Knoxville to Cairo
Our first day in Egypt began mid-day yesterday (Black Friday) in Knoxville. An afternoon flight was scheduled to take us to Chicago where we were to transfer to British Airways for an overnight flight to London. Our incoming flight originated in Chicago which was experiencing some strong winds. This delayed the flight for several hours. I was beginning to get concerned that we would miss our London connection until Amy pointed out that Chicago was in the Central Time Zone!

During the flight to London, we were served dinner shortly after takeoff. Let me say, BA does not serve meals (even in Business Class) near the quality of Air France (see 10 Days in Gaul). I ordered the rib eye which came out as a 2½ x 2½ square piece of meat that had seen well done about a week ago. After chewing through a third of that, I opted to move on to the desert which was a very passable bread pudding. As I was eating the pudding I looked at the route map and noticed that we were passing just north of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Anytime I see Halifax I am reminded of one of my late friend's, Alex Beaton, favorite singers, Stan Rogers, and one of Alex's favorite Roger's songs, Barrett's Privateers. (Alex wanted to put it on his seafaring CD but Linda convinced him not to. Probably because of the lyrics.) The chorus goes like this:

Goddamn them all! I was told
We'd cruise the seas for American gold.
We'd fire no guns, shed no tears.
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,
The last of Barrett's Privateers
From London a final transfer took us to Cairo where we arrived late this afternoon, a total trip time of 22+ hours. To add to the frustration, our departing gate number didn't post till less than and hour before our departure. The gate could have been on either end of the terminal; fortunately, it was on the end we chose to wait.

After the usual ordeal passing through customs, our Uniworld rep met us and brought us to our final destination, the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo At Nile Plaza. As the name implies, it sits upon the bank of the Nile River.

By the time our airplane landed and our Uniworld rep gathered all of us together to herd us to our hotels, it was dark. All we could see of the Nile River was the lights shining from the other side. As a result, I do not have any pictures to show for my first day in Egypt. However, tomorrow will definitely prove otherwise. Till then, "Tesbah ala kheir".