Harris World Tour

Friday, January 11th, 2019 Today we woke without a plan but I still rushed everyone to go downstairs for breakfast because I understood last night that breakfast was served until 8:00. We made it to the dining room half an hour later and the deacon was waiting for us. He told us that he had been waiting for an hour to give us a tour. I apologized for the misunderstanding but I told him that I hadn’t contacted him because we still didn’t know if we wanted to take the tour. I don’t like the pressure but the truth is that if we are only staying here for 3 nights, we needed to get started. I told him that we would take the tour but to give us time to finish breakfast first. No one was feeling great. Gregory was still recovering and now Sunshine had a sore throat but we decided to go for it. We only wanted to visit few churches but the deacon told us that it would be $50 each, whether you visit one or all the churches. Daniel was not happy about it but I made everyone see that if we had co...

Thursday, January 10th, 2019. I don’t do well without sleep. I was so tired from that late night flight that I couldn't even grasp the ide a that we were in Ethiopia where they speak another language, use another currency, another alphabet, another EVERYTHING! Our mobile phones don't work here, either. We tried to get a SIM card but they didn’t sell them at the airport. Luckily, they did have free, high speed Internet.  We bought overpriced water and sat in the waiting area for our 11:00am connecting flight. It was going to be a painful wait but while we were sitting, a lady asked us where we were going. When we told her Lalibela, so she directed us to the other terminal. We also stopped to ask if our luggage was going to be sent to our final destination. It was!  We took a shuttle to the other (older, domestic) terminal where we had to go through customs. We had our online visa and the process was slow because the officer had to type the information into his computer, s...

Wednesday, January 9th, 2019. Today we got up late and part of me wanted to stay another day home but at the same time, I wanted to help Gregory find enough malaria medicine. We had a late breakfast and we left the apartment by noon. We took an Uber in search of pharmacies. We found three more and bought all the boxes they had. Now we are all set for our time in Ethiopia and Tanzania, our next destinations. We made to the 1:00 movie. The kids wanted to watch Ralph Breaks The Internet . What an experience! The movie theater was full of children under 10 years old -- with very few chaperones. They were very loud, talking on their phones, playing games, and chatting through the whole movie! At first, I tried to enjoy and just observe their behavior, but after a while, it got annoying. I turned around and asked the girls behind to please be quiet because we needed to listen to understand. I don’t think they understood a word I said, they shushed for a few minutes but then it just got very ...

Tuesday, January 8th, 2019. Got up at 10:00am, had a late breakfast, did laundry, and caught up on my blog. Gregory and Daniel walked to the mall to get butter and eggs to bake brownies. They went also looking for malaria medicine. I’m starting to get a little anxious because we are supposed to start taking it tomorrow! I hope they find it. Now it's time to start lunch. I guess you never really have time to do what you want to do. You just have to make the time so today, I plan to read after lunch instead of going to the movies. Sunshine and I stayed home and watched the only movie  we could find  in English: Tango And Cash . Not the kind of movie I would normally watch. We enjoyed resting in our peaceful apartment. Gregory and Daniel went to the movies to watch Spiderman and had Coldstone ice cream. Things they never do at home, they do them in Cairo. At this point, I think we are all done with Egypt and we are just waiting for our departure date. Gregory texted me to let me...

Monday, January 7th, 2019 We got up late and got ready to go visit my mom at her hotel. I invited them to our apartment but I was sure she just wanted to relax in her hotel. I can’t imagine them taking an Uber and getting here. It takes a good 45 minutes. We are very far away from everything but we are in an area called New Cairo and it is modern, clean, and looks like a decent civilization. Not that the rest of Cairo isn’t but it is very overwhelming to see the poor people, the trash, the noise, the smells and more… [ Gregory's note: what she means is that everything here looks more Western, new, and rich.] It is hard to describe Cairo and I will do it maybe later when I’m not emotional and can be more objective, but for now, let me just say that I’m happy to be in the modern side of Cairo. I told Gregory that the children and I didn’t want to do anything for the 3 days we have left in Cairo. Sounds like a waste being so close to Memphis and Alexandria or even going back to the E...

Sunday, January 6th, 2019. Gregory and I got up early, maybe because it's a travel day and I'm always nervous. Nothing to worry about: we had arranged a ride to the airport before we even arrived. We got ready, had breakfast, and Gregory went to look for food for the plane. He found fresh chicken and falafel sandwiches but my mom still preferred her homemade sandwich. We left our beautiful apartment (with a view of the Nile and the Luxor temple) at 11:30 and headed to the airport which is kind of far away (we had to cross the bridge in the car, which adds at least 20 minutes to any drive). We made it to the airport and we checked our luggage. We went through 2 or 3 security checks and for the first time since we left home, Sunshine and I had to go to the secondary inspection with our backpacks. We both had a small Swiss Army knife that no one had bothered to notice before. I honestly didn’t even know I had it there. I was ready to leave it with the guard but Gregory went to che...

