Day 3 - Cairo (12/30/03)
No breakfast today. Off for the day's sights. We were informed - you guessed it

• that there was another change in our itinerary for today. We would be going to

Old Cairo in the morning instead of the Egyptian Museum. We were also informed
that the Citadel wasn't included and would cost $20 USD per person additional,
in cash. We passed and waited in the tour bus while the others went. We felt
ripped off. Then went to other stuff like Ben Azer, St. Sergius church. That was
fine, but we ended up at a jewelry store for another sales pitch before lunch.
Then another cheesy cheap buffet lunch next door to the jewelry shop ...drinks
not included. The tour itinerary had promised "Lunch at first-class restaurant
overlooking the Nile". Yeah, right. Afternoon was cut short because of the
jewelry store visit and we were only allowed 1-3/4 hours at the Egyptian Museum.
You really need 4 days there to see it all, but at least a whole afternoon would
have been a bare minimum. Then to Khan El Khalili bazaar which was nice. Then
rush to the train station for our "luxury sleeper train to Luxor". The train was
the conveyance from hell after waiting on the train platform. They had even
changed the station from Ramses station to Giza station ..another long ride
across Cairo. What a shock. By this time we are so tired and disappointed from
the chaotic, last-minute nature of the tour company's arrangements that nothing
would have surprised us. Or so we thought. The train was a horror of filty and
cramped quarters. See pics of the delightful toilet TJ had to use for his bad
diarrhea.

Day 4 - Cairo to Luxor (12/31/03)
The train was impossible to sleep on. We did get about an hour's sleep. Then we
killed time in the club car drinking tea and watching the night scenery whizzing
by. Rough, bumpy ride. By this time we were really being affected by the tour
company's sleep-deprivation and chaos stimulus experiment they called a tour. We
were served breakfast at 4:30am in our tiny little cabins. Greeted at 5:15 in Luxor and dropped off at the ship's dock. The guide said "down the stairs to the
lounge to wait until check-in". We couldn't find the lounge. We ran into the
other people on our tour and they told us the lounge was on the ship. We
couldn't see the ship because it was tied up outboard of another two ships, and
it was dark. Khirey the Travel House rep never explained that to us. We got to
the ship and told the desk we were there. He said we'd have to wait about 6
hours until our cabins would be ready. Great! A perfect capper to that train
from hell. Waited a few hours after finally getting to the ship and got in our
rooms because the ship put out extra effort so we wouldn't have to wait that
long. Got a few hours sleep after being told the itinerary was again changed and
we would be going to the temples in the afternoon and not the morning. Woke up
at about 12 noon and went to get lunch since we were starving. We were thrown
out and told to return at 1:15. We ran into the tour co. rep on the way back to
the rooms and he said to just go in and they would serve us. We went back to the
dining room and were again thrown out. At this point we had had all the abuse we
were going to take. Pam was in tears and the boys were pretty fed up too.Pam
wanted out of the tour. I had this sinking feeling that my "dream" trip for my
wife had just crashed and burned. I was right. We went back to our rooms and I
went up on shore to call Cairo and tell the tour company that we were cancelling
and wanted out. We just wanted to go home. We did manage to get a fair amount of
sleep today. We got a few moments rest before the manager of Travel House in
Cairo called us back and tried to talk us out of it. We talked for over an hour.
Then later the ship manager woke me up calling our room. He invited me to the
bar, bought me a beer, and tried to talk me out of the cancellation. I was firm.
We would be called by the next morning by Mr. Hussein from Travel House. Finally
we could get uninterrupted sleep. It was New Year's Eve and we didn't feel much
like celebrating. We did go up for a dinner to get something at about 8:00pm.
There was a full formal attire New Year's celebration going on and there we were
in our jeans and casual shirts. We got a lot of disapproving looks from the
other guests. Another little surprise from or tour company who said "smart
casual" was dressy enough on the cruise for dinners.

Day 5 - Luxor to Cairo (1/1/04)
Happy Friggin New Year ! Up to this point I would rather have had my genitalia
subjected to a wine press than go through this experience again. Isn't an exotic
tour supposed to be fun? Some anniversary gift to Pam huh? Got a full night's
sleep. It felt good. Today we waited for the call from the manager about our
arrangements. By this time we were getting paranoid and we devised a plan in
case the tour company decided to blow us off and leave us on the ship hoping we
would just stay on when it departed for Aswan. Taking a train to Cairo was NOT
an option. That left only air travel. We would go straight to the Luxor airport
and try to find an Egyptair flight to Europe, preferably to Frankfurt, but we
would settle for Italy or England, then try to find a flight from there to
Frankfurt where we would wait until 1/7 and our existing paid flight to the US.
Not easy at the peak of the tourist season in Egypt. Then, depending on if a
flight was available, we would either wait around at the airport or try to find
a hotel room close and wait it out there. Another big uncertainty since all the
rooms were booked, according to what the tour company said. We got the call at
about 9:00am, to our surprise, and after an hour conversation with Mr. Mattar
with him trying to talk us out of cancelling again, he said we would be put up
in a hotel until an afternoon flight was available, or possibly the next day. As
it turned out there were 4 seats left on a 11:45 flight to Cairo on EgyptAir. We
dashed off and got on the plane for a nice flight. We didn't sit together, but
it was a full flight, only an hour, and we were relieved o be getting back to
Cairo. Then at Cairo we were greeted by the manager Mr. Hussein Mattar, the
operations manager Mahmoud, and Haitham the coordinator. We were brought to the
Europa Cairo Hotel in Giza where we were originally booked 8 months ago when I
bought the tour.

