I woke up and finalised my packing.
I was using Tamara’s backpack which I must say was great - I can’t believe I have travelled without one.
So much easier than a wheelie bag I have been using.

Anyway, I got to Heathrow and the lady who checked me in at the BA counter commented that I was brave to be travelling to Egypt on my own.
I told her that I was joining a tour and had an airport transfer and she said that was a good idea.

I got on the plane and the flight was delayed - they were changing a tyre or something - anyway, I went to sleep and woke up on take-off about an hour later.

I was a bit worried that the transfer might not go quite to plan due to the delay but when we arrived there was a man holding a sign waiting for us.
It turned out that about 10 people doing Imaginative Traveller tours had been on the plane.

I already had my visa but a few people didn’t.
Our transfer guy just got their money off them and went and got the Visas for them - that was a bit of a surprise but it was the process.

We got through immigration and went to get our luggage.
There were people pulling bags of the luggage carousel and lining them up and it took me ages to find my bag but I wasn’t the last one so it wasn’t too bad.

We got taken to our transport which was a dodgy really old Vanette type thing.
The guy just chucked our packs up on the roof of the van and didn’t tie them down - I couldn’t believe it!
I panicked the whole way there wondering if I was going to lose my luggage on the first night there!

The ride was crazy - heaps of traffic and lots of tooting horns.
The driver said that it is always rush hour there.
We went past a lot of mosques and drove over the Nile which was a bit exciting and seemed pretty exotic - THE NILE!

The Hotel (five photos)

I got to the hotel and we all checked in.

A porter brought my bags up to me and showed me around my room - the bathroom and the TV (which was crap) and the fridge (which didn’t work) and told me what a great room I had and that it had a view of the pool.
He showed me the balcony but I couldn’t see anything because it was after midnight.
He hung around for a tip but I only had 50 Egyptian Pounds on me so I wasn’t giving him that.
Poor bloke!!

I rang home to let the folks know that I had arrived safely and had a bit of a chat and then hit the sack completely exhausted.