7 minute read
Intrepid Tours Egypt -12-Day Tour
William (Bill) Taylor
For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. Robert Louis Stevenson
QUESTIONED OFTEN:
“Why would you want to go to Egypt now? It’s really dangerous, isn’t it ?”
Well, what could be more life threatening than my advanced age?
“No one’s going there!”
BINGO! I am!!
A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. John A. Shedd
In 2010, Egypt attracted about 15 million tourista a year. After terrorist attacks and civil riots, the number plunged to about 4 million. It has had disastrous effects on Egypt’s employment rate and its economy. It’s a shame, really, as there is so much and so many amazing things to see.
I find the hardest part of travel is just making up my decision to walk into a travel agent. I did just that, in September, 2017.
There were two recommended options for Egypt: Canada’s g Adventures and Australia’s Intrepid Tours; both small-group (max.16) tours. I have taken g Adventure Tours at least five times; would do so at the end of the Egypt Tour, going on to Jordan with g Adventures.
Knowing what I had to face, travel wise, I decided to go two days earlier than the tour started. These tours always begin DAY ONE: with a 7:00 p.m. introductory meeting. So, in fact, I had three full days.
I chose the very-similar Intrepid 12-day tour as it started with a 4-day Nile cruise, from Aswan to Luxor, with stops at the major monuments and sites each morning. Believe me, it was absolutely wonderful. Worth going to Egypt just for the Nile Cruise!
After the Winnipeg Airport wait and security, then Toronto’s, the flying tie is 15 hours. I knew the 7-hour time change, airports and flights would have me speaking in tongues when arriving early in the morning in Cairo.
The next best choice I have ever made was to go online to Tripadvisor.com and find a private tour company.
My guardian angel chose Egypt Tailor Made Tours. For those three days I would have a private car, a tour guide and driver. The total cost, in Canadian dollars, payable in cash, was $398. Our Canadian dollar goes a long way in Egypt, at that time, it sure did.
Tour included everything seeable in Cairo and a half-day trip to Memphis, the ancient capital, 35 km out of Cairo.
The sites were almost tourist free The dozens of poor riderless camel drivers begged for me to ride. I would rather go on a porcupine. I was on a camel in Jordan. Once is more than enough. They are small and they bite!
My guide, Heba (with her written permission), was an absolute wonder; a young graduate of Egyptology (she can read the hieroglyphics), and a married mother of a two-year old daughter. A female as a guide is a rare sight in Cairo. We started off with Cairo’s most visited site, the massive Saladin Mosque; later the Cairo Museum.
At Memphis, (King Cheops) we crawled and crept deep down into the burial chamber of the pyramid; this is an extra-fee travel option with all Intrepid and g Adventures.
Heba took me to the tour companies’ avoided part of Cairo, the Christian Coptic Cairo. We braved tanks and soldiers to visit the Saint Sergius and Bacchus Church, built on the spot where Joseph, Mary and Jesus rested, after fleeing into Egypt, past the Roman Fortress “BABYLON” to visit the Hanging Church, 3rd Century AD, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Three days I will
carry with me forever!
The oft written about, El-khalili souk, or market maze is an endless maze of little streets selling much the same as the other. It can become boring. Stop for coffee and, you must try a dish of Koshary. You will be accosted by desperate hawkers. Hang on to your purses and bags. I had all my money, passport and credit cards in and under-my-clothing travel belt.
We were warned to watch our pockets as pick pockets were the best in the world and we would be unaware. Well, if a pick pocketer could get his hand down to my travel pocket I would have to be dead anyway!!
I looked up all sites we would travel to but ignored endless lists of Pharaohs, sites, gods and goddesses.
Another reason I chose Intrepid: To get to the cruise ship (not the ones of Europe’s rivers), rather than a flight; we took an overnight passenger train to Aswan. What a great experience. Had my own upper/lower bunk compartment. A porter brought a hot supper on a tray. Unlike on an aircraft, I slept!!
