Egypt - Cairo 2

Day 1 (March 9, 2007): Today I arrive in Cairo in the afternoon, hopefully I find my way through customs and will have some time to relax.


My flight landed in Milan a little early and when I finally got off the plane the line for security was HUGE, I found myself wondering if I would make my flight to Cairo. Then some guy said he had been in security like this before and it took him 4 hours. I'm sure Milan is lovely, but I really didn't want to spend the day there. Luckily it only took an hour. I think the problem is that more people have connecting flights here then actually fly to stay in Milan. After getting through security I wandered around the airport a bit but stayed out of the shops since most were very Milanesk (expensive designer shops), instead I had pizza at 9am and bought some water so I had some before getting getting to Egypt, which turned out to be a smart move as there were any obvious places to get water when I first got to Egypt. Boarding for my flight from Milan to Cairo involved taking a bus to the plane and boarding from there. My theory on this is that they are either building or refurbishing a terminal and in the meantime board lots of planes from the tarmac.
At this point I was so exhausted that I could hardly stay awake for take off or for the food. I had opened my tray table and at one point I woke up and my food was there. Unfortunately the food sucked, I ate what was decent and went back to sleep. When I opened my eyes again, it had magically disappeared.

When we were over Cairo I woke up to look out the window and see the city. Years ago I had flown to El Paso, Texas and was struck my how much dirt was there and was expecting to see the same thing. Cairo was totally different, for the first time I was struck by how immense and sprawling the city was, it didn't look that big in my guide book. However, everything was dirt colored.

When I got off the plane there were people along the side of the walkway with signs, after walking a bit I found Hashim with the "Contiki" sign, relief. He put me on the line for passport control and told me he would meet me on the other side. I had no trouble getting into Egypt. On the other side I was alone for a few minutes waiting for Hashim and I felt like some people (men) were watching me. I'm not sure if I was just paranoid or if they really were. Either way Hashim found me, we collected my luggage and were on our way to the hotel.

On the ride to the hotel Hashim told me that it was Friday, which is the holiday (weekends are Friday & Saturday) so the roads would be quite since most people were at the Mosque praying. The driving wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was assured it would be worse on Sunday. When we first left the airport is was really nice, kinda reminded me of Florida, with grassy medians and palm trees along the road. Did I mention it was toasty warm here, I was overdressed in my long sleeve shirt, YES! As we got further into the city it started to fit into what I had pictured it to be. Buildings that looked like tenements, some looked like they were crumbling, a lot had clothing hanging outside to dry, and generally the city seemed quite dirty. I also saw a lot of half built buildings, which I had heard about before coming, I'll talk about them later. There were people hanging around on the side of the road, and not local roads, highways. And then to the left I saw the pyramids. I looked at them for a few seconds before it clicked, that they were the pyramids, the things I came all this way to see. I grabbed my camera and the driver slowed a bit so I could get a picture. Shortly after that we arrived at the hotel.

The hotel I was staying at was the Oasis Hotel and everyone there was sooooo friendly. The guy at the counter immediately recognized my last name as being German and even pronounced it right, I had to come all the way to Egypt to have my name pronounced right. At this point someone shoved my welcome drink in my hand, for a second I wondered if it was ok, but then figured Hashim would have told me if I couldn't drink it. It was orangey, like tang. Then I had a conversation about German and the couple words of it I knew. It was all happily overwhelming. I was told my room was 1601 and that my roommate would be coming the following day, then I was sent with a bellman to my room. What kind of Contiki tour is this, I don't have to schlep my bag everywhere?

The hotel had an interesting layout, it was an outside design (though the hotel was fenced in) with greenery everywhere, it sounds hokey, but it was a little Oasis in Cairo. I freshened up and went to the lobby area to get money and see if I could find anyone from tour. I had trouble getting money from the ATM, at first it said that it didn't have enough 10 LE (Egyptian Pounds), so I tried a lower amount - 60 LE, which I got, but that's only like $10. I ended up going across the street to the exchange place and exchanging some of the money I had brought with me. On the Contiki website Ed, Gary and I had discussed meeting up for drinks, but I didn't find anyone. I asked at guest relations about Gary and Ed's rooms, but was only able to get Gary's room. I decided to give him a call and we met up for dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Gary told me that Karen was going to Alexandria the next morning, it was $100 for her to hire a taxi, but the taxi was leaving at 7am. I decided that I was too jetlagged to do it, on top of that I had felt like I was getting a cold, so I decided I was going to have a more low key day before the tour started. After dinner we went back to our own rooms and by 10:00 I was out cold.

Egyptian Travelogue - Pre-Tour

Thought I would start up with my Egypt Travelogue, I'll go back to the Scandi and Russia Travelogue at a later date.

