Where to start?
I went to Egypt Dec. 21-Dec. 26th. The purpose was to have something to distract me during the holidays, but it was also a trip I have been wanting to take regardless. To get a good deal, we left from Sharjah instead of Abu Dhabi. Our flight was early in the morning and none of us wanted to get up to drive to the airport that morning. In retrospect that probably would have been the more sane thing to do, but not nearly as fun. Before I get any farther I should probably qualify the we. It was a group of eight. Gayle, Julie, Carmela, Samaya, Lucy, her son, Alan, Bayyinah, and myself.
Bayyinah and myself drove together. We slept in and left around 1 o'clock on December 20th. The trip to Sharjah only takes about 3 hours and we were not going to sit in the airport for hours on end so we made a few stops along the way. First, Abu Dhabi for a quick stop at Emirates Palace. As you may have heard, the UAE put up an 11 million dollar Christmas tree at their largest and most expensive hotel. It is decorated in jewels ranging from pearls to emeralds and sapphires. Yes, you could say it is a display of wealth, but everything was on loan. They just wanted to do something no one else had done before. They are into setting new records, and doing something no one else would think of doing. I am not sure what I was expecting when getting there, but it was just a tree. Sure, it was beautiful and the jewelry unbelievable, but still just a Christmas tree. I'm glad I went because I can say that I saw the multi-million dollar tree, but had we not been wasting time--I'm not sure I would have made the trip. By the time we left Abu Dhabi it was late afternoon, we had timed it perfectly and missed most of the traffic in and out of Abu Dhabi. Next stop on the trek, Dubai.
The problem with stopping in Dubai . . . I spent too much money. Now, before you say tisk tisk--- they were good buys, and not all for me. I bought Hannah a birthday present and me some much needed items, like my watch. I was hoping to find a light coat for Egypt, but nothing was priced low enough for me. I didn't love any of the ones that I found enough to get them. Dubai is where we managed to kill most of our time. After a bit of shopping and then dinner, we saw the new Narnia movie. By that time it was 1AM and time to head to the airport.
Even in Dubai, there is not that much traffic on a weekday at 1AM. We arrived at the airport a half hour later and dragged our luggage into the departure terminal. We almost had to stay in the lobby area for two hours, but we played the woman card and were aloud the go through to the gate. The rest of our travel group, minus Lucy and her son, had arrived much early that evening and were half asleep at the gate when we arrived. At this point all of us tried to sleep and it worked somewhat. We got pretty silly towards the early hours of the morning and were happy to be able to pass out on the plane. Considering all the running around that I did, I was proud that I managed to only lose my sunglasses. The only bad part was there were no cheap ones to replace them, so I am now the proud owner of Armani Sunglasses. I won't be losing these.
I'm sure at this point you are wondering when I am actually going to talk about Egypt. Now!
We arrived at Alexandria late morning of the 21st. The airport was very small. I was surprised. With all the people in the airport it was extremely hard to move through immigration. If you did not like being around a lot of people I suggest that you fly into a different airport. There is a newer and larger one that you can fly into. I know that is where I am flying into if I ever return.
Considering we did not know where or who to meet at the airport, we found our guide fairly easily. Our stuff was loaded onto the bus and after being joined by a few others, we were off to Cairo. Since it was a three our trip, we decided to have lunch in Alexandria before heading out. We were all tired, but more importantly hungry at that point. Our guide took us to a local restaurant that looked out over the Mediterranean Sea. It was called Athineos and had a decent buffet. After being feed, we all fell asleep on the ride to Cairo.
I went to Egypt Dec. 21-Dec. 26th. The purpose was to have something to distract me during the holidays, but it was also a trip I have been wanting to take regardless. To get a good deal, we left from Sharjah instead of Abu Dhabi. Our flight was early in the morning and none of us wanted to get up to drive to the airport that morning. In retrospect that probably would have been the more sane thing to do, but not nearly as fun. Before I get any farther I should probably qualify the we. It was a group of eight. Gayle, Julie, Carmela, Samaya, Lucy, her son, Alan, Bayyinah, and myself.
Bayyinah and myself drove together. We slept in and left around 1 o'clock on December 20th. The trip to Sharjah only takes about 3 hours and we were not going to sit in the airport for hours on end so we made a few stops along the way. First, Abu Dhabi for a quick stop at Emirates Palace. As you may have heard, the UAE put up an 11 million dollar Christmas tree at their largest and most expensive hotel. It is decorated in jewels ranging from pearls to emeralds and sapphires. Yes, you could say it is a display of wealth, but everything was on loan. They just wanted to do something no one else had done before. They are into setting new records, and doing something no one else would think of doing. I am not sure what I was expecting when getting there, but it was just a tree. Sure, it was beautiful and the jewelry unbelievable, but still just a Christmas tree. I'm glad I went because I can say that I saw the multi-million dollar tree, but had we not been wasting time--I'm not sure I would have made the trip. By the time we left Abu Dhabi it was late afternoon, we had timed it perfectly and missed most of the traffic in and out of Abu Dhabi. Next stop on the trek, Dubai.
The problem with stopping in Dubai . . . I spent too much money. Now, before you say tisk tisk--- they were good buys, and not all for me. I bought Hannah a birthday present and me some much needed items, like my watch. I was hoping to find a light coat for Egypt, but nothing was priced low enough for me. I didn't love any of the ones that I found enough to get them. Dubai is where we managed to kill most of our time. After a bit of shopping and then dinner, we saw the new Narnia movie. By that time it was 1AM and time to head to the airport.
Even in Dubai, there is not that much traffic on a weekday at 1AM. We arrived at the airport a half hour later and dragged our luggage into the departure terminal. We almost had to stay in the lobby area for two hours, but we played the woman card and were aloud the go through to the gate. The rest of our travel group, minus Lucy and her son, had arrived much early that evening and were half asleep at the gate when we arrived. At this point all of us tried to sleep and it worked somewhat. We got pretty silly towards the early hours of the morning and were happy to be able to pass out on the plane. Considering all the running around that I did, I was proud that I managed to only lose my sunglasses. The only bad part was there were no cheap ones to replace them, so I am now the proud owner of Armani Sunglasses. I won't be losing these.
I'm sure at this point you are wondering when I am actually going to talk about Egypt. Now!
We arrived at Alexandria late morning of the 21st. The airport was very small. I was surprised. With all the people in the airport it was extremely hard to move through immigration. If you did not like being around a lot of people I suggest that you fly into a different airport. There is a newer and larger one that you can fly into. I know that is where I am flying into if I ever return.
Considering we did not know where or who to meet at the airport, we found our guide fairly easily. Our stuff was loaded onto the bus and after being joined by a few others, we were off to Cairo. Since it was a three our trip, we decided to have lunch in Alexandria before heading out. We were all tired, but more importantly hungry at that point. Our guide took us to a local restaurant that looked out over the Mediterranean Sea. It was called Athineos and had a decent buffet. After being feed, we all fell asleep on the ride to Cairo.
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