Fitting In and Standing Out

    The first day of the tour is in Cairo, and it's obvious the tour wizards want to cut right to the chase. No appetizers for this bunch, stuff your face with the main course. 6:45am: off to the Great Pyramids on the Giza plateau. Our early start beats the heat and the crowds. Both great things to avoid.

    Last night before dinner, I met my companions. All roughly the same generation. Today when we were all clicking away photos of the Sphinx, I commented, "I think we all remember the days when you had 36 photos on a roll of film, so you couldn't waste any." Greg from New Zealand snapped back, "So you're implying we all remember that era?" And we shared a communal laugh.

    Our tour leader for every step of the journey is a jolly, barrel-chested Egyptian man named Hany, and I can tell we're in good hands. Over dinner, he was proud to tell us how he won Tour Leader of the Year of all the regions for Intrepid Travel (based on customer feedback, a very big deal). He's a Cairo man with a wife, two kids, and his mom in town. He can't wait to bring his kids on a tour to show what Daddy does for a living.

    In the group, we have two married couples, three solo women, and me. Greg and JoAnn from New Zealand, Peter and Robin from southern Sydney, Meg from northern Sydney, Julie from Melbourne, and Jenny from Ireland. [Edited upon being schooled by my southern-hemisphere compatratiots:] Four Aussies, two Kiwis, one Irish, and one big dumb American.

    They're all lovely people, easy to walk and chat with any of them as we traipse about the uneven landscape. Everyone's happy to take a photo of me when I ask. We all watch for one another as we follow Hany across perilous roadways and through thickening crowds.

    Of course I overthink what they might think about me, because that's what I do best. I try not to be the know-it-all or the complainer. I try not to be the loud-mouthed Yank.

    If anything, I may be turning into a bit of comic relief. This afternoon, we entered the compound for the (old) Egyptian Museum. Every public place has a heavy security presence, where you run your bag on a short conveyor belt through an x-ray machine. I happened to have forgotten about the small Swiss army knife in my bag, which a uniformed security guard eyeballed and questioned me on it. There was a bit of a tense scene until Hany appeared and explained the situation to me (and to the three security guys who were suddenly on all sides of me).

    No big deal, I just had to follow one of them to the security hut around the side of the building to "turn in" my deadly weapon. Maybe a two-minute delay. I returned to the group, and before they could razz me for causing trouble, I cut them off with, "There's always one in every group!"

    Tomorrow we board a commercial flight for Aswan in the south, and Hany warned us about no liquids on carry-on, just in case the security people are in a bad mood that day. I chimed in, "And, after all, you are traveling with me."

    A quiet evening for the bunch, when I can sift through the 200+ photos I took today (no 36-pic limit ever again!). Tomorrow we meet at 2:45am for a 4:45 flight to Aswan. I've already promised the Swiss army knife will be in my checked bag.