From Here To Mediocrity

     I've wanted to write about my tour group's last full day in Egypt, but I haven't found the time. Currently I'm back in the cavernous Istanbul airport, trying to return home, only to find my flight to Washington has been delayed almost three hours. Plenty of time now.      On Friday, we flew from Luxor north to Cairo to start our final day. We all looked forward to the cooler Mediterranean temperatures, but I was sad that I was going to be the first to leave the party later that night. The agenda for the day felt like Intrepid wanted to wrap up our experience in a unique and celebratory way, part house party, part final exam. Overall, I felt like it was a way to connect Egypt's glorious and extensive past with its friendly and inviting present.  All week, we investigated and gazed upon the country's ancient history. Friday could be considered "Egypt Today."      To start, with Hany's careful oversight, we were all pros getting throug...

     In the 1990s, a popular show called "The X-Files" followed the paranormal adventures of Scully and Mulder, a pair of mismatched FBI agents. They had shadowy associates to help them solve the unsolvable. One group was three IT/conspiracy nerds who called themselves The Lone Gunmen (after the JFK conspiracy that Oswald couldn't have been the only shooter). The irony, of course, is that if you're a group of three, how can you possibly be "lone"?      When I described my travel plans to friends, I said that in Egypt, I would be in a tour group of "solo travelers." A few times, I got a response similar to The Lone Gunmen. You're a group of solos? Wouldn't that be a chorus?      Yes, indeed.      I certainly wasn't brave, or foolhardy, enough to attempt to get through the terra incognita completely on my own wits. Too vast, too different, too alien (to me). So, for nine days, I traveled solo with a band of seven others. Life-lon...

     An apology to you, Dear Reader, is in order.      When I was working with Tracy on my book, she confided to me early that she didn't care for the cliche "cancer journey." In her opinion, it was overused, a bit stale these days. Moreover, a journey should be joyful, exciting, a time to explore and meet and taste and indulge. Cancer, obviously, was far from any of those delightful treats.      I hesitate to call this trip a journey, but for the opposite reason. Yes, it has been a joyful, exciting time full of new experiences that tease all my senses. But a journey implies a linear travel, like the animated maps in an Indiana Jones movie. A bright red line drawn from Luxor to Cairo to Istanbul to terminate with a flourish on a tiny island in the Mediterranean: Malta.      This experience for me has morphed from a simple red line to a 3-D matrix of moments and images and flavors (and belly laughs and gasps of silent wonder ("J...

     Our final night aboard the Amwaj-Livingstone, we were treated to a belly-dancing demonstration followed by a whirling dervish. A dervish is a devout Muslim practitioner who, as part of his prayer ritual, may break out in energetic spinning as part of his worship.      I showed up late to the party in the lounge, but as I joined my group, the young man started his performance. He wore a bright red costume with a broad skirt of many colored panels. Accompanying him were two percussionists and a synthesizer keyboard. The music started fast-tempoed and just picked up speed, as if on a dare. The dancer spun on his bootheels for a solid 20 minutes, doing juggling and balancing tricks with five, soft tambourine-sized discs.       Soon the lights dimmed and his whirling skirt lit up with dozens of tiny LED lights in the fabric. Then his skirt floated up like a flying saucer, up to his head, revealing another colorful skirt underneath, and h...

     I've grown to appreciate Intrepid Travel's model for a faraway tour. Say they plan a week at Niagara Falls. Of course we'll show you every aspect of the river: Upper Rapids, Three Sisters Island, Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, Terrapin Point, Bridal Veil Falls, Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, American side, Canadian side, Whirlpool Park, all the way to Lake Erie in Youngstown. You'll see every inch, no worries.      But while you're here, we may throw in a little Underground Railroad history, some Fort Niagara, a little hydroelectric lesson at the Robert Moses Power Project---local interest sites off the beaten path. We're more than just the Falls, okay? Intrepid, I think, plans its tours with a similar wide net.      Over the past few days, our group has toured some fascinating workshops. We learned about the essence of oils (aha! "essential oils" finally make sense now!) in a shop in Aswan where a young lady told us about their ...

I t's the posh, posh travelin' life The travelin' life for me. First cabin and captain's table Real company. Pardon the dust of the upper crust (And fetch us a cup of tea) For it's port out, starboard home Posh with a capital P, O, S, H: Posh.      Today may deserve two entries: one before we arrive at Luxor (around 3pm), and one after we finish our daily excursions.       A luxury river cruise up the Nile is exactly as posh as it sounds. It's not a large thing, and that's what I love. Three floors of guestrooms with every amenity you'd desire. Full bathroom, laundry service, room service, housekeeping,  gift shop, a massage (might want to pass on that, warns Hany), gourmet buffets three times a day in a spacious dining room with our assigned table for nine. Reception area with a courteous front desk and an enormous chandelier hanging from the second floor ceiling. A lounge with a full bar and small dance floor, a sun deck with another bar and ple...

     Today was a day just to cruise, in every glorious sense of the word. Being new to riverboat time, I was unaware that when the ship is not in port, your activity options are limited to relaxing, eating, and enjoying other people's company. Not a lot to report today, because I practiced the fine art of cruising like a rookie determined to perfect every aspect of his new profession.      In the morning, Julie from Melbourne and I taxied out of town to see the Great Dam at Aswan. Recalling trips to see the Niagara Hydroelectric Plant as a kid, I was curious about this massive project in the southern Egyptian desert. It was a short expedition, but interesting to see and read about the transformation of the Nile flood plain and area around the project. Basically, before the government of Egypt could dam the river and create the enormous Lake Nasser, they told millions of peasant farmers to move out of the area. Move it or become part of the lake. Of course, ...