Vehement Solutions for Trivial Problems: May 2025

Karnak Temple

Overview

A two-week "Pharaohs and Pyramids" trip through Viking Cruises. We booked 5 months in advance when stumbling upon a great deal for these dates, perhaps in part because it was over Easter.

Highs

The sheer quantity, age and uniqueness of the temples, tombs and artifacts we were able to see- there is no place like it on Earth
The superior planning, logistics, service, attention to detail and meals associated with the Viking experience. We were surprised by how fast the waiters learned our names and preferences. For example, the waiters kept tinkering with how they made ice coffee to get it just how Andy liked it (which is impressive for those of us who know his coffee standards)
Egyptian food
The guides were tremendous
Fellow passengers were friendly and easy to get along with
The Egyptians we interacted with were so kind and friendly. Kids would love to approach us on the streets and try their English
The Cairo hotels were lovely. Our Viking room/suite was very comfortable and made up for us every day by Shady

Andy's additions:

The Cairo Bazaar and haggling for the lantern
Karnak and Luxor temples, Valley of the Kings

Lows

Getting sick/ bad cases of flu. Andy was sad to miss Abu Simbel
Multiple flights, delays, missed flight, LONG travel days
The "self appointed" tour guide who tried to pick us up several times in the Coptic Quarter and wouldn't go away until we paid him to leave
Regularly navigating through very persistent and in-your-face street vendors

Observations

We were astonished by the size and density of Cairo at 22M people
We don't have a lot of experience with dessert areas- they have a much different look at feel. Sand gets everywhere
The Nile is everything. 95% of the Egyptian population lives within a few miles of it
We saw a lot of variation in how Egyptians dressed- tolerance for individuality
Alcohol is rarely seen except in Western hotels. There are a lot of businesses selling exotic juice blends
Driving is crazy- there are no lanes, just herds of vehicles. Traffic is terrible given the density. There are no left turns, you have to drive well out of your way to a designated U-turn location. Having the Nile be at the center of everything means you frequently need to travel to the next bridge to get across the river. We were immensely grateful for our taxi and bus drivers
A significant percent of Egypt's GDP is from tourism, and the country takes security very seriously. We couldn't go anywhere without going through security checks

Itinerary

Date	Location	Highlights	Notes
4-9 & 4-10		3 flights	The 2^nd flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was turned back over the Atlantic to land at Boston so an ill passenger could deplane. We missed our connection and were rebooked by Viking for a later flight. The whole thing took 38 hours.
4-11	Cairo- this day on our own	· Museum of Islamic Art · Khan el-Khalili Bazaar · Lunch and Turkish coffee at Naguib Mahfouz	Andy honing his negotiation skills for a punched brass lantern
4-12	Cairo	· Salah El-Din Citadel, Mosque of Muhammad Ali · Egyptian Museum (King Tut’s sarcophagus and mask) · Taxi to Coptic Quarter (on our own)	· First day of Viking Itinerary · We were pretty jet-lagged · Andy fixed me a serving of ful medames (fava beans for breakfast) and made the Egyptian at the next table bust out laughing. The guy called a server over and asked her to make a proper serving for me · The taxi driver was so excited to have us he waited 2.5 hours for us to tour the Coptic Quarter so he could drive us back for another $10 USD
4-13	Giza	· Saqqara, step Pyramid of Djoser (c. 2600 BC) · Stooped climb down into Teti pyramid · Pyramids of Giza (c.2600-2500 BC), camel ride, sphynx	Andy was excited about Saqqara after learning about it in his art history course. The pyramids were just as majestic as you’d imagine. The sphynx is smaller than you think
4-14	Flight to Luxor	· 5 AM wakeup call for an 8:15 chartered prop plane flight to Luxor on Petroleum Air · Upon landing, the bus took us directly to Karnak temple (2055 BC-100 AD) · Onboard and first lunch on our ship, the Viking Ra · The two of us left the ship after lunch to go back to Karnak on our own, which was across the street from where we were docked · Back on the bus at 5:30 to see Luxor Temple (1392-1213 BC) at sunset	· The hotel manager saw me looking longingly at the halva during breakfast and sent a big hunk with me in a to-go box · The ship is lovely. Only 52 guests. The restaurant and service are phenomenal · Karnak and Luxor are mind-blowing in scale. How did they possibly build such things?
4-15	Ship journey Luxor to Qena to Luxor	· Relaxing morning on ship · Afternoon excursion to Dendera temple from Ptolemaic period (c. 54 BC)	Dendera is a younger temple- the builders maintained a lot of the same architecture, but the carvings had a slightly different, more realistic style
4-16	Valley of Kings, Luxor. Ship journey to Esna in evening	· Viking gave us 5 tickets to tour 5 tombs, and Hani our guide recommended these 5: o Rameses IV o Tutankhamun o Rameses III o Rameses IX o Sety I · Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (c. 1470 BC) · Howard Carter House · Colossi of Memnon (1350 BC)	After seeing the Valley of the Kings on so many National Geographic shows, it’s amazing being there. It was hot, 90F in the morning, and it was hotter in the tombs. The tombs were so vast, and so ornate. Our guide said we were fortunate that it wasn’t completely packed
4-17	Esna	8 AM tour of Esna Temple (40-250 AD) then an afternoon on ship: · Falafel making demonstration · Tea party · Hieroglyphics class · Lecture on ancient Egyptian medicine	Dinner on the ship was Egyptian food, served family style. The food was tremendous, and we gorged ourselves. Many passengers dressed in Egyptian embroidered shirts or galabiya they bought in the “valley of the vultures” which is what our guides called the areas near temples/ attractions
4-18	Aswan, Flight to Abu Simbel	· Aswan Dam · Flight to Abu Simbel (1279-1213 BC)	Andy developed a fever overnight and had to miss our pre-paid excursion to Abu Simbel. (Many on the ship were starting to get sick, we bought some antibiotics at a pharmacy that helped another passenger but it didn’t do much good)
4-19	Aswan area, then Kom Ombo, then docked at Edfu for the night	· 50 min river boat ride to a Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile, visited a Nubian family home and held their pet alligator · Visited a Nubian school and sat with elementary kids. They sang us a song and the alphabet and we sang them Itsy Bitsy Spider · Bus and then another boat ride to Philae temple (282–145 BC) · Papyrus store · Back on boat at 1:30 for lunch, then the boat traveled to Kom Ombo Temple (180-30 BC), within walking distance of the ship	Andy still wasn’t feeling well so missed this 5-hour excursion
4-20	Edfu, then ship journeyed back to Luxor	Morning excursion to Edfu temple (237- 57 BC), one of the best preserved, then spent the rest of the day relaxing on ship
4-21	Flight Luxor to Cairo	Said goodbye to the ship at 7:45 AM and flew to Cairo, ate lunch at the Intercontinental hotel, then departed for GEM museum. Final group dinner back at the Intercontinental and explored the huge connected City Stars Mall. Rested in hotel room for a bit until shuttle came at 11 PM to get us to airport	The GEM museum is majestic, and not formally open yet. Viking must have pulled some strings to get tickets
4-22 & 23		Delta flight 6 hours delayed from Paris to MSP, we were both feeling sick and exhausted. Another grueling 30+ hour travel “day”	Tested positive for Influenza A the day after returning and was sick for 2 full weeks