The pool at the hotel was a definite bust as the bottom was dirty and we just weren’t feeling it.  After a tiresome van ride, bogus shop tour and quicky museum trip, we just wanted to kick back Egyptian style.  Our tour guide had a hard time understanding that we wanted to see the nightlife and just hang out, but we ended up calling it a night after a dinner at the hotel.  We woke up early the next morning to a breakfast buffet where I had quite a few cups of coffee with some milk.  More on that later.  We headed straight to the Pyramids at Giza where we had a chance to ride some camels and even race a little bit.  The pyramids were definitely quite an awesome sight.  You really don’t get to realize them in all their glory because of how fast the tour is and I guess it’s safe to say that I’m still amazed that I even got to check them out.  I do have to admit though that it is a one time show.  I’m not going to be aching to go back anytime soon.  Maybe it was the heat or just the general mess but maybe with a bunch of other people on a 1 week Egyptian safari to Alexandria and the rest of the Nile might be worthwhile.  Here are a few pictures below.     

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For those of you that did not notice, I didn’t have a regular June Schedule posted for quite a while.  This is due to the fact that I kept on switching things around in Open Time and now, there you have it.  Yes I have been “off” for the greater part of the month, but as you can see, I’ll be working the next couple of days.  I’ll still be trying to build up trips and make them longer so that I could get paid a little more, but as of now, this is it.  It’s definitely a pretty light load though don’t you think?

Waking up at 5:00AM after a goodnight of just hanging out in a Cancun Spring Break like scene, we got ready and headed downstairs to a cab waiting to take us to the Israel / Egypt Border.  Once there, we proceeded to clear one side onto the other without any problem but once we were at the Egyptian side, our passports did not contain the proper visas to go to Cairo.  They sent us back in a midst of confusion, as we really couldn’t communicate.  Walking back to the Israeli side, the guards called us back as the tour ambassador showed up with the proper papers to process us through.  I got a cool looking Egyptian Visa, boarded up a minivan like vehicle and took off.  It was the three of us, Bobby, Donna and myself along with our bus driver, and a personal guard strapped with a H&K Full Automatic MP5. 

The 5 hour journey began.  I couldn’t sleep for most of the ride due to the weak suspension of the vehicle coupled with the badly paved roads, but eventually we ended up meeting our tour guide at the Egyptian Museum in Downtown Cairo.  There really wasn’t that much to see as we crossed the Sinai Peninsula.  Just barren desert, random construction sites as grand canyon like geography.

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I landed early morning at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv Israel and took an airport shuttle to the domestic terminal where I was greeted with closed doors because it was a little too early.  They opened it up within five minutes and I sat inside until security opened up.  I was questioned quite a bit, for about an hour total including a back room full body check, but they ultimately helped me get a standby ticket and treated me fairly nice.  They are very thorough with their security processes but one can only imagine how necessary it is. 

I finally got on an Arkira 757-300 as one of last passengers and boarded up for a 20 minute flight.  The aircraft was full and we cruised relatively low for quite a while.  The approach into Eilat was great passing by the beach as the beginning of the runway boarders the north west side of the Red Sea.   I walked a little way to the Hostel that my friend Bobby told me to go to, changed in the closet, locked my things up and walked around with a new friend that I met at reception who was well trvaeled for the last few months.  Mike and I walked around for about 2.5 hours just wasting time and touring around until our rooms were ready.  I had a chance to take a dip in the Red Sea that early afternoon and check out the boardwalk.  I have to admit that it was very Mexico Riviera with the bars and beach chairs lining up the “ocean.” 

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I initially planned on hopping on a flight to Tel Aviv on Saturday but then figured out that I could end up going one day early so I tried for the Friday night red eye.  I was fourth on the list and it wasn’t looking too good, but I thought that it would work out.  I got to the airport early and low and behold, there were a couple of flights that were diverted to Atlanta due to weather at JFK.  Those planes had passengers that were going to depart to Tel Aviv from JFK but instead were re-routed to ATL.  So, now I was out of luck.  They let 3 non revenue passengers on and I was fourth on the list.  There were over 20 other non revenue passengers that were waiting for a seat for the past few days, so I guess I didn’t have it that bad.  I’ll give it a try to next day. 

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