Early flight today from Luxor to Cairo… an even earlier flight tomorrow from Cairo back to home. The flight from Luxor seems like it’s over as soon as it starts. When an attendant woke me to bring my seat back up it felt like I’d just nodded off for a minute, but we were already […]

We had every intention of getting pictures of the Stargate in Abydos, but unsurprisingly they don’t allow cameras in the gate room. Seriously though, both the movie and the series neglected to mention the touts and hustlers in the local village there. We did have a good time though and Abydos and Dendera are both […]

Breakfast at the Sheraton was a reminder of the state of tourism here. We booked a “club level” room, essentially as a value proposition: it includes Internet, breakfast, cocktails and amenities for a nominal amount extra. At the moment, it would appear we are the ONLY guests on this level. There is a concierge responsible […]

We headed to the Cairo airport today bright and early and arrived in Luxor around lunchtime. Domestic service on Egypt Air was convenient and uneventful. Luxor definitely is a change of pace from Cairo, with a much more small town feel to the place. It’s clear that the economy of Luxor relies far more heavily […]

There’s definitely some risk of critical itinerary items getting jettisoned when you don’t allow for some periods in a trip as down time. However, on a timeline as short as ours here, we don’t really have that luxury. Thankfully, (or, since we’re in Egypt: Al-ḥamdu lillāh) everything is on schedule so far.

When we started planning the multistop trip we took back in 2011, Egypt was on the tentative itinerary. Until, that is, the democratic process started getting rowdy enough for advisories against all nonessential travel to the country were issued by nearly all western governments. In the years since, Egypt has managed to stay pretty far […]