Happy New Year!

Dear All . . .
In spite of the Eygptians we are having a marvelous trip. . . believe me, it hasn't been easy, but we have made the best of it!

A lot has transpired since my last post. . . so, let me start with the trip from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik, which is a marvelous resort town on the Red Sea. . .we flew from Luxor, back to Cairo (an hour and a half) then, we flew from Cairo to Sharm (an hour and a half), which is only a 35 minute 'direct' flight from Luxor (if you can get one!). . . so, we were in the air 3 hours for a 35 minute direct flight! It is interesting that the airports in Egypt are REALLY modern and nice, with gates, except they park the plane about 2 miles from the airport, get you off, take you by bus to the baggage claim even though we had a contecting flight. . . we had to go up several flights if stairs and race through the airport to be taken back to the plane we had just gotten off of!!! So, we finally arrived in Sharm at about 11:30 PM only to discover that Bill had no suitcase! You would think with flying on the same plane they would have just left it on the plane, but, no. . . it went somewhere! We arrived at the GORGEOUS Savoy resort and Spa after 1:00 AM Sunday morning and fell into our beautiful luxurious bed!

Sunday, Bill went to find his suitcase, or so he said and just didn't come back! I went exploring around our delightful hotel. . .it was amazing. . . about 8 huge pools, cabanas, beach, snorkeling, etc. I had a great relaxing day! Bill finaaly got back at 6:00 PM and announced that he had no suitcase, still, but that he had spent the day scuba diving in the Red Sea, which was beyond description. That evening we went to a restaurant near the hotel and they were showing a 'live cam' of an area of the coral reef near our beach. . . the fish were lovely.

Finally, Monday morning we both got up early for another day of diving and I was going to snorkle, we met up with a mother and daugther that we had met on our cruise, so we were anticipating a great day . . . after 3 hours of watching boats come in, load and leave, we were finally informed that our boat had broken down, so no trip that day! The egyptians don't like to tell anyone bad news, so they just don't tell you anything! We decided to head back to our hotel beach for a day of sun, snorkeling and visiting. . . we had a GREAT time. . . at dark, we once again said goodbye to Carol and Anna from Minnesota!

Tuesday was an early and TRAUMATIC day! We were on the road at 4:00 AM for a trip to the border at Taba, Egypt. . . the unusual part is that our itinerary said we were going from Sharm to Jordan by boat! So, at 7:30 AM we arrive at the border, our driver/guide says farewell, instructing us to go through the 'border check' and look for the guide on the other side holding a placard with our name on it! So, off we go, dragging our luggage with a half of a cup of instant Nescafe in us! Well, imagine our surprise when we walk out of the Egyption border and the sign says "Welcome to Israel" No one told us anything about goiong to Israel. . . and anyway where is the stupid boat??? So, now we have to go through the Israel border check which is a nightmare! It takes over an hour for about 18 of us to be processed. . . the other people get on a bus and off they go and there we are! No guide, no placard, no boat and no nothing! So, we sit up on a stone wall and watch people come and go. . . finally a very kind taxi driver comes over to us a stricks up a conversation. . . we tell him who we are waiting for and he says there is no tour group by that name in this town and there is no boat that day or any other day!!! He offers to drive us to the border, which we take him up on . . . so, now we are at the border between Israel and Jordan with no idea what to do next, so, we go to one window, pay money and get some stamps. . . then we walk, and walk and walk, dragging our luggage. . . so we get to an area with a mob of people, speaking all different languages. . . Bill finds a information center and we get what we think we need and off we go, being pushed and shoved to get through a small opening a security, finally I get to the front and the officer says where is your stamp? I say I don't know about a stamp, so he sends Bill back to 'window 10' for a stamp while I wait at the gate, cooling my heels! It is now about 2 hours into this border crossing fiasco. . . finally, Bill comes back with our stamps and we get to meet our guide; Mehar, a very nice Jordaian man who says he has been watching me for an hour at the gate! So, we load everything into the car and Bill says, "Pam, where is the camera?" "I don't know," is my reply. . . Bill has been incharge of the camera and the photo taking the entire trip . . . so, back through "Border Crossing" he goes. . . no camera. . . we call the taxi driver to see if by chance we left it in the cab, no, he doesn't have it, either. . . SO, 500+ pictures of Egypt are gone! We have also checked with the Directors of both Borders aqnd they have our info. for home. Fortunately, (maybe) our name is in the camera case, we just want the SIM card. . . we don't care about the camera! Bill figures that one of the Romanians that was shoving us at the crossing took it! We were and are just SICK! Another lesson learned the hard way, download every night so you never have this problem again!

