Egypt

Okay Tanzania, quit being so great!!!  It’s always hard to leave a country that you love but, thankfully we were pretty pumped to get to Egypt!!

When I’m booking a trip, you know, fresh faced and full of energy – It doesn’t seem like a big deal to travel across a continent, for a 6 day adventure. BUT when you’re facing the next set of flights and you can’t quite remember why you thought a 40 minute connection in one of the busiest airports in Africa, wouldn’t be a big deal – you start to question yourself.

Nick, at one point, was also questioning my motives but seeing how he has learned a thing or 2 in the last 20 years – he decided to keep his thoughts to himself;) We land in Ethiopia, and I am warming up and strapping down everything, getting ready for the reality we are about to face.

The security line was huge and when the officer asked us what flight we were on – he proceeded to tell me that we were never going to make it!!  I’m sorry, have we met before?? Challenge Accepted!!!

I looked at Nick and the kids and said, we are going to Egypt tonight!!!!  Get ready to run fast and keep up – you can do this!! We were forced to run to our gate carrying our shoes, belts, and computers in our arms – No time to repack anything. Sweaty and tired, the usual for our family – We made it  – and not a minute to spare. Never Underestimate a determined Mom;)

We settled into our flight and landed at 1am, in Cairo, where our amazing tour guide was waiting for us.  If you want to go to Egypt, I urge you to work with Djed Egypt Travel.  They were amazing, super organized and we felt completely safe. To top it off, they had great prices.

This was our itinerary:

Day 1: Giza Plateau & The Grand Egyptian Museum

Day 2: Egyptian Museum & Medieval Cairo

Day 3: Fly to Luxor – Karnak & Luxor Temples

Day 4: Valley of the Kings, Deir el Bahari & Valley of the Nobles

Day 5: Felucca Sailing with Sofra Lunch & Countryside Walk – Fly to Cairo

This day was a hysterical disaster!! What could go wrong when sailing the Nile? Nothing really, unless there’s absolutely NO wind. No wind, you say??….I mean it – like no soft breeze no air movement, no wisp of any weather of any kind;).

This all leads to a very uncomfortable lunch that was served, in close quarters, to us while 3 people watched us eat – looking on with hope that the meal we were eating was nothing short of spectacular. It honestly was just that, spectacular. We LOVE Egyptian food – Bring on the falafels, Baba Ganesh, skewers, the flavour, the fresh mint tea and homemade pita….I could go on…..but when the waiter started hand feeding us – literally grabbing food and putting it into our mouths – we died a little on the inside. How much longer will this boat ride last????

When there is no wind during a sail boat ride the solution is to call a motor boat for a tow – which eventually happened to us. As the boat was getting closer, it made a last minute decision to basically whip a ‘boat shitty’ and ended up slamming into the side of us, like hard!! It was such a surreal experience and our Captain was not a subtle person – I don’t speak Arabic but I’m quite certain he laid out every insult he’s ever heard in his lifetime. Then he promptly sent the boat away……along with any hopes we had of seeing the Nile Country Side.

The kids had the best time – they loved the boat trip and in that moment I realized once again that kids don’t need a lot;).

Finally the trip came to an end and we were taken to the airport to start the long trek home. First Stop – back to Cairo to catch our 1am flight to Paris.

We freshened up the best we could from the boat trip and we had a nice sized layover in Cairo but that time was eaten up quite quickly trying to find out what terminal we needed to be in and how to get there!! We have navigated so many airports so I feel comfortable saying that we generally have a good handle on what’s going on BUT it seems like the entire content of Africa had a meeting to collectively decide that they are not in support of any airport signage – no arrival and depart boards – no terminal signs, no one working at information booths – nothing. By the time we got to our gate, it was pretty much time to board.

Day 6: Fly Home

We had a connection in Paris and then had, once again, the shortest layover of all time in Amsterdam. I tried to get us on an earlier flight while we were in Paris but no go!!! Alright kids, listen up – We will have to run, again!!! If we want to make it home today, we have to H-U-S-T-L-E!!!

First rule in hustling – slow down for a moment and double check your gate number – Travel 101!!! Ya, we too cool for that….womp womp – I may have suggested that but it’s neither here nor there;);). We made it to our gate and it was VERY empty….there was 1 worker that let us know that our flight was on the other side of the airport – The Amsterdam airport!!! It’s HUGE!!! She also mentioned that our flight was delayed and that we had a small chance to make it – oh geeze…. not again!!

Okay Kids!! We just finished running and we’re already sweaty and tired BUT we have to do it again. We got through customs and that’s when I told everyone that I was going to ditch them and hold the plane – Jake decided to join but not before I told him that we won’t be stopping….. for anything;);). He kept up and we made it with 3 minutes to spare!!! Nick and Lil caught up and we had just enough time to go the the bathroom, splash water on our sweaty faces and put on some deodorant for our 9 hour flight home.

I was so proud of us!! We made it!!!! We were sweaty and super tired – perfect time for a photo!!!! That’s the moment I couldn’t find my phone…..If looks could kill, I would be dead;). Nick is always so chill but we had all hit our wall – I won’t repeat what he said, that’s between us;). I spent a moment reflecting on the crazy last hour and realized I forgot it in the bathroom – I ran with seconds to spare and there was a lovely lady waiting for me – she was staying there to see if anyone would come back for it!! I would have hugged her if it wasn’t for my stench;).

We boarded that plane and headed home – what a ride;).

Full Disclosure – this trip was amazing BUT was not even close to enough time!!!  It was nice to scratch the surface and for Nick, who had been before, it was amazing to see what 20 years does to a city.