Getting Closer to Egypt

Good travel quote: Try to understand that there’s a world larger than the one you inhabit. (Julie Orringer, author)

You will notice I changed my photo to the Giza Pyramids. Our trip is just 11 days away and this is how our days will go - we hope!...the time in Cairo is 8 hours later than Minnesota. Think of us as our flight leaves Minneapolis at 2:25pm on February 21 and we arrive at Cairo airport at 2:15 am on February 23 - DO THE MATH! That's 28 hours after we leave - we do have long layovers.
• Monday 2/23/09: 2:15AM!!! arrival Cairo; Four Seasons Nile Plaza hotel - Day on our Own - what to do, where to go, what to eat - hmmmm, endless possibilities.
• Tuesday 2/24/09: Official tour starts in Cairo - Egyptian museum; cocktail and dinner party and "meet the Travel Director"•
Wednesday 2/25/09: Cairo - Pyramids, Sphinx of Giza, afternoon drive to Memphis (oldest capital of Egypt), drive to Sakkara (oldest Egyptian cemetery), dinner premium seating at Sound and Light show at the Pyramids (story of Pharoahs),
• Thursday 2/26/09: Cairo/Aswan - fly to Aswan late morning most likely on EgyptAir, felucca sail to Botanical Gardens at Kitchner's Island. Movenpick Elephantine Island hotel, Aswan
• Friday 2/27/09: Aswan, flight to Abu Simbel in morning, Ramses I temples (border of Egypt and Sudan), flight back to Aswan and start cruise on Nile, Sonesta St. George I for sail from Aswan to Luxor
• Saturday 2/28/09: Nile cruise - Kom Ombo - Edfu, afternoon tea on sail to Edfu
• Sunday 3/1/09: Nile cruise - Luxor: Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens-burial ground of wives of Pharoahs, Queen Nefertari – can visit only 10 minutes (Hoteshesut – female pharaoh X 22 years), Deir el-Bahri complex of temples/tombs opposite Luxor, Temple of Madinat Habu, Colossi of Memnon, afternoon horse carriage ride to Luxor Museum
• Monday 3/2/09 Leave Nile cruise, explor Luxor, Temple of Karnak, Luxor Temple; Hotel Sonesta St. Geore I, Nile view room
• Tuesday 3/3/09: fly from Luxor to Cairo; Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at the First Residence (west bank of Nile, pyramid view). Evening in home of Egyptian family with cocktails and dinner.
• Wednesday 3/4/09; Cairo, Visit Citadel, Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Khan El Khalili Souk (bazaar)Thursday 3/5/09 check out of hotel in Cairo, 4:15am flight to Amsterdam
I have a new 20 language translator which includes Arabic and I see that Hello is halo - so far so good; restaurant is mata' am (there are also symbols).......yeah I will be able to eat; coffee is ckahwa - I will be able to wake up for the day after greeting, finding the restaurant and ordering coffee!
Wish us a Bon Voyage - good journey in French.