Our Christmas Trip to Egypt!!

Two months before the Christmas break we realized that we would not be able to go with the students to Egypt because one senior couple had to leave in early January, and we were supposed to take over the main tour assignment.  It turned out to be a serendipity because we had a marvelous trip, had our own personal tour guide and driver, got to see many more places than the students and it didn't cost that much more than going with the students.  We even stayed in the same hotels as the students and our main "handler" (the man who was in charge) was the one BYU uses, as well.

We said "goodbye" to the students on Wednesday, Dec. 18, as they left BYU Jerusalem for home.  Thursday morning the 19th we left for the airport.  We have found that we can rent a car in Jerusalem and drop it off at Tel Aviv for $30--seventy dollars cheaper than taking a taxi! 

We arrived at the Cairo airport around 1 PM and were met by Islam (the handler), who was standing with a suit on and with a placard with our name on it.  He bypassed all the VISA lines and showed our VISA to someone and we were expedited out of the airport.  It was glorious!  We were driven straight to the Cairo museum, where our guide, Lazim, showed us various things in the museum, such as the Rosetta Stone and statue of Ramses II, and then he let us do our own looking around.  We saw King Tut's gold mask, and "houses" made of gold that were over his burial place.  The museum was very old, in a state of disrepair, with lots of places blocked off --a new museum is being built and some items have already been transferred over to it--but it was an amazing place and we loved it.

Around 5 PM we were driven to the hotel, The Hilton Heliopolis.  It was the most luxurious hotel I've ever been in.  It was very spacious, with several men ready to take our bags, seat us, check us in, etc.  Of course we had to tip each person, but it was all part of the fun!  Our bed was incredibly comfortable!  We did find out that Whats App video did not work in Egypt, but we finally were able to email, text with WhatsApp and us Facetime to call my mother.  We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was part of the hotel complex and then fell into bed, as we had to get up at 3:30 AM to fly to Luxor.

                                                        The gold "house" of King Tut in the Cairo Museum