Day 14

6/25/10

Today we leave the ship. We are docked in Aswan still and are leaving for Cairo from Aswan airport aboard EgyptAir. We woke up at 6:00 to have our suitcases out and ready for pickup. We thought we were on time but were really dragging from the harsh pace of the last few days. There were crazy people who were up earlier than they needed to be and were chipper, CHIPPER! I don't understand it.
At breakfast we said goodbye to our friends the waiters in the restaurant. Two of them were with us a lot and we talked a lot.
After breakfast we boareded the bus after locating our luggage. We haven't had any luggage problems but one other person on the trip did have their luggage lost on one of our flights.
This is our longest domestic flight and it is several hours long. The last twenty minutes are the worst i've felt on the trips. They have been steadily increasing in pain level each flight. Our friend Carin was having worse trouble than me across the isle. Unfortunately Cairo airport was not ready for us and we circled twice. Neither of us appreciated that.
Going to our hotel is routine now especially since we are in the same hotel we were in the first week. Our rooms are still in the garden so we show Carin and her roommate how to get there since they stayed in a tower last time. On the bus trip to the hotel I saw Smash Tennis Academy. Yay!! I also saw clouds for the first time in this sunny country. Sam said it would not rain though this late in the season.
After settling in our new rooms we decided to get rid of our last Egyptian pounds by shopping! I especially want a purse that says Egypt or Cairo all around it. I saw a bag that said Luxor like that at Karnak Temple and I hoped I could find one in Cairo before we left. Fortunately I did! And I found a pink Egypt bag for mom! I also bought a book with some of my last pounds after Karin's Christmas present. (A black cat like her cat Chet).
Right away we needed to go to the farewell cocktail. It is kind of boring but we find some of our friends to say goodbye to. We say goodbye to Sam one last time and I told her about this blog.
Earlier on the bus we had promised Dorothy a bottle of water since she was asked anyone for an extra. Well we had plenty saved so we offered her one of ours but we forgot to get her room number at the cocktail. So we spend some time with the front desk trying to find Dorothy and we find the other Dorothy on the trip. Fortunately we had gotten to know her too and it wasn't too too weird.
While we were searching for her I was watching a movie in English, football in English, and tennis in Arabic. After we found the correct Dorothy we visited her room in one of the towers. She thanked us for the water and mentioned something about tennis and wanting to watch. Well I knew the channel so I found it for her. She is a major tennis fan too. She knows stats and remembers matches just like me. We talked tennis and Karin and Mark got the bored look on their faces that I had whenever they started talking college football. Karin asked if that was how I felt and laughed with me.
After taking pictures of Dorothy's amazing view of the Nile we ate dinner in the outdoor cafe we walked through everyday to get to our rooms. The food was pretty good and what we expected. I even got a burger no cheese how I wanted it. It was great.
We get ready for our harrowing fourteen hour flight tomorrow back in our rooms. For me that means reading and watching tennis happily. I am arguing with the Arabic announcers in English. I have watched enough tennis to know what they are saying even through the language barrier. LOL