A LONG DAY OF TRAVEL FROM DENVER TO CAIRO

Denver to Cairo: 

We started our day with the basic hotel breakfast and then loaded the Jeep and made our way to The Parking Spot. We have been very happy with The Parking Spot’s service. A quick ride to the airport, check in, security and then the club room to wait for our flight to Houston. We have, for us, a short layover in Houston with just enough time to get a bowl of soup at the Club Room. Our next flight is from Houston to Frankfurt on a 787 and in Polaris Class.  We had a good meal and were soon asleep. We both woke about an hour and a half before we landed. Lynn ate all her breakfast and I more or less picked at mine. 

Landing in Frankfurt we were at a gate near the end of A concourse and needed to get to the B concourse. Note when going from concourse to concourse in Frankfurt one needs to go through security as you enter each concourse. This is a hike for sure, over 4,000 steps. A quick stop at a Lufthansa Club and then onto our gate, so we boarded a bus to shuttle us to the plane. On board we had  a meal of either pasta or chicken. Both were good and we have an empty seat in our isle so we can stretch out a bit. 

FYI we did not, nor do we ever get an upgrade on Lufthansa, so we are in their Economy Class, it is fine as our flight is about 3.5 hours.  Lufthansa  gate agents are strict about size and weight, so check before you fly. I was glad we did. 

When we arrived in Cairo there was a Viking Rep there to meet us, as well as our prearranged car service. In all our conversations with Viking we were told repeatedly they would not transfer us to the hotel if we were to arrive a day early nor would they arrange a a pre-trip night at the hotel.  We opted for the Viator driver and representative and they were helpful in getting our visas and getting us to the hotel, sharing a lot of information along the way. We now know of a good local shawarma place. The driving in Cairo is like any other crazy big city. Traffic laws etc are merely  a suggestion not to be followed, but it works for them. 

Our hotel is the Nile Ritz Carlton, very nice in many ways. We were met by the local Viking representative. He was very helpful in making sure we got checked in and getting us oriented. From the local Viking Rep, we learned we could have had Viking make us this pre trip reservation and not had to move rooms tomorrow. No problem for us as we have a city view tonight and will have a Nile River view for the next nights of our stay.  There seems to be a bit of miscommunication between the Viking Shoreside reservation folks and the boots on the ground Egypt folks, it is all ok with us, we can roll with it.  Found the ATM and now we have some local currency.  

Cairo is a bustling big city with lots going on as it is continuing to grow. We did learn the Africa Cup soccer games will be this Sunday and Egypt is in the final.  It will be interesting to explore a bit tomorrow as we are planning a good bit of the day at the Egyptian Museum. 

The Egyptian Museum is literally at the back door of this hotel and we could not ask for a better location.  

Anyway, we got in the room and are tired and ready to crash.