Tour Egypt, 1-31-2006 A Tour of Egypt and Cruising the Nile

By Bob Van Leer

(Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 31, 2006) - We are staying at the Ramses Hilton Hotel on the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt, after a long flight that began in Crescent City, CA.

My wife, Betty, and I are taking a tour of Egypt, the highlight of which is a week-long cruise on a riverboat on the Nile. We departed in the rain from Crescent City Jan. 28 on a one-hour flight to San Francisco. There we spent the night.

Sunday, Jan. 29, we caught a 7:15 a.m. Delta flight to New York, JFK airport. Most airplanes now have a computer screen with a map of the route you are flying and how far you have come and statistics about distance, elevation and speed. The screen read 2765 from San Francisco to New York. There we boarded an Egypt Air flight to Cairo, a distance of 5110 miles, a 10 and a half hour flight. Security at all airports is higher than it has been in recent years. Shoes are routinely sent through the scanning machine. I was patted down once, and the metal detector even found the surgical staples in my knee.

On landing in Cairo, we passed over the pyramids, and it took a moment to recognize them from that angle. We landed about 6:00 a.m. in Cairo. The time in Gold Beach would have been 8:00 p.m. the day before. There is a 10-hour time difference.

We were taken to our hotel and after a 26-hour day of travel we were ready to crash. Today, Jan. 31, started with an orientation session in the hotel. We are traveling with a company named Grand Circle Travel.

The activity this afternoon was to visit the Egyptian Museum. It is an outstanding place with thousand of art objects that are thousands of years old. But I have been to the museum three times in the past and decided instead to visit the office of the Arab League near the museum. It turned out the day was a holiday and the office was closed so I will try to get there later.
This evening we are to have dinner with an Egyptian family.
----<>----