Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Travel To Egypt

September 12-13:  Days 0-1

We are HERE!  And without any incident at all - the travel day, while long was smooth and seamless.  STILL, I cannot believe we are actually in Egypt!  So here's how the day unfolded.  We had enough time to have coffee this morning and finish the last of the incidentals into the suitcases before calling for an "Uber XL" to come pick us up.  The large and comfortable vehicle pulled up in the drive a little after 9 am and we loaded up and were off.  A smooth ride with a very personable driver who dropped us off right at the doors of Terminal 2 for our check-in for our Air Canada Flight to Montreal.  We were first in line, checked out bags and went right through security and to the gate with an hour to boarding time.


Boarding began and because we were in Zone 1 we were one of the firsts to board.  How did we get the honor of boarding in Zone 1?  Because when we booked our air package through Viking cruises we had only two options:  (1) sit in economy/coach or (2) fly business class.  Typically we fly Comfort Plus or Premium Economy as Business is a bit too pricey for us.  But we were not about to fly all the way to Egypt in "coach."  And so as Business Class guests seated in Row 2, we were one of the firsts to walk on board and take our seat in a VERY comfortable seat.  Settled in for our little more than three hour journey to Montreal and were served a piping hot lunch with actual silver ware and a linen napkin.  


We landed early and set out on what seemed like a five mile walk from our gate to reach the customs check point.  It was all very simple once we finally arrived and we were helped by several very polite Air Canada hostesses who were very anxious to make sure we had an easy passage through.  The process was much smoother than usual when landing in a foreign country because our bags were checked all the way through to Canada - we did NOT have to wait for them on the carousel and then re-check them through.  We'd landed at Gate 84 and when we emerged from customs we were at Gate 52.  Our departure was from Gate 64 so we had a very short walk to continue to our gate.  Only had about an hour to wait for boarding.  The flight was full and there were some "issues" at the beginning so the anticipated one hour boarding time took more like an hour and a half.  But without too much delay we were on our way and were told that the flight plan would have us there early.



It was about a ten and a half hour flight from Montreal to Cairo but even Kim would say afterwards it really didn't seem that long.  We had our own little "apartment" in Row 2 of Business Class and our seats completely went vertical so you could lay flat to sleep.  Now for a guy my size I didn't have a lot of room, BUT being able to lay flat was more comfortable than reclining in a sitting position.  Unlike any other category of seats, these Business Class seats each had their own 24" screen to enjoy the movie or shows you were watching.  And when the food arrived - again with a miniature table cloth, linen napkins and real silverware - there was PLENTY of room to enjoy your food while watching the program.  I watched three episodes of the HBO Max series "Perry Mason" as I had watched this show as a kid.  If you haven't watched this series, it's well worth it.  Like the original it's set in the 1950's and two of the main characters are Perry Mason & Della Street.  But that's as far as it goes.  Unlike the 1950's original show Mason is NOT a lawyer, he's a private eye, and Street is NOT his secretary.  Still very entertaining - a good murder mystery!  I'll look forward to watching most of the rest of the first season on the return flight home in two weeks.




We landed at about 11 am local time and after a long - but not as long as in Montreal - walk we found our Viking host waiting for us.  And as is so often the case he asked, "Mr. Love?"  He explained what the process would be and once we had all eight of us from this flight we headed over to get our visas.  It was quite simple.  We went to a bank window, gave them $25 each and got the two visas - no forms, that was it.  The Viking host quickly inserted everyone's visa into their passport and had us fill out a short form then we were off to get our baggage.  Less than ten minutes and all of us had all of our baggage - yes, for those of you following our recent trips, ALL our bags arrived!  Our host escorted us to the waiting van and loaded our luggage on board.  He then bid us farewell as his job is to greet all the Viking guests at the airport and before we all get started tomorrow there will be 75 of us, in three groups - each with their own guide who will stay with our same guide for the entire 12 days of the trip.  One of the most "interesting parts of the day was the drive to the hotel.  All eight of us were amused by the CONSTANT honking of horns not only by our driver but by everyone around us.  Why were they honking horns.....because it seems (at least to all of us) that the lines on the pavement to delineate lanes are merely viewed as "suggestions" by the drivers and everyone makes up their own lanes....thus they are always honking to indicate they are COMING THRU!  Most of the city was very poor and run down until we got close to our hotel.


Once we pulled up to the Fairmont Nile hotel you could tell it was a nice hotel.   We were greeted by our guide for the next two weeks, Haney, and he sat us down to go over the initial itinerary.  There was a daily bulletin for today, tomorrow, and the next day which we reviewed.  While he went over the logistics of each day another Viking host took our passports to get us checked in and pick up our keys.  By the time we'd reviewed all the information we were all ready to head up to our rooms and this concluded the "activities" for this travel day.  Our room is on the 17th floor and looks right out over the Nile River - oh so cool.  And if you look off into the distance you can see one of the pyramids (the close up shot is the banner at the top of the page!).



Tomorrow after breakfast the entire Viking guest congregation will meet with the three guides to review particulars of the day and the itinerary and then tomorrow we are visiting a local mosque and the Egyptian museum which houses thousands of artifacts from the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings!

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