musings......: Egypt as seen by an American Tourist

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Egypt as seen by an American Tourist

We were at Cairo's Egyptian Museum on Tuesday afternoon, the first day of the uprising. All was quiet when we entered the museum which is adjacent to Tahrir Square. Our hotel, the Intercontinental, was on the other side of the square. We toured the museum and were ready to leave, but the police blocked the door and sent us out the front entrance. There were several security forces on the museum grounds, giving us conflicting instructions and having us move from one spot to another. We were stuck and this was the most frightening time for me. Finally the Odyssey bus made its way to us, after having to take a long detour. We skirted the turmoil to our hotel and we were instructed to stay inside. That night we were awakened a little after midnight by sirens and popping sounds. Since we were on the 11th floor, I felt safe watched Tahrir Square from our window--and saw a lot of smoke (tear gas?), sirens and people being put in paddy-wagons.

The next morning we flew to Aswan and took a 3 hour bus ride through the Sahara to Abu Simbel where we boarded our boat for the Lake Nasser cruise. We had been on the Lake Nasser boat for 3 nights heading back toward Aswan when they informed us that they were attempting to get us out of the country and to be ready to move with an hour's notice.

The worse part was not knowing what would happen next. Plan A was to send us to the Cairo airport, but then they realized that it was incredibly crowded with a slim possibility of getting a flight out. They then attempted to charter a flight to Qatar, but that did not work out. So they booked us into a great hotel in Aswan (on an island in the Nile) while the Boston office of Odyssey conferring with the Egyptian representatives worked out the charter flight to Amman, Jordan that finally got us out. Three Odyssey representatives met us in Jordan and took us to the Kempinski Hotel there.

Since weather reports from the East Coast were "iffy," we stayed in Amman for 2 nights. This gave us a full day in Jordan, and we were given the option to visit Jerash, a Greco-Roman area or Petra. We opted for Petra, a magnificent site.

When we arrived in NY, three additional representatives were at the airport and whisked us to a nearby hotel. The next morning, they made sure we had breakfast and caught our shuttle to the airport.

So don't feel too bad for us. We saw many wonderful things and had luxurious accommodations. But we missed the Nile Cruise and Alexandria. Actually, we want to go back when events are more stable--that may take a while.

By Theda Bagdy