Egypt

Flew out of Manchester at 9.45am where the temperature was minus several. Arrived Luxor 5.10pm (local time; 3.10pm England time) and I was completely overdressed.
The flight was uneventful, except for my panic attack at check in when I realised I'd left my lucky charms in Liverpool. Flew over the Alps - awesome. Mostly what I saw was clouds. :/



Luxor airport is organised chaos. The plane stopped in the middle of nowhere and we all had to catch a bus to the terminal. 5 planes had landed in quick succession and only one (ONE) passport control booth was open. Also, only one baggage carousel. Did someone mention "queue!" I had to get a visa (15 GBP) on arrival. The tour guide guy sent us to a queue. The guy at the desk said we had to go to another queue because our names weren't on his list. I looked at the list.... "there's my name" and I pointed to it. He didn't look, just said "Give me 15 pounds" and stamped my passport. Quite bizarre.
Another bus took us to the boats - there are several. I was taken to the one on my paperwork but it was the wrong one. Next door! It's always next door in Egypt! (that's a variation on a Goons joke btw).
The boat is such a throwback. I'll have to take some pics tomorrow. Speaking of pics....saw the most amazing sunset as we came in to land. Stay tuned for some sunset shots!
The staff on the boat and at the airport are all male. I haven't seen a single woman yet. Saw some donkey drawn carts on the road though. And flat-roofed mud brick houses. 5000 year old traditions right next to an international airport. Boggles the mind.

So... I'm here, in Egypt. Who'd have thunk! It's going to be amazing.

Later.....

PS. Meanwhile, hahahaha, King Tut is in Manchester. Go figure :)