Pre-Tour (March 8, 2007): Today I fly from New York to Cairo, via Milan, on Alitalia.


I was up at 7:20 this morning because my house was too hot to sleep in, it worked out ok since I didn't want to sleep too late today and then not be able to sleep on the plane. I spent my morning doing some last minute things and reading part of a travelogue about Egypt. The travelogue wasn't the most positive (while the writer loved Egypt there were some issues along the way), adding to the anxiety that had slowly been rising in the past few days. Mostly I was worried about the water being gross, Egypt being really dirty, the people in the markets driving me nuts and not getting picked up at the airport. Even though I had been to Europe alone before, this was going to be the most culturally different place I had been to and I could already feel myself resisting it.

I went to lunch with my Mom, my sister Heidi and my nephew Alex. All week my Mom was telling me that a camel would pee on me, not sure where that came from, but it cracked me up. Before Heidi took me to the airport my Mom had some words of wisdom for me, "don't eat, drink, or breath anything."

I got to the airport at 3:15 and easily checked in and got through security. I was flying Alitalia and was a little worried about what to expect, I had read a lot of mixed reviews about them. When boarding started the line quickly got really long and I was at the back of the plane. They were only boarding rows 30-45, yet there were people from all rows on line. The airlines should either give up on the boarding from the back, or actually enforce it. I called a few days earlier to confirm my flight and I got my seat assignment, I had a window seat at the back. What I didn't realize was that it was the second to last row. What I also didn't know was that the seat would have a box for the entertainment system. I quickly grabbed the things I thought I would need for the flight and the people next to me put my backpack in the overhead compartment.

The people next to me seemed like a nice couple, but they didn't speak any English. In one of my blond moments of this trip it never occurred to me that on Alitalia they would speak Italian and there would be Italians on the flight, duh! If I had realized it I might have tried to remember a couple words of Italian, like thank you, but I didn't. The woman I was sitting next to asked me where I was going and had a horrified face when I said Egypt. She seemed relieved when I said Milan to Egypt, but I think she thought I was going to Milan and Egypt. Who cares, I would never see these people again. During the flight they wore there headphones, but never plugged them it, I thought that was really weird.

While we were taxing to take off the flight attendants asked some guy in front of me if he would switch seats with someone who had a middle seat. Apparently they weren't able to fly in the middle seat, and if they couldn't switch them then they would have to go back to the airport to drop the person off. Are you kidding me???? I really wanted to turn back and drop them off, but more importantly I wanted to make my connecting flight to Egypt. The guy switched and we were off. But really, who does that? My guess is liars who think that someone will switch out of fear of taking off late.

The flight was ok, I watched The Departed until I fell asleep. For dinner they were serving chicken and fish, but they were out of chicken by the time they got to me. Since I don't like fish, dinner wasn't my favorite meal. Actually, the only good thing was the dessert. I guess the rumors about Alitalia are true.

Rockefeller Tree Lighting

STOP! DON'T DO IT! STAY HOME!

Seriously, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting (December 1 this year) is an event I highly recommend NOT going to EVER. Here is why:

1. It's always REALLY cold
2. You can't see anything, well maybe if you show up 5 or 6 hours early you can get a good spot, but then you're only seeing the tree.
3. The only thing you can see, if you can see it, is the tree. Great, go turn your the lights on on your Christmas tree at home - wow, isn't it exciting! Very few people get a spot where they can see the Christmas tree (like 1,000 people), then they turn the lights on and everyone leaves.
4. The cops are really cranky! I've seen cops at all sorts of large events, this one takes the cake. Too many people come to see the lighting and there isn't nearly enough room for them and everyone becomes unpleasant. Picture crazy cops with bull horns yelling at people.
5. All those great bands and singers - most taped their performances earlier in the day or the week and are far away from the tree. The ones that actually do perform are not viewable from any of the viewing areas. If you're lucky, you'll get to see the show that's on TV on a giant jumbo tron. DO NOT COME TO SEE THE PERFORMERS!
6. It's a made for TV event, watch it on TV from the comfort of a place with heat.

So, here is a summation - it's cold, you might get to see the tree and maybe the show on a big TV while getting yelled at by the police. Oh, and it's a haven for creepy men (I'll let you use your imagination for that.) Actually, avoid the whole area that night. Come another night and see the tree when it's actually lit (not watching an unlit tree for hours then turn on and then leave.) WATCH IT ON TV!

Why I love waterfalls

When I visited Yosemite National Park I remember thinking everyone was crazy for wanting to hike up it. It was a vacation after all. I finally resigned myself to hiking to the top of the lower falls, it seemed a reasonable feat. We actually made it up to that point, and while the views to the valley were amazing, I felt like something was missing. I was a bit over this whole hiking thing but everyone wanted to keep going so I continued. Not too long after, we came to the bottom of the Upper Falls. It's one of those times when you turn a corner and BAM! You've seen what you came to see. It was magnificanet to be so close to the bottom of this massive water fall. Of course a long session of photos ensued. We continues to climb after, but the view and the falls were never as great as they were when we first found the falls.

