from Houston to Cairo via Istanbul Friday Oct 29, 2021  Arrive Cairo, Egypt   Marriott Mena House Hotel Saturday Oct 30, 2021  Cairo Marriott Mena House Hotel   Sunday Oct 31, 2021   Cairo | Ancient Treasures Marriott Mena House Hotel Monday Nov 1, 2021 Giza | The Pyramids & Sphinx Marriott Mena House Hotel Tuesday Nov 2, 2021 Cairo / Aswan | Majestic Philae   Sanctuary Sun Boat IV Wednesday Nov 3, 2021 Cruising the Nile | Abu Simbel - Temples of Ramses II & Nefertari Sanctuary Sun Boat IV Thursday Nov 4, 2021 Cruising the Nile | Temple of Horus Sanctuary Sun Boat IV Friday Nov 5, 2021 Luxor | Karnak and the Valley of the Kings   Sanctuary Sun Boat IV Saturday Nov 6, 2021 Luxor / Cairo | Time at Leisure   Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza   Sunday Nov 7, 2021 Cairo | Design Your Day Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile ...