December 11, 2018
The Next phase of our life in retirement begins...on the other side of the world.

A part of the decision to retire last March was driven by Estelle and my desire to have complete freedom to be anywhere in the world for as long as we might wish. 

So, after several months of getting our house and affairs in order back in Nashville, today, we find ourselves in Cairo, Egypt (not Kentucky). This has been almost a lifelong dream. My first attempt to be here was in 1972 when I routed my trip back to south africa via Rome, Cairo, Nairobi, and Johannesburg. The hiccup came at the Rome airport when they said my Nairobi leg was cancelled, and since they only had one flight a week from Cairo to Nairobi, I had to give up Cairo and fly straight to Joberg. That was the trip when I landed, and Estelle met me, in Joberg I had bad stomach pain and within 24 hrs after that had my near-burst appendix removed. Which I decided all turned out for the best rather than having a burst appendix in Cairo.

The second attempt occurred about 15 years later in the 80's when I gave Estelle a Christmas present of a trip to Egypt. We got well down the planning road for that when we learned that Egypt was not allowing South Africans to travel to their country. That was the motivation to finally go ahead and get her American citizenship. (Good thing, too, Trump would never let her in today!)
So now, the third time is the charm. Here we are, we joined an Overseas Adventure trip for 14 days covering a big chunk of Egypt.

About 24 hrs after leaving Nashville, we arrived on time and all worked well for the trip to Cairo.

Things were a little weird when the leg from Rome to Cairo was loaded and we saw about 180 mostly middle eastern looking men and about 5 women, including flight attendants and Estelle, View from our seat in the back here. Clearly only one gender travels back and forth from Europe to Egypt.

Estelle and the driver from the airport, a Coptic guy, were exchanging the only Arab we know. Mahaba (hello), Shukran(thank you), and My fez is loose (phonetic) (I have no money).
At the Cairo Marriot, built on the site of an old palace, everything here was old at one time! Note the lonely lost snowman in the back courtyard.



We've learned on trips before to this part of the world, middle eastern men seem to think Estelle would make a good addition to their harem, so Estelle has already been hit on by Ayman, our waiter.





We were actually wondering what kind of Christmas we might experience in Egypt, but from indications like the store we saw wandering the streets of Cairo, it looks like they are ready for Santa here as well.

More later,

Comments

  1. S HumeDecember 13, 2018 at 6:09 PM

    Have fun, David and Estelle. Can't wait to hear about your experience in Egypt! Safe travels.

    ReplyDelete

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