New Yorks Jewish Delis

NYC is known for a couple really good jewish delis - Katz and 2nd Avenue deli are the most popular. I'm a fan of the lesser known Ben's too. I'm a fan of potato pancakes, hotdogs and motza ball soup.

The 2nd Avenue Deli got some press in 1996 when they were robbber (follow the link for more info on that)and is well known today. I've eaten at the old location on 10th Street and 2nd Ave as well as the new location at East 33rd Street. I'm a fan and a friend of mine swears they have the best Pastrami sandwhiches of the Jewish Deli's. It's a modern restaurant with good food.

I've been to Katz's a couple times and there can be quite a line there at times. When you enter you are given a ticket, DO NOT lose the ticket. When you go to the counters they will right your price on it, when you leave you pay at the register. If you don't have your ticket I think you pay $5o. Katz's is best know from When Harry Met Sally - the orgasm scene. The decor is vintage.

My favorite place for motza ball soup is Ben's Deli. It's a modern restaurant with good food.

Which is the best? Depends who you ask and what you're getting. You can't go wrong with any of the deli's. If you want a calmer dining type experience the Ben's or the 2nd Ave Deli are a better choice. They're all a bit pricey, but the food quality is good and you'll get a good meal.

Locked Out

For my 2002 trip to Disney with my family we stayed in a time share resort.
The time share was a large building with key access to the building to
get to the doors to the units. One night I decided to go for a walk and
didn't take a key, when I got back to the building I couldn't get
inside. I waited a few minutes, but no one came around. I thought I would try
going to the windows since we were staying on the first floor. The
patio and windows were protected by a row of bushes making me hard to
see and impossible to knock on a window. What's a girl to do? I
started throwing wood chips at the windows, which wasn't the best plan -
wood chips are light and don't make much noise so it took a while.
After a good 10 minutes my sister finally saw me and let me in. To this
day I laugh whenever I think of how I got locked out of the building and
how ridiculous I would have looked if anyone saw me throwing wood chips
at the building.

Knoxville Restaurant reviews

My final post about my trip to Knoxville....

Calhouns: located at Volunteer landing and apparently the place to be. I thought it was just ok. They're known for their BBQ ribs, but with my braces didn't want to eat them. I opted instead for the pulled pork (a theme for my stay in Knoxville). I wasn't overly impressed, it wasn't even the best I had in Knoxville. If you like a spicier BBQ sauce you might like it, I prefer a sweeter sauce and this wasn't it. It's hard to tell how the atmosphere is since I had an early dinner, but I suspect the place is packed on weekend nights, and it does have a nice view of the river.


The Tomato Head: Located in Market Square. I was a little confused when I walked in for lunch, but asked for help, ordered my food and got a table. I had pizza and a salad. The pizza was good for non-nyc pizza, it was tasty. The salad was also good. This was a nice place for my lunch and I would go back again if I was there.

Market Square Kitchen: Located in Market Square. It's a breakfast and lunch place, the food was good, quick and well priced.

Cafe 4: Located in Market Square. I had good pulled pork here, there was outside seating and a nice atmosphere. The prices were reasonable and the service was good.

Woodruff Brewery: A block East of Market Square. I did not eat here, but it was the liveliest place I saw in Knoxville my whole time there.

In search of a Body Farm

When in Knoxville I visited the University of Tennessee. Having gone to Penn State, another large Football school in a University town I thought it would be intersting to see.

The campus was very hilly, which I didn't expect. It was built on a Civil War battle site, it's a shame that the area couldn't have been preserved - Bad Tennessee!!! Neyland Stadium is in the Southeast Corner of the campus, but was right next to other buildings. The stadium at Boston College was similar to that, dorms surrounding it. It's strange to me since Beaver Stadium at Penn State is on its own with other large sporting venues around it. The dorms were all in one spot in a corner of campus. The campus didn't seem well cared for like I have seen at other Universities. At one point I was walking on a side walk by what I named the "graveyard of buildings." There were small sets up steps that used to lead to buildings. The buildings have since been torn down and there are vacant lots with little sets of steps.

I did get an opportunity to go to the museum on campus. It was a nice little museum, it had a Egyptian display and a display about Knoxville during the Civil War. I even made the guard go get the video about Knoxville during the Civil War. My favorite part was when I asked the info desk woman a question and she thought I was still in college. Ummm, no, but I'll take that as a compliment.

