Off to Britain Again

Once again we will be flying across the pond to sunny London. Picked up pounds at my brother's credit union today so we are all set. Will be leaving from Chicago tomorrow evening. Overnight flight to the UK seems to be the way to go. Looking forward to seeing Melanie. Scheduled to go to the Globe twice while we are there. Looking forward to the trip. Hope I can sleep. Last time at the Bladow Hotel in London.

One great outcome of this trip will be that we once again become MVP on Alaska Airlines mileage program. Better seat selection and chances for upgrades. We will even be on our way to MVP Gold. With the trip to London, the flight back home, and a flight to Turkmenistan should make it but we will see.

Monday in London

Monday was a day of learning experiences. We bought tickets on the Big Red Bus. My suggestion is that you not do this if ever you go to London. I'm sure others would say that it was wonderful but it is an expensive way to get commentary as you move through the city. The travel time is extensive because you can't move from route to route as there is basically only one. You can't go direct to anywhere. My suggestion is that you take the tube or regular surface transport instead of the Big Red Bus or the other line that does the same unless you want the commentary.

We took the Big Red Bus to the Tower of London. This was a very nice place. We got to see the Crown Jewels but you won't unless you go there because photography is prohibited. The tower really is a moated fort with a keep inside. The moat is no longer in operation. The keep is no longer used except as a tourist attraction and is in the middle of renovation. There are still guards housed at the "fort" to guard the Crown Jewels which are kept in a vault that you walk through to view them. My personal opinion would be that if you have to bypass something the Tower of London would probably be something to take off you list. The Tower Bridge is a much better use of your time and money. St. Paul's Cathedral would have been much better I'm sure and we passed that by to go to the Tower, an error in judgment. Westminster Abbey was closed on Monday because it was Commonwealth Day and Queen Elizabeth and a host of dignitaries were attending a Commonwealth Day event there.

From the Tower we took a cruise back to Westminster Bridge to try to get to St. Paul's before they closed. We arrived with only about 25 minutes to see this huge structure. Decided we could probably come back in the morning but we never were able to make it.

I did get a couple of cool shots of Parliament and the clock tower known as Big Ben and will get them posted.

Itinerary

Seems like I have said I was going to post this forever ago. Well here it is.

Thursday, March 5 -- Leave Anchorage at 8:10 AM
Arrive Seattle 8:56 PM (don't ask it's a long story).

Friday, March 6 -- Leave Seattle at 7:45 AM

Saturday, March 7 -- Arrive London 6:30 AM (very tired I would guess).

There are no firm plans for our stay in London yet but I'm sure we will find something to do.

Tuesday, March 10 -- Depart London for Cairo
Arrive Cairo 8:45 PM.

Will be met by our host family in Cairo and transported to Port Said, about 2 hours north, and this will be our home base.

On Wednesday and Thursday we will spend our time getting to know one another and the Eshak family will be showing us around Port Said.

On Friday we will go to Alexandria. We will visit the Alexandria Library, Montaza, and other places yet to be named.

Saturday and Sunday we will spend in Cairo and Giza. We will take in the pyramids, ride a camel, go to the national museum, the Cairo tower, have a trip on or a dip in the Nile don't know which. And according to our guide many other things that will be a surprise.

On the 16th, Monday, we will go to Elfaioum and see Elsawaki and do other things.

On Tuesday we will return to Port Said and rest for a few hours before we go to Nardeen's favorite place in all of Egypt.

The 18th through the 20th we will spend in Sharm El Shik on the Red Sea. No schedule was given except that it would be a surprise for us. We really do like surprises and I know we will have a wonderful time with our hosts.

On the 21st we will return to Port Said and the rest of our time is open to do as we see fit. I'm sure there will be many places we would enjoy returning to and this will be our opportunity.

It is a busy schedule. We will try to keep you posted on all the developments along the way. More tomorrow.

London stuff

I contacted the Elizabeth Hotel about checking in at 6:30 AM. They say, "No problem as long as you pay for the room for the night before". We are going to pass on that. They will be happy to help us with theater tickets though. We are in the process of trying to decide what show(s) to go see while were are there. We also checked with them on tube passes for the 3 days we will be in London and we were told that the passes were only available at Victoria Station. Guess we will have to make our way to that station shortly after we arrive in London.

Will send off another email to them when we decide on shows and to get directions for riding the tube to the hotel from the airport. Hopefully they will be able to help us with other touristy stuff as well.

We have an itinerary for our time in Egypt and will be posting that shortly, maybe even this evening.

Weather update

The weather in London has been improving though I'm sure it can be pretty bad in March. In a browser key "weather in London" as a search argument or use this link http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/03772.html if you want to check on the weather like I do most every day. Hope the next two weeks improve even more than the last three have. At least the days are getting longer even over in the United Kingdom.

The weather in Cairo is about the same as I wrote last time. The night time temps have come up some but the daytime temps are about the same. I'm sure with the longer days they will be getting warner during the day as well. Checking on Cairo weather use http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/62366.html.

Weather in Anchorage is mid 30s F daytime and mid 20s F evenings so both locations are much better than here. It would be really nice to have and early "summer" on this trip and then come back to spring. That would really be fantastic.

We have gotten an itinerary from Nardeen so will post that here one of these days before we leave. We still need to sit down and decide what we are going to do in London for the three days we will be there. More on all of this later.

Weather

Seems the weather in London is going to require much different clothing than in Egypt. It has been cold there by English standards and though temperatures are slowly rising it's difficult to know what to pack. Obviously we are going to have to take clothing similar to what we wear in Alaska in March. Layers is probably the best way to go. Footwear is going to be a problem. Seems like it may be wet and sloppy in London and I'm sure it will be relatively dry in Egypt. Don't plan to take much winter or rainy day footwear. If we need it when we get to the UK we will just have to buy it. We will take an umbrella or two though, maybe. Depends on how much space we have to pack them. That may be another thing that we purchase when we arrive if need be.

The weather in Cairo is another matter. The temperatures are in the 70 F range but sometimes getting to the 30's F in the evening. Again layers will do the job. With a much dryer climate though footwear will be less of a problem. Time is growing short, less than three weeks until we begin the journey. There is still much, much more to do in preparation to our departure. Hope we are able to get it all done.