Saturday, January 5th, 2019 I’m finally sleeping well and it is making a huge difference in my health and the way I feel. We woke up late, had breakfast, and then planned our day. Nobody wanted to do anything except my mom. She is so easy going and said she could just go downstairs and look at the 2 or 3 stores of clothes and souvenirs near our home. I offered to take her to the Luxor museum and she got excited. I kind of wanted to be lazy and stay home but I also wanted to enjoy my mom. I’m glad we chose to go to the museum because it was the best day ever! Around noon, my mom, Ali, and I headed to the dock to catch a boat. First, they had to stop at the store and look at some dresses that they have seen every day. This time, my mom tried it on and said to the girl that she would buy the dress if they fix it and of course they said: “no problem.” which seems to be the favorite phrase of all Egyptians. I rushed them and then walked to get a boat. It was nice and easy to get a private b...

Friday, January 4th, 2019 We took it easy this morning, had a late breakfast and then, around 1:30pm we walked to the dock to get a boat to the east bank. I always get anxious when Gregory has to negotiate with the Egyptians because it can take a while and I just wanted everything to go super smooth while my mom was with us.  Sure enough, many people approached us with offers and Gregory started to say no. We almost got in a boat, but because they didn't offer the price that Gregory wanted, he said goodbye to that boat driver. I was worried (of course) that it was getting late to meet with our guide at 2:00pm. Finally, another man with a boat came and agreed to take us for 50 EGP which is about $2.50. Everything went smoothly until the guy parked the boat on the other side of the river, where the dock was closed. Instead, he had to stop at an embankment, with rocks and dirt.  My mom had warned me that she wasn’t going to get off the boat on a very narrow plank of wood lik...

Thursday, January 3rd, 2019. Today we got up early because we started our tour at 8:30am. We hired a private tour guide with a van for all of us. Our first stop was the Valley of the Kings. A normal ticket entitles you to visit three tombs, you choose which 3 to visit -- except King Tut's tomb which costs an extra 250LE, and the tomb is the smallest and contains nothing but his mummy since everything has been moved to the museum in Cairo. Our guide's name was Osama and he seemed professional but not as enthusiastic as Mo, who was our guide in Cairo. Mo referred us to Osama. He gave information with his very strong accent which at first seemed easy to understand but after a while, I think he lost some of his students. I’m not sure if you want to hear about the tombs and the Egyptian beliefs as we heard and more or less understood them. I mean for that, you can always look it up on the internet or watch a documentary.  In any case, we admired the impressive tombs in the Valle...

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019. Today I woke up with a cold and decided to stay home to recover. Thankfully we didn’t have anything planned for the day. After a late breakfast, my mom dyed my hair, finally. Yes, I haven’t done it in a while and the gray hair was starting to show big time. My mom also brought me a cream for my face telling me that I really need it. I guess the hardship of the trip is starting to show. [ Gregory's note: or maybe -- oh, never mind.] Everyone went to the bazaar and Daniel and I stayed home. I wanted to get so many things done but instead, I slept all afternoon. I guess I needed it. When I woke up, the light was out so Daniel came to snuggle with me. I’m truly enjoying my kiddos. Everyone came back after dinner with pizza for us. It was a good day.  Gregory's addition: For those of us that didn't stay home, the day went like this: Uma and Ali wanted -- no, needed -- to shop. So I called Ahmed, who offered to take us to the tourist bazaar and t...

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019 Today we took it easy in the morning. After a late breakfast, we walked to take the ferry across the Nile. Our apartment and a few other guest houses are on the west bank, but most of the city (all the hotels and commerce) is on the east bank. At first, we were going to take the public ferry but then another guy offered us to take us for the same price, so we agreed. Other tourists came and got on our boat. They were upset at the boy who was trying to convince them to go in another boat and pay him. I have to say, it's annoying the number of people that hassle you trying to sell anything! We made it to the other side and immediately we saw the temple, right next to the road along the river, just like that, like was just a shop! We walked around trying to find the entrance but we ended up at the mosque entrance which we found out was built into the temple. It was prayer time so we couldn’t go in to visit the mosque. The entrance to the temple was ...

Monday, December 31st, 2019 We woke up and the electricity hadn’t come back from last night which meant no heat. The two bathrooms were dark so I hate to confess that we skipped the shower. We had breakfast and got ready to go. We were so ready to get out of that noisy place. I was honestly happy to get out of Cairo. I have not liked it or enjoyed at all. It has been really hard for me and honestly what’s keeping me going is the fact that I will get to see my mom. Our host had given us the chance to check out at 1:00pm. At first, we wanted to leave at 3:00pm, the same time my mom and niece were taking their shuttle to the airport, but due to the circumstances, we were ready to leave the house at noon. We waited for Gimmy, our host, who came running and asked me why didn’t I text him about the electricity. I told him that we didn’t want to bother him especially knowing that there was nothing he could have done the night before. The electricity was out for the whole area! We thanked him,...