Ready to go June 30, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: pre-trip, rambling
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This is it. About 20 hours from now, I will board a plane for Amsterdam, and by Wednesday, I will be settling into life in Egypt.
Nervous? Not at all. Maybe I’m nervous that I’m forgetting something. Excited? Yeah, but I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. 20 hours is a long ways to go.
It’s been a busy weekend, too. The heat, coupled with an A/C-less car, has made errand-running a less than pleasant experience. But I better get used to it, right? It was about 100 degrees each day in Cairo this weekend.
Right now, I’m waiting for tip-off. It’s like one giant Blazers game, times a hundred for me.
Let me explain.
After starting line-ups are announced before each Blazers game, there is about a 2-3-minute window when the players are pulling their warm-ups off, stretching a bit, shaking hands and getting ready for tip-off. An energetic drum beat kicks in a bit.
That’s my favorite time of the game. In those few minutes, it’s like I know the next 2-2.5 hours will be like nothing else. I’m going to stand up, sit down, scream, high-five whoever’s around me, chant along, look at the big screen … in short, it’s a total experience. I’m in the moment for that whole time. In those final few minutes before the game gets underway, I smile, knowing that what’s to come will take precedence over everything else.
That’s what it’s like right now. Seven hours from now, I will take up for work. Six hours after that, I will leave work and not return for three weeks. I’m going to spend three weeks in Egypt. As in, the pyramids. Cairo. Alexandria. Abu Simbel.
It still sounds unreal. I never really expected the trip to happen; I waited for the other shoe to drop. And here it is, just hours before I head overseas for the first time in my life.
I can’t wait.
Addendum:
Even though I’m gone, I plan on updating this blog! I’m setting it up to update once a day, with our group’s whereabouts, happenings and goings-on that day.
And when I get back, you better believe I will have some great stories and photos to share. I hope you stick around for it.
And if you’d like, you can receive e-mail updates for this blog by clicking the “Subscribe” link in the sidebar on the right side of this page.
Thanks for reading.
I’m ready for my big adventure.
Excited? Not so much. June 26, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: jitters, pre-trip
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As the trip draws closer (less than one week to go!), people keep asking if I’m excited. It’s a pretty simple question, right? Not quite.
Of course I’m excited. I attended a two-hour informational session about the trip tonight, where I learned about what to pack, what to expect, what we’re doing and the like. I turned to another group member and said, “This all of a sudden feels real.” It was the first moment when the trip felt like it might actually happen. Up until this point, the trip has seemed as realistic as a trip to Mars. (This is coming from the guy who’s never been further east than Las Vegas.)
But I can’t get THAT excited. I’m too busy. There are too many things swirling around for me to really focus on the trip.
My dad is going through some medical issues. The situation at work is slightly tenuous. I’m still recovering from a cold. My car has been in the shop since Monday (and has been giving me fits since Thursday). Add it all up, and you have one stressed traveler.
The plan was to do shopping for the trip last weekend. Then, I came down with a cold. So that didn’t happen. Then, the car has been in the shop all week, limiting my mobility. I keep pushing my to-do list back, with the hopes that my car will be back soon. But I’m running out of time, so I have to figure something out this weekend.
Then there’s the last full day at work, which will come on Friday. That’s going to be busy. There’s always something special about the last work day before a vacation.
In 2006, I remember how excited I was for my San Francisco trip. I’d envisioned my final Friday as a pretty busy but relaxing day. I was so excited that I even have the perfect CD picked out to listen to on the way home. Of course, that day became insanely busy, so by the week ended, I limped out to my car, took a deep breath, yawned and immediately thought about the task at hand – packing and shopping for the last-minute stuff.
Maybe that’s the nature of travel. Maybe I won’t get excited about the trip until I’m on the airplane, on the way to Amsterdam.
In the mean time, I’m happy for the pockets of excitement that come at the most random times. Sometimes, I’ll catch myself flipping through my guidebook and thinking about seeing the pyramids up close. Other times, I think about the amazing temples before bed. And while I’m in traffic, my thoughts drift to the fact that I’ll be sleeping on a boat on the Nile River in a few short weeks. So while it’s not this non-stop thought process, I find a few minutes here and there to get excited.
And if I can get throug this 20-item to-do list, I just might let myself get excited more often. One step at a time, though.
Egypt Itinerary (Part 1) June 20, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: itinerary, pre-trip
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I’ve been a bad blogger this week, and for that, I apologize. There have been car troubles (three times this week), health troubles, a final to study for and a cold I’m fighting off. With everything that’s been thrown at me this week, blogging hasn’t been at the front of my mind.
Yet I come to you today with what’s likely the most interesting of my pre-trip blog entries: the itinerary!
Let’s get started.
I’m meeting the rest of Team Egypt at 1 p.m. June 30 for our 4:10 p.m. flight to Amsterdam. We will arrive in Amsterdam at 11 a.m. July 1. We depart for Cairo at 8:45 p.m. July 1, and we will arrive at 2 a.m. July 2 . if you’re following, that’s 1.5 days of travel, and the fun stuff hasn’t even begun at this point!
The fun begins on July 3. We meet at 6 p.m. that night to discuss the trip. Then, on July 4, we visit the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum.
On July 5, a bus takes us to Alexandria, where we’ll take in the sights and sounds of the city. That afternoon, we board a train for a 14-hour trip to Aswan.
On July 7, we are in Aswan, where we will visit its market and visit the Nubian Museum. That afternoon, we will take a felucca ride (that’s a traditional Nile River sailboat).
