Mena House Marriott

Well, there has to be an issue on every trip. Ours was last night when we arrived at 7:20pm in Cairo. Everything went incredibly well at first. We flew through Immigration in less than 5 minutes, no joke. We had our visas that we bought online before the trip and our vaccine records and literally flew through Immigration. Awesome.

That’s where it ended. We went to pick up our luggage and call Uber but for some reason, the bags didn’t show up for more than 1 hour 20 minutes. Unbelievable!  Our first bag came out in 5 minutes but the second bag, over 1.5 hours. I actually went to lost luggage to report it missing, along with several others, and we were told that the plane still had 2 containers onboard and they would get to them soon.

It was now almost 9:00pm and finally, our last bag appeared. Now through Customs. No problem, another 5 minutes and out on the street waiting for our Uber. We were offered a taxi for $35USD but since Uber (and probably all other taxis) only costs $16USD, we elected not to take the guys offer.

The Mena House Marriott, home for the next 4 days, is about 55 minutes from the airport. What a drive! Cars were everywhere in the road, no lanes at all. Only saw 1 accident but I think that’s only because we had our eyes closed for most of the ride. I think our driver had the horn taped down, constantly blowing at cars, tuk-tuks, vans, people, bikes, dogs, you name it, it was in the road.

Made it to our hotel and what a great choice. Most of you have already seen the pictures from our arrival, simply beautiful. The Great Pyramids are less than ¼ mile from the edge of the property. Of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World, these are the only ones remaining.

Started around 2500 BC, the Giza pyramids were built over three generations of pharaohs, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. Each one was part of a mortuary complex that included a temple and causeway leading into the pyramid. At least this is what most accounts of the pyramids claim even though no artifacts or remains have ever been found in these pyramids. Ancient alien believers think the pyramids were used to guide alien spacecraft to Earth, right. Everyone has a theory.

What a wedding venue!

The pool

Tomorrow we will get up close and personal not only with the pyramids of Giza, but also those in Saqqara and Dashur, which are actually older than these in Giza. These pyramids were the “qual program” for the ones at Giza. Look for the write up tomorrow and you’ll understand what I mean. Right now, it’s pool, sun, relaxing and Saqqara beer time.

Alghad.