Day 143

Wednesday June 11^th

The morning consisted of a little bit of panic as we got ready. I was initially under the impression that we would fly into Aswan, then go to Abu-Simbel, and then go to Luxor, before heading off to Sharm. However, looking at the flight plan, it said we were going to Luxor first. Now, I didn’t think much of this, assuming that we were just doing something a little bit different, but the Megans insisted that I call and make sure that everything was okay. First, I had to get more credit, which I am glad I was able to buy at Metro, because traveling with a phone that has no money is kind of worthless. So after checking everything out, and also almost accidentally 14. LE Evian bottled water, because of the shitty Metro labels, we were off to the airport once again. Despite traffic, we arrived with plenty of time, checked our bags, and sat down across from the first of many enjoyable and friendly travelers we would meet on our vacation. The Edwards. Although I forgot their first names, this young couple, was also heading down to Luxor but just staying in Luxor for the same time were in all three places, and then also heading off to Sharm where they were staying in the Ritz-Carlton. Nice.

When the plane was ready for us, we all loaded up onto one of those big buses, which then shuttled us all of 100 feet to the airport. It would have taken less time just to walk door to door. The plane was extremely nice again, not like the EgyptAir stories you here, where there is no food and people standing in the aisles because they sold more tickets than seats. The service was superb, and the lady was also amused when I ordered in Arabic. I don’t know if its because my accent is so funny, or because I am a white-dude speaking quasi-arabic, but many people are amused by my failing attempts to speak the language.

After touching down and not initially finding our “representative” who was supposed to meet us at the airport, the Edwards offered to have us stay at their hotel, which was extremely generous, but we did eventually find our guy, named Walid, who Megan knew from first sight was going to be a really nice guy. After showing up in the hotel, we got about an hour to get settled down and then headed off to see Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. Walid also repeatedly asked us if we would like a romantic dinner, which we did not take him up on, opting to do our own exploring on the town.

Karnak Temple was absolutely amazing. It was my favorite spot in Eygpt, simply because of the immensity of the whole thing. It was enormous, and we had a great guide who explained everything clearly and also told us how it once looked. In its glory-times it was covered in white alabaster with full color engraving and obelisks capped in silver and gold. It must have been amazing. Luxor Temple, although not as impressive as Karnak also featured some impressive statues and engravings. It was large although not as large. Apparently in the future, they are going to reconnect to two temples to make the world’s largest outdoor museum.

The people who we took the tour with were also really nice. There was a daughter and dad from Colorado, but the girl was a student at the University of Washington, and was studying abroad at AUC as well. She spoke really good Arabic. There was also a grad-student dude who had spent some time in Ethiopia and was now just traveling by himself. Crazy.

For dinner, we consulted the guidebook, and walked through Luxor to a famous restaurant. We were haggled most of the time by taxi’s and carriages. We did stop by the Winter Palace, a really nice hotel, with amazing gardens in the back. It was ridiculous, and it would have been awesome to stay there as long as we were not paying for it. The other notable event that happened on our walk was when some dude asked me for help in trying to write a letter to some friends of his in England. I naturally wanted to help, but the story became more and more weird the more we found out and Megan didn’t like the feel of it at all, so on her prompting we declined and eventually found the restaurant. At first we were the only people in the restaurant, until another tour-group showed up. We ordered Egyptian pizza and crappy milkshakes, and surprised the waiter when we asked for separate checks, and he realized we were just friends.

Leaving the restaurant, we then got sucked into a store where I haggled the guy for a scarf. Achieving the price I wanted, I felt victorious although a little ruthless. We really didn’t budge off the price we wanted, which kind of bummed out the seller. But oh well.

Finally we got back to the hotel room, and I took the first shower. When I got done, Megan had already passed down facedown on the bed, and had no intention whatsoever of moving or even changing. So after watching the X-Files, to see if she was just napping, or actually passed out, I set my alarm for six am, so she could have enough time to shower, and then went to sleep myself.