Welcome to the Brugman tour of Egypt and Jordan!
From our house to the Fairmont Nile Hotel was 26 hours. Nevertheless, with all the napping and the last leg without movies, we were fairly fresh when we emerged to meet Mohammad, our driver. He took us to the front of every line. What a dream. But there was one thing he couldn’t fix when the carousel came up one bag short. Not again!! I checked my phone for the location of my AirTag. Sure enough, my bag was still in London, at the very familiar storage facility in Hounslow that held my golf clubs for two days last August. With Mohammad’s help, we registered the loss at the luggage desk and took their word that they would deliver it tomorrow.
The Fairmont Nile is absolutely beautiful and still completely decorated for Christmas, as was Heathrow Airport. This is a lovely time of year to travel. There are Christmas trees and nutcrackers everywhere, crystal stars and snowflakes, and individual roses in bud vases suspended from the ceiling all the way down. And there is live music every night. Lovely, lovely hotel. But it was really time to sleep.
At bedtime, I forgot that Egyptian water is not safe to drink. Rumor is that it’s a little better than the water in Mexico, but why chance it? I brought a bottle of Cipro, just in case. The room came loaded with bottles of water, but since I had no luggage, I was more concerned with the amenities and was happy to see there was a toothbrush in the bathroom. Using the faucet, I set right out to brush my teeth, forgetting the danger. I loaded the wooden brush-up and went into automatic. Did I wet the brush first? It’s all a blur, but I woke up and didn’t swallow. Saved? Not sure, but 12 hours later, I’m feeling fine, so far… The Grand Egyptian Museum:
It was the Grand Opening of the GEM that first inspired this trip. The opening has been delayed and delayed, and delayed again, but the lobby and grand staircase (which are open) are absolutely worth a visit. Driving there was quite an experience, however! Dusty roads that look like a construction site, people crossing in front of speeding cars, men wearing galabiya, or robes and turbans, burkas with full veil, head scarves, or regular work clothes as dust swirls up from the road. The sounds are of occasional toots from cars as everyone drives anywhere, right on the bumper, coming up from the right, the left, scooting past. You could share a cigarette out the window; we were so close. And every car is covered in dust and full of small dents (no wonder)— a body shop’s dream.
At the museum, we discovered that no professional cameras were allowed in the museum, so John had to trust the driver and leave his whole bag in the car. This might be the case at several of the locations we visit. Wallid, our private guide, was fabulous, however. We’ve been studying Egyptian history and hieroglyphics, and yet, Wallid could decipher more than we knew— 3,000 years of history and the grammar to match it.
And climbing the grand staircase of statues was like climbing a pyramid with a view of the Giza pyramids outside the Grand Window. (Here, everything is Grand!) Even though the galleries are not yet open, we are completely satisfied with our first dose of ancient Egypt and Wallid’s excellent narration. (Viator contact.)
Back at the hotel, I checked my luggage’s AirTag location. It seems to be somewhere over the Mediterranean! Hooray!! Inshallah bukra malesh (God willing, tomorrow– maybe.)