All the site are available online with these two tour companies. I found the most awesome were, Karnak, Abu Simbel Temples and Hatshepsut’s Temple at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings.
We flew back to Cairo in the early morning. A day free to go shopping in El-kahalili; I went to the lovely sidewalk coffee shops, where a waiter, unasked, will bring the males a hookah, just in case you need an extra high after the tiny cup of liquid caffeine. Yes, I did!!!!
That evening, at the same hotel, I met up with the Canadian g Adventure Jordan tour of 15 Australians!! On my Australian tour it was mainly Canadians. Canadians and Australians made up the majority of the travellers I met along all our many stops.
If, like I had, had always wanted to go, GO!
In Memoriam
March 2018
Wilfred Earle Aberdeen, Winnipeg, MB
July 2018
Allan Cartlidge, Selkirk, MB Rose Marie Chapman, St. Claude, MB Dorothy M. Flesher, Edmonton, AB Jacqueline R. Graham, Winnipeg, MB Margaret Yvonne Kirbyson, Winnipeg, MB Garnet G. MacDonald, Brandon, MB Alvin R. Mills, Flin Flon, MB David Negrych, St. Andrews, MB Horst Rath, Chilliwack, BC Edna Siemens, Winnipeg, MB Ernest N. Tashe, Winnipeg, MB Rose Tataryn, Russell, MB Issac F. Wiens, Centennial, CO, USA
August 2018
James Gallafant Bowler, Winnipeg, MB Anne Chudy, Winnipeg, MB Marcel Daeninck, Winnipeg, MB Abram Dyck, Winnipeg, MB Jeanne E. Forbes, Winnipeg, MB Brian Stuart Hayes, Winnipeg, MB Robert Alfred Hyatt, Russell, MB Barbara Ann McIntyre, Thompson, MB Elinor G.A. Moen, Winnipeg, MB Luc Rino Nadeau, St. Pierre-Jolys, MB Junita Kay Nielsen-Goertzen, Horndean, MB John Richard Peet, Winnipeg, MB Hugh M. Pollitt-Smith, Crystal City, MB Leonard E. Schmidt, Winnipeg, MB Hilton L. Stewart, Brandon, MB Wayne Robert Stinson, Stonewall, MB Judy Taylor, Neepawa, MB Marjorie R. Young, Cypress River, MB Donald Peter Zorniak, Winnipeg, MB
September 2018
Margaret G. Bean, Winnipeg, MB Lillie F. Boese, Steinbach, MB Diedrich (Dick) Derksen, Steinbach, MB Murray Albert Grass, Winnipeg, MB Peter Kubas, Winnipeg, MB John R. Lord, Winnipeg, MB Marlene H. Neufeld, Brandon, MB Lincoln J. Peturson, Calgary, AB Ivan T. Rainey, Virden, MB William Alexander Smith-Windsor, Lebret, SK Marita Watson, Winnipeg, MB
Life Members
August 2018
Elsie J. Bradley, Winnipeg, MB Walter O. Fuller, Dauphin, MB F. Jean McQuarrie, Oak Lake, MB Jack Mohr, Winnipeg, MB Olga Regehr, Winnipeg, MB Coralie M. Standing, Winnipeg, MB
September 2018
Eleanor Gladys Fischer, Brandon, MB Abram J. Friesen, Steinbach, MB Velma Jean Hamilton, Gilbert Plains, MB Frances Lofto, Winnipeg, MB Gloria R. McMillan, Selkirk, MB Nickolai Poetker, Winnipeg, MB Albert E. Thompson, Winnipeg, MB
October 2018
Jakob Hildebrandt, Winkler, MB William M. Kotelko, Stonewall, MB
Photo Contest Entry "Oriole" by Norma Donley
RTAM Photography
Winter 2019 Photo Contest
CONTEST
The KIT editorial committee announces a photo contest. The two categories are: • Looks Delicious: Food too pretty to eat? Take a picture and enjoy! • My Favourite Vehicle: a car, a bike, a truck, a skateboard, etc.
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