On July 8, we will take a one-hour flight to Abu Simbel, which was a temple built by Ramses II to say, “Hey, everyone who’s not Egyptian! See this temple? Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Don’t step, sucka.”
On July 9, we hop on a felucca once again and cruise up the Nile River. Along the way, we’ll visit Luxor (the city, not the casino) and Karnak, the biggest and most important ancient Egyptian temple.Then we’ll spend the night on the felucca, cruising the Nile.
On July 11, we’ll take a mini van through Thebes and to the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings. There are plenty of other fun things to do, so we’ll be here July 11-13.
On July 14, we’ll take a 1.5-hour flight from Luxor to Cairo. We’ll go to the Khan al-Khalili market that afternoon, and that evening, we’ll celebrate the tour. The next day, the tour ends.
But at that point, the trip is far from over. I will save that for Part 2, though. Provided I can get my car fixed, this cold kicked and my other health issues resolved, Part 2 should be up before I actually leave!
Movies and stuff June 16, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: mummies, pre-trip
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On Saturday, Team Egypt (of which I am a member) saw “Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs” on the OMNIMAX screen at OMSI. It’s been at least a decade since I saw a film on the gigantic OMNIMAX screen at OMSI.
Growing up, I was petrified of how immersing the experience was; for those unfamiliar with the OMNIMAX, it’s a curved screen that is (I think) twice the size of a typical movie screen. The rows are steep enough, so you really feel like the movie is happing all around you. You can look up or crane your neck either direction in order to catch all the action. While watching a space-related film on the OMNIMAX screen in junior high, I actually felt like I was in space with the astronauts on the screen. It’s that intense.
A few box office films find their way onto the OMNIMAX screen – the “Star Wars” prequels come to mind. But its real bread-and-butter are documentaries that take advantage of the massive, curved screen to make viewers feel like they’re there.
As fate would have it, the latest film to play on the OMNIMAX screen was about the mummification process and the importance of mummification to ancient Egyptians. The movie spanned thousands of years, covering the religious importance of mummification, the uncovering of several dozen tombs in the late 1880s and modern efforts to extract DNA from mummies.
Trying to rush through thousands of years of history in 45 minutes was a big mistake. Just as I became interested in one scene, the movie shifted gears and explored another aspect of mummification. If the film had picked one aspect of mummification — its importance to ancient Egyptians, for example — “Mummies” would have been a much more enjoyable, focused film. Instead, it tried to be too many things to too many people. It wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t a total wash, though. Christopher “Saruman” Lee narrated the film, making it all the more palatable. I would listen to that man read the McDonalds menu if given the chance. I learned a fair bit about ancient Egypt and witnessed some truly breathtaking sights, so it wasn’t a total wash.
In spite of the film’s laws, it psyched me up even more for the upcoming trip, which begins in 15 days.
(Photo by Seth Smoot.)
On safety June 11, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: pre-trip, safety
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Yes, that’s the itinerary for the trip. I’ll post more about it in the future. But for now, I wanted to address safety and that little blue circle in the upper right quadrant of the above map.
The first reaction I hear when I tell people I’m going to Egypt is always, “Cool!” The second reaction is always, “Don’t die!” I’ll try my best. Something tells me I’ll be okay. Here’s why.
See that blue circle in the above map? It’s centered on the Sinai Peninsula; the region’s economy is almost entirely driven by tourism. There are a ton of resorts on the Sinai Peninsula, and the corral reefs are, from what I’ve read, pretty stellar.
That’s also where most of the terrorist attacks happen in Egypt, according to the U.S. Government. There have been three bombings since 2004 on the Sinai Peninsula. They don’t appeared to be targeted at Americans, specifically, but Americans been killed. If we were going there, I might think twice about safety. But we’re not, so I’m not.
But Cairo, where the group tour begins and ends, isn’t without problems. According to the site linked above:
In addition to the Sinai attacks, there were three terror attacks on crowded tourist destinations in Cairo in April 2005. In one, a lone suicide bomber killed three foreigners, including an American, at Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili Market. Three Americans were seriously injured in this incident.
Lest anyone worries, look at the date: April 2005. Knowing that, and looking at the tour itinerary above, I think we’re pretty safe. The first 13-15 days are part of a guided tour, so I imagine they know what’s up and will keep us safe.
An introduction … June 9, 2008
Posted by ducksflytogether in Uncategorized.Tags: introduction, pre-trip
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So here it is.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard that I’m going to Egypt later this month with a group from school. I’ll leave Vancouver around 4 p.m. June 30 and will return at about noon July 21. In between, I will spend three weeks traversing Egypt via train, plane, camel, boat and (presumably) a car or two along the way. It’s going to be a wild ride.
The last week or so, the first thoughts of, “Oh my God, I’m going to Egypt!” have crept into my head. This isn’t just my first trip overseas; this is my first trip east of Las Vegas! I don’t think I could have picked a wilder destination for my first intercontinental vacation.
So I’m chronicling the whole thing here. And if you’d like, you’re more than welcome to sit in on this crazy process. But what will you actually read, if you so choose to keep up on the proceedings?
Before the trip, I’ll post a rough outline of where I’m going. I have a few other surprises in store.
Then there’s the trip itself. While I’m gone, I’m going to set this blog up to post “Where is Matt today?” updates. Even if I’m nowhere near a computer, this blog will still be updated every day.
Of course, when I get back, I’m going to post recaps and photos.
22 days and counting!
