Good-bye Istanbul, Hello Aswan

A final attempt to get everything to fit into our suitcases and we were waiting in the lobby for my dad to pick us up for our departure to Egypt.  Once again, he was not able to find his way to the hotel and parked some distance away.  Fortunately, one of the very nice hotel staff walked with him and drove back giving directions - saving our legs, suitcases and my mother's heels and patience.....

At the airport, we had time to make our farewells and passed through passport control in plenty of time to make our flight!

We arrived in Cairo airport a couple of hours later and waited to board our onward flight to Aswan.  While we waited, our confidence in Egyptian flight waivered as the view directly outside was that of a plane which had clearly had some inflight issues and would not be taking to the air ever again.  My mother's confidence further waned when she realised that we would be flying in a rather old south american made plane.

Cairo Airport

As our flight arrived early evening, we had planned to stay in a Nubian Village nearer the airport than downtown Aswan.  Our check in was rather casual with no one knowing where we were supposed to be and so we transversed up and down hills and stairs with suitcases in toe.  The buildings were traditional for the region and our room had it's own little courtyard and was decorated with carvings and paintings on the walls - making us feel we were really in a new part of the world.  The plumbing left much to be desired and like the powerpoints did not appear to be fully fitted.

Our beds were truely regional down to the lumpy matress and thin solid pillows - I was really in regional Egypt!