On the 20th of October and our second last day we put our selves to bed early. Our big overnight trip to St Catherine's and Moses Mountain was planned for that night. We were to be picked up at 10.30pm for a 3 hour coach trip to St Catherine's, when we were to climb the mountain (another 3 hours) and watch the sunrise from the peak, and then climb back down to enjoy breakfast before exploring St. Catherine's Monastery. As you may be able to gather from the expectant tone of my first paragraph this was the plan but not the [View Full Entry]

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Our program for our last week has been just the right combination of activity and relaxation. We are located at Naama Bay which has - yep you guessed it - a beautiful bay and a lovely walk all the way around it, where restaurants and shopping abound. There is almost no reason to leave the immediate vacinity; except that a car/bus can be organised to take you from your hotel to anywhere you want to go. Here's what we've been up to... We spent the first full day just kicking back and enjoying the pool - Holly was very keen to [View Full Entry]

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Our hotel in the Garden District of Cairo is the Shepheard - very centrally located and on the Nile. On our first venture out we discover just how close we are to the Egyptian Museum and the bus depot (about 15 minutes walking) where we will meet some of our tour friends for one last afternoon together at the Museum. Crossing roads in Cairo is something akin to Russian roulette and not for the faint hearted. Holly and I soon learn the "rhythm" of movement required but still happily accept the help of the tourist police when crossing some of the [View Full Entry]

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I'd like for this blog to be about the wonderful people we met while travelling around most of Egypt for 12 days. How can you not be apprehensive about meeting 16 new people all at once? I guess we were all lucky that the introductions were over the first 2 days. Holly and I first met Lisa and her son Justin while we were getting off the plane. Next we met Claire, Mike and their kids Brooke and Keileigh at the Kumuka sign before going through customs. On arrival at the hotel we discover that there is another family of 4 [View Full Entry]

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We travel by road convoy from Luxor to Hurghada - 2 of these leave every day. Given that we are covering long stretches of uncontrolled territory this is the only way safe travel (and I use this term loosely) is possible. Between 20 and 30 minivans and coaches travel with 3 police vehicles, one up in front, one in the middle and one behind. There is a scheduled stop somewhere in the middle. More on convoys later... We arrive in Hurghada early evening but as it is dark any visual delights or disappointments will elude us until morning. The kids make [View Full Entry]

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Holly and I have finished our tour and survived our first day in Cairo on our own, but I still haven't filled you in since we departed Aswan on our Nile cruise.... I broke a strap on my favourite pair of sandals in Aswan before our Nile cruise boat checked out. "No worries" remarks our tour leader and local Egyptologist Michael. Everyone has some business or other to take care of in Aswan before we leave anyway...It's the first day after Ramadam and there is plenty of celebrating but not a lot of retail action even though it's 7.00pm and prime [View Full Entry]

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Hello! Holly and I have just arrived back from the most amazing time snorkeling off the red sea coast at Hurghada.... but I don't want to talk about that just yet we have to catch you up on the last 7 days or so. Temples and tombs and enough history to make you wish you'd been paying more attention at school. We've been to Aswan, Abu Simbel, the High Dam and Luxor. I've taken around 1000 photos (thank goodness we live in a digital age) and luckily for you I cannot load them all here now! Where to start? After Cairo, [View Full Entry]

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Day 3 and finally have access to a computer that has let me download our photos so far. Having a great time - as you would expect... but haven't really stopped to soak up the wow yet. Haven't really time to chat now but wanted to let you know where and how we are. We head off to Aswan tonight on the overnight train. As soon as we have some time to ourselves I'll stop and write more. Love to all our friends and family. Jo and Holly [View Full Entry]

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Arrive Cairo 26th September 2008 - The Oasis Hotel. Cairo Alex Desert Rd, PO Box 44 Pyramids 12556, Cairo, Egypt Tel: + 202 838 7333/7666 Tour starts 27th September 2008 Day 1: Cairo. Arrive at Cairo Airport. Our representative will meet and assist you. An arrival transfer is included to your hotel. Your pre departure meeting is at 6pm today to meet your tour leader and fellow travellers then this evening is free for you to relax or explore a little. Cairo is the largest city in Africa with between 12 and 18 million inhabitants - nobody is sure, but there [View Full Entry]

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Still counting down the days... but now it's really close. Just 10 days to go before we leave. I am very excited but suddenly time is moving very slowly... Holly continues to think that it's all "ages away" and to be very blase about the whole thing. Thank goodness I'm getting this in before her 13th birthday. I think we're in for a bumpy ride! I've loaded some photos of Brian and Hannah - I know that they'll miss us. And some photos of Holly getting in some music practise before we go - you'd think that a month off all [View Full Entry]

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