Before I went I had heard that the University of Tennessee has a body farm, since it was raining and I didn't have too much to do I thought I would go find it. All I knew was that it was near the Medical Center, so I took a drive around there. I found luxury student houseing, close but not quite what I was looking for. Then I found a back country area with cars on blocks and No Trespassing signs. I decided it was time to head back to civilization without finding the body farm. Other then saying I was at a body farm do I really need to visit one?

Reality vs Expectations

I appologize for the lack of posts, I've been having log-in issues that I'm trying to sort out with Google, so on with the post...


Whenever you go on a trip you have certain expectations about what to expect and what will be the highlights. Often though things go differently then planned.

Sometimes it's simple things - when I went to Scandinavia and Russia I was excited to see the hermatige, go bobsledding and seeing the midnight sun, among other things. The hermatige was cool, but not a thrill, nearly feel asleep walking around. Bobsledding was fun, equivalent to a tame rollercoaster. The midnight sun was really at 11:45 and it was cold and windy. The biggest highlight? Berlin at world cup hanging out in the fan mile. I'll write about that another day. In Egypt I couldn't wait to see the great pyramid, but it was a bit disappointing, for a great pyramid. The Valley of the Kings were really cool, so was Abu Simbel and the hot air baloon ride at dawn. I'm still disappointed by the Great Pyarmid, but seeing these other things more then made up for it.

You can plan every aspect of your trip, but things will happen and force you to change plans. Getting lost, museums being closed, plane problems, lost luggage - the list goes on and on. But you need to embrace these things and adjust to the challenges they create. Often a good story will come out of it. What fun is it to come home and tell everyone about how your trip was perfect, exactly as planned?

Wanderlust and Lipstick - Book Review

I just finished reading Wanderlust and Lipstick by Beth Whitman. It's a book/guide for women traveling alone. The book is pretty good and an easy read. Beth gives encouragement to women to travel outside the normal spots and to fight the excuses not to travel. The book simply covers just about every aspect of travel, guiding women to and through travel.

The most informative chapter, in my opinion, is the one about staying healthy. Everyone worries about pick pockets, how to get to the hotel, but unless people have medical problems they usually assume they will be healthy on vacation, which isn't always the case. This book makes you realize that things can happen and makes some suggestions to help yourself in case you do get sick.

What I didn't like about the book? It was basic at times.

An experienced traveler could skip this book, but its a great resource for more novice travelers or those looking for encouragement.

Knoxville and the free trolly

Knoxville is a nice little city, though very quiet. The city center is only about 5 blocks by 8 blocks (rough estimate), so it's quite walkable. It's also clean and there aren't a lot of vagrants around. Aside from Market Square there doesn't seem to be much signs of life. Maybe this was because of the poor weather, or maybe it's because I'm used to NYC. I did end up at a movie on Tuesday night, I was the only person in the theater, I almost felt bad about it.

One of the most interesting thing I did there was ride the free trolley. I did it for 2 reasons. One, it got me around the city for free, two - I would be able to see some different ares of the city without walking. I found so much more then just a free mode of transportation, I found a social experiment. The trolley takes you from a couple different areas outside the city center to the city center. Basically on the West side of the city is World's Fair Park and after that is the U. of Tennessee and the suburbs, the park kind of separates the city from the rest. Being free, the shuttle doesn't attract high society. Actually, as a "Northerner" it seemed to have Southern goobers... The people seemed to be one step above being homeless. I expected

to see more students and tourists on the trolley, I saw very little of either. After taking the trolley the first day, I decided to drive the following day. But I did get to see quite a bit of the city. I should have known there wouldn't be many tourists on it since there were very few signs showing where the trolley stopped even though it stopped quite often. But the trolley is a good deal if you're visiting the city and can figure out where it stops.

When I packed for my trip I forget the wire to charge my ipod and ended up going to Best Buy, this took me through the suburbs of Knoxville. They're like the suburbs in most other places. Residential areas and then sections of strip malls with all sorts of shopping along the major roads. All the same types of stores you'll find in other areas of the nation.

One of the nicer spots in Knoxville is Volunteer Landing. When I had heard about it before I thought it was going to be a 2 mile stretch of waterfront with fun and cool activities. It's really just a 2 mile stretch of walkway along the water with 3 restaurants and a fun activity or two. Half of the walkway has a view of the docked river boats. If you're looking for a spot to walk and see the water, it's great, if you're looking for a good time, you might have to go somewhere else.




I visited the Woman's Basketball Hall of Fame. I'm not a huge fan of Basketball, but it seemed interesting and admission was only a few dollars. I was the only person there, but the museum was nice. It was fun to look at all the funny uniforms woman wore over the years. I also liked that I got to see real Olympic medals. The museum has a downstairs section where kids or adults can practice different types of basketball drills. I would rate the museum as a good place to take children. It will only take an hour or 2 (maybe 3 if you're really into it) to go through the museum.