Apr 19 - Sick Bay continues plus Luxor

By Thursday morning, I could sit up in bed, but was still completely wrung out. Vitals all stable. Progress. At the 8:00 p.m. check up, I was actually sitting up on the side of the bed. I was practising for a full day of sitting up in airline terminals and on planes. Dr. Ahmed was mightly impressed. What a vision of beauty I must have been with my sweat-encrusted three-day old bed head and now sporting Doug's oversized t-shirt from a local microbrewery. Dr. Ahmed gave me the okay to travel. Now, being medically cleared for traveling and actually feeling like traveling are two very different things. I was still rather light headed and had no energy, but the lure of my own bed was very strong. Along with a few prayers and a firm focus on home, we packed up with a survival kit for me and set off, I in a wheelchair to preserve what little strength I had.

The driver and Walid met us in the lobby and ushered us into a minivan. It took about an hour to get to the airport. Cairo is a weird place on a Thursday night (like our Friday night) - discos blaring music, huge neon billboards lit up, donkey cards in the noisy, loud traffic and women begging with their children around them on the road medians. Sad. Sad. Sad.

Walid ushered us into the airport. Walid, because he is a licensed tour guide, was allowed to come past security with us. Even though the check-in desk had just opened, the lineup for economy class was already a mile long. The lineup at First Class was very short. Walid asked if we were flying First Class. “Only in my dreams,” I replied. So, Walid strode up to the First Class check-in desk, explained the situation (not in all its gory details) and asked if we could check in via the First Class desk. I might have been able to stand long enough in that short line. The Emirates airline agent, bless his heart, actually allowed us to jump to the head of the First Class queue. We were through booking in one minute flat. That’s probably the closest we’ll ever get to First Class. What a blessing to have Walid as our shepherd!

We walked slowly to our gate - getting a wheel chair in that airport is nigh on impossible. Our attention to mobility issues in Canada and the US is far superior. I wasn't feeling any worse, and my gastrointestinal system seemed just stable enough to take a stab at this trip. Our backup plan was to assess my condition in Dubai and if I felt I couldn't survive the flight to Toronto, that we would stay with Doug's sister and brother-in-law for a few days.

So, while all of this was going on, the most of the rest of the group headed to Luxor. Paul and Cathy had been there last year as part of a cruise and opted to spend the day around the lovely pool at the hotel. Side bar - Paul ripped his leg open when he got attacked by a lounge chair on Monday night and received treatment and one of those fancy IV ports from Dr. Ahmed. We can both attest to Dr. Ahmed's wonderful manner.

The group had a 3:00 a.m. wakeup call for their 7:00 a.m. flight (about one hour to Luxor in the south of Egypt). We had cancelled our wake up call, but got it any way - just when I had finally fallen asleep. That was about the only bobble made by the hotel.

As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.

You can see some cool pictures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor

It was a long day for the group. They were returning from the airport when we were heading for the airport about 9:30 p.m. on a day that started at 3:00 a.m. My one regret is that we didn't have a chance to say a proper good bye to our fellow travellers. They were all so concerned whenever they saw Doug on Wednesday and sent their best wishes for my speedy recovery.Read more