Our kind, charming guide loaned us his camera to use for the remainder of the trip!

So, we have gone riding in the back of a jeep through the Sahara, taken tea at Boduian tent, eaten at a desert camp, stayed in a hotel that was a horse stable for the Turks during the Ottoman Empire (our room was built into the mountain side! Very cave like!) visited Petra; which will probably be denoted as one of the Wonders of the World! Absolutely amazing!
We toasted my Dad's 85th birthday with drinks in the little bar. . . I had the drink of the week; Flogging Man. . . Happy Birthday, Dad!

This morning, New Year's Eve, our driver took us to a spa/resort on the Dead Sea, where we 'floated' in the very saline rich water, then on to Mount Nebo where Moses viewed the 'promised land' and then to Mahbad to view St. George's church with a mosiac map of the world (on the floor) from centuries ago. Now, we are in the capital of Jordan; Amman in the Regency Palace hotel. . . awaiting the New Year and our guide to come and pick up his camera!

Tomorrow we visit this area with our guide, then Saturday we are on our own. . . our flight to Paris is 1:30 AM Sunday morning. . . so, we will be home soon and glad of it! This has been quite and adventure. . . we are glad that we did it, but, we have certainly become much wiser about some traveling issues!

Happy 2010 to everyone. . . we love you and can't wait to see you!
Love, Mom and Dad (who is sitting in the bar drinking local beer!)

Merry Christmas from the Nile!!!

What an exiting time we have had. . . the cruise hasbeen awesome, this is our last night on the boat. . .four stories, with the top floor being a ool, hot tub, bar, canopied plush sitting area and lounge chairs. Our room is on the 2nd level and is VERY nice, spacious and lovely. The most interesting part is the manner that these 'river boats' dock. . . the first one pulls into the assigned dock, then the second one pulls along side, adjacent to the first, then the third and so on until there are four boats side by side! So, the intresting part is when we disembark.. .all the boats open their doors and you walk through everyone's lobby until you reach the dock! You get to see all of the other boats and their decor! Very interesting! Our boat is still the nicest!

Today we went to the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Temple at Luxor and the Temple of Karnak, one is more spectaclur then the next!

We are having phone and computer problems, so I will nd for now!

We love all of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas from the land where civilization began!

We finally made it! The pyramids are magnificent! Today was our first full day in Egypt. . . we started out on Friday, were delayed in Austin due to rain in Atlanta! End result, missed our connection in Atlanta to Paris! So, spent the night in Atlanta and flew to Paris on Saturday evening, then it was snowing like crazy in Paris, so had a bad weather delay there, too. Finally got here last night...lovely hotel and a gorgeous, clear sunny day today. . . we've seen more camels and donkeys then one can imagine! But, I must say that the pyramids, especially the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are breath taking. Tomorrow, we fly to Aswan for more touring.

The people are very gracious!

I hope this finds everyone well, happy and preparing for a joyous Christmas! More adventures in Egypt to come!

Austin, TX

Well, it is the night before we leave. . . family dinner with a large hunk of beef!!!! Not Bill, that's what he is grilling!

Packing soon, then we are off on our "adventure of a lifetime"!!! Off to Egypt! 3:00 PM flight on Friday, Dec. 18th!