Day 6 - Cairo (1/2/04)
We bopped around the hotel for a while, then just rested the rest of the day. We
were so exhausted from the ordeal. We met Abdul the bell captain and he informed
us that if we wanted to take any day trips the hotel could arrange it - Dahshur,
Memphis/Sakkara, Giza, Old Cairo, Alexandria or a dinner cruise on the Nile. I
thanked him and we slept. Later we met the housekeeping staff and they brought a
bottle of Stella beer to our room for me.
Day 7 - Cairo & Dahshur (1/3/04)
After resting the previous day and catching up on sleep, we had a better
outlook. We had the hotel get us a taxi for the day and we went to Dahshur to
see the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. Dahshur is not a mainstream tourist
spot and we had the place almost to ourselves. It was delightful. Justin and I
went into the Red Pyramid. That was awesome. Then we went to Giza via a nice
little town named Abusir, to revisit the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. We had a
great time. The admission to Dahshur was only LE10 each ($1.60) and Giza was
only LE20 each, including the sphinx. Great day and it went a long way toward
feeling better about the trip.Plus, we met a new friend - Madji. A great,
hard-working soul with a family including a sick 9-month old daughter named
Habiba.

Day 8 - Cairo (1/4/04)
Today we kicked back, caught up on more sleep, and wrote alot in our journals
for future possible action against the tour company. We wanted to get the
chronology correct while it was fresh in our minds. With the mind-numbing effect
of jet-lag and loss of sleep we didn't want to trust memory. Then we went on the
lunch cruise on the Nile at 2:30 and had a lot of fun.
Day 9 - Cairo (1/5/04)
We went with Madji the taxi driver to his family's perfume shop. Had great fun
talking with them and they surprised us with an honor. They were due to open a
new shop the next day. The existing shop was called Arabian Nights Perfume
Palace and the new place was called Bright Star Perfume Palace, in honor of the
joint US-Egypt military exercise a while back. We were to be the first
non-owners to step across the threshold. They told us to step only with our
right feet (like the heiroglyphs) for good luck. We did and then we sat and
chatted. No sales pitch. In fact Pam mentioned needing another two perfume
bottles for her sister Teri who is watching the house for us. Got a large bottle
for the equivalent of $4 USD and two small ones for $1. These sell on the web
for about $57 for a medium and $27 for a small one. These prices are great,
especially since these are hand-blown, hand painted and adorned, exquisitely
beautiful bottles. I'm not much for girly stuff like this but these bottles have
to be seen to be believed. Back to the hotel for writing and resting.
Day 10 - Cairo (1/6/04)
Today is packing and resting day. We all dread the looong plane trip back home.
Gave $10 USD in envelope to Salo, Haisam and Marawa, the 7th floor housekeeping
staff. That's about 2 week's pay for them and they were flabberghasted. Took
some pics with them. Then we set the alarm for 11:00pm and went to bed. Up and
change clothes and freshen up for the trip home. Last minute packing and we're
away! The hotel made up 4 breakfast boxes for us since we had paid for the full
day which included breakfast.
Day 11 - Cairo to Home (1/7/04)
We were picked up by Haitham at 12:45am, and had to balance our breakfast boxes
on our knees and eat in the van. Plus, Haitham had me fill out a questionnaire
on the way. Couldn't that have been done the previous day when we had the time?
Irresponsible company and inconsiderate staff! We met Mahmoud at the airport. We
got to the airport about 1:45am, waited at the Lufthansa desk for 45 minutes,and
got on our flight to Frankfurt which was on time. Then, HOME!!

ممكن تترجم الموضوع وشكرا

ياليت
اخوى
ابو عمر يكون المقال
مترجم لتعم الفائده

ألأخوين ابو مضاوى ، وخالد
انا من عيونى مكن اترجم الموضوع ، ولكن انا متعمد اضافة بعض التجارب باللغة الانجليزية ، والفرنسية وذلك بهدف تشجيع الكتاب غير العرب على الكتابة فى المنتدي ، وعرض تجاربهم , وهذه فقط لبنة أولى وانا اتمنى انشاء بوابة خاصة بذلك ، وسوف نجد ان هناك عدد كبير ربما سيشارك ، وخاصة ان بعض الأخوان والأخوات من دول المغرب العربي يسهل عليهم الكتابة باللغة الفرنسية. فى حين ان هنا وهناك اعداد كبيرة ممن يكتبون باللغة الانجليزية ، ومن غربيين ، وهنود ، وماليزيين ، وكوريين ، ويابنين ، ممن زاروا بلادنا العربية والاسلامية ، وانا اطمح الى اجتذاب مثل هؤلاء لعرض تجاربهم فى المنتدي ،وطبعا سيكون هناك عملية فلترة ، للمشاركات التى يرى انها لا تتماشى مع سياسة المنتدى. تحياتى للجميع وشكرا للمرور.

ابو عمر
فعلا تجربه مميزه وفكره ابداعيه ,, تحياتي لشخصك الرائع استاذي
دمت عبقا كحرفك
مودتي