Egypt part 1

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FRIDAY 3RD APRIL

Flight is at 6pm so having taking all of my stuff to work with me, I left the office at 2:30pm. First time I have been back to Heathrow Airport since my arrival into London in March 2008 and the first time I had the pleasure of going through the infamous Terminal 5.

Met Kylie before check in and after checking in and going through security we did the necessary last-minute purchases before heading to the Weatherpersons pub for a quick drink and snack. T5 is that upmarket that there was NO fast food place. They have plenty of restaurants and cafes, but nothing quick and easy. So after a glass of wine and a plate of hot chips with plenty of 'ketchup' we headed to the gate. We did think we were running somewhat close to time, but boarding was delayed and we sat in the terminal for about another 30 minutes.

Having been allowed to board, we then proceeded to sit in stuffy economy for about another hour. Captain came on a few times and apologised, but because the engine wasn't running it meant that there was no air conditioning and therefore the longer we sat there the warmer it got. Eventually we took off, but ended up meaning that the flight got into Cairo at about 1:30am-2am rather than the midnight we were expecting.

As part of the tour, we got airport transfers so we were met (even before passport control) but representatives from On the Go. They made sure that we had visas (Kylie had to get one, but I already had mine) before making sure we got through ok. On the other side, we collected bags and met another On the Go rep before going out to the bus.

By the time we got to our hotel on the outskirts of Cairo and got given all of our paperwork by On the Go, it was about 3am.

Basically went to bed and crashed - quite a nice hotel from what I could see.

SATURDAY 4TH APRIL

Despite thinking we would get up for our breakfast, since it was included, ended up skipping it and waking up at around 11am or so. After showering we got a phone call from one of the reps about the sound and light show at the Giza Pyramids that evening, so we decided to pay for that. After that it was time to sit by the pool and chill for a few hours. Had a pizza and sunbaked, read, and swam.

The sound and light show started at about 5:30pm so after showering we headed downstairs and joined a tour bus of about 30 people. It was our first experience of Egypt beyond the hotel 'compound' so we got to see the insane traffic, people walking down the middle of the roads or sitting on the side (not sure what exactly they were waiting for!!). You could see the Pyramids from some distance away and even though I knew they weren't far out of Cairo I was surprised at how close they really were.

After going through security and being told where to meet our rep at the end of the show, we found seats. The sound and light show (preceded by bagpipe players which I couldn't understand the significance of!) was basically like a history lesson, which to be perfectly honest I didn't really follow most of. I lost concentration about mid way through and after that apart from watching the lights and listening to what was being said, most of it didn't really sink in.

By the time the show finished it was dark and the lights looked quite impressive. Nice to see them all lit up. After meeting our representative and getting back to the bus we were taken to a place for dinner - the food was ok, but nothing to write home about if I am perfectly honest. But it was pretty well price and we got to meet some other people from the tours. By this stage we had worked out that there were several groups which all appeared to be running at the same time, and much the same tours. We would soon find out what they was to mean though, all we knew was that we were in group C and were meeting incredibly early in the morning to start our 'adventure.'

SUNDAY 5TH APRIL

Up bright and early this morning and grabbed breakfast surrounded by about another 120 people who were travelling with On the Go. After working out which bus was bus C we then proceeded to sit on it for another hour, waiting for permission to head to the Pyramids by the tourist police. Eventually that permission came through and we all headed via convoy back to the Pyramids of Giza.

At the first pyramid we got out and wandered round, plenty of opportunity to take photos and experience how big they are really close up. After that it was on to the pyramid of Ceops which we had the chance to go into. We had to wait in line for some time and the line wasn't moving much. Eventually we discovered that the reason we couldn't go down and why the line was being held up was because an old man had fallen and broken his leg. Poor thing. It was ages after that an ambulance showed up. Because of how you get down into the pyramid (bent over in half) they took some time to get him out - and he was quite old. His wife followed. So eventually we made it in, but there is no fresh air in there and with the amount of people they were pushing through because of the hold up, and the fact that it was one way in and one way out, I got half way before turning round and going back out. Was too deep, not enough air, and the fact that he had fallen and broken his leg, if anyone was going to fall it would be me!! So I turned round, and from what I heard afterwards I didn't miss out on too much - just another room.

After that we went to a place which overlooks the pyramids to get the typical tourist photos and have a group photo taken. Then we had a chance to look around at the Sphinx.

After that it was back onto the bus where we headed to the Papyrus Museum which had had a power outage. So our lovely tour guide, Sobhy, gave us our lunch on the bus (traditional Egyptian dish with rice and noodles that was pretty plain tasting) before eventually letting us into the Papyrus Museum to see how they do it and have the chance to buy some pictures, which I didn't bother to do as I didn;t see anything that I particularly loved that were reasonably priced.

After that stop it was onto Saqqara Pyramids, or the step pyramids, which were just as big but were basically built a different way and look a lot different to the Pyramids of Giza.

By the time we got back to a 'resort' which was to be our resting place, it was almost 4pm, Had a chance to have a chat with some of the other people from our tour (seems everyone is a school teacher!!) and a few beers before having food (buffet dinner) and then heading to the train station.

This was where our group was splitting up. 10 of us were going on the seater train, while the remainder were going on the sleeper train. As such, we were sort of combined with one of the other 3 groups so we still had an On the Go Rep with us. We all ended up being in the same carriage anyway, and the seats were quite large, reclining and very comfy. Quite happy, so everyone basically wrapped themselves in their sleeping bags and got a reasonable nights sleep.

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