The ache of constant travel is tough to overcome. You wake up you don’t remember which city you’re in, never mind which bed. The memory of home takes a few minutes to materialize in your head as you try to recall what your house looks like. You yearn for meals around the kitchen table and time with friends and family.
Maybe, you want someone to hold your hand through all the planning, logistics, and decision making. Maaaaybe, you want your mother to come along and do all that work for you. We found all that with our tour guide Hanan (sorry Mom!). She was extremely knowledgeable and really took the time to understand our family and our interests.
Booking a tour guide in Egypt is essential. The first time Heather and I decided to spend a little more on sight seeing was when we took the Hop On Hop Off bus in Berlin. A few weeks previous we had walked our poor feet raw in Paris. We needed a better way to see more. That splurge was an ‘Ah Ha’ moment for us. We realized that we would need to spend more money to maximize our experience.
Day#1 (Sunday, 11th of Dec) – Cairo:
We started off by visiting the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Starting here was important. Hanan started us with Ancient Egypt 101. The basic hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt, symbolism in statues, and the roles of different cast members. This all helped us to understand who and what we were looking at during our time in Egypt. We saw artifacts tied to Tutankhamun and saw the differences between a Husband and a Wife’s tomb.
We saw papyrus making and even bought a few pictures to ship back to Canada. The store owner had reeds soaking in water that he then pressed and pounded flat. He showed how the thin strips were crisscrossed over each other to create a stronger paper. These papyrus images reminded me of my mother’s school trips to Egypt when she brought back beautiful images on papyrus. I knew walking into the shop that I really had to have my own. It will be interesting to see how we display all these souvenirs in our house when we get home.
Hanan also spoiled us with a fantastic Egyptian lunch. More food than we could eat! I need to learn to say no to food, even when it is that delicious (pictures above).
The Pyramids and the Sphinx were next. We saw all 9 pyramids lined up in a row from our vantage spot on the plateau. We took camels and a cart to get there. The camel ride gave us a VERY high view point. The camel’s gate is difficult to get used to as they lurch forwards and sway sideways through the rocky sand. I was holding on to the saddle for my life. The plateau is a great spot for pictures and the guides had us posing for shot after shot after shot. I’ve had to cull many of the pictures from my camera roll.
We also went down to the Sphinx where Lydia got one of the best shots of our trip. It is the last picture on the instagram post below.
We ended the day with a visit to a perfume store. The owner was very knowledgeable and taught us about the many uses of essential oils. They use only the best ingredients there. We were happy to walk away with lovely perfume bottles and some travel sized amounts of perfume mixes. It is always hard to impress on others how truly light we are travelling. I guess when they hear a trip around the world they assume we have trunk after rolling trunk of luggage to sustain us. We don’t.
Hanan made an amazing first day in Egypt for us. More to come…
Ball Family Travel 
One response to “Egypt December 11th”
Sounds like another fabulous visit in your next step of your journey. Egypt certainly has a lot of. history. What an amazing opportunity to include Egypt as part of your adventure.
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