Getting Ready To Go

Our plane reservations are made and the four of us will be traveling at least part of the way together. Bonnie, Megan, and I will be leaving from Anchorage together and Melanie will be flying from Dubai to Cairo and back with us. Working on getting pictures to submit with the application for the Egyptian visas. My color printer for some reason no longer prints blue so had to go to Costco to get prints. I had the pictures cropped too much so will have to go back and do them over so they can be cut down to 2X2. Sometimes one wonders why they have such requirements for visas. We will be flying on Alaska Airlines and Emirates. The trip from Seattle to Dubai is 14 hours 45 minutes or so, a long time. But at least we don't have to be to the airport in Anchorage until about 9 AM the day we leave instead of taking the usual red-eye flight out. At least that part will be more pleasant. Much more to do in the next two and half months for the trip. Also need to get my retirement papers in order and turned in but that's another story for another day.

Day Two of Our Tour

We started the day with an "early" get up of 7AM. Everyone was actually up well be for 7 because of the jet lag. But that's the way it goes. John has been having wake-up call sent to the rooms and so far it has been effective. Everyone is enjoying themselves. Today was very full. I may be able to get some pictures put on the blog later as tonight I will have some time to get some edited and be able to send them to my daughter to post, with a little luck. The agenda today was The Emperor's Summer Palace, Beijing Zoo, Forbidden City,and Tienanmen Square.

The Summer Palace was quite amazing. I think the grounds are 85 hectares (you will have to look it up, huge). There is a man-made lake that takes up about 75% of the area. There are many building, living quarters, servant's quarters, store houses, and other building that are amazing. The architecture is what you would expect in China but much more amazing when you see it close up. The ceilings and the eves and supports are all intricately painted with scenes from all over China and scenes of myths and legends of China. It is truly amazing. The is a corridor that is over 1/2 mile long. It is outside but intricately decorate beyond what you could imagine. An island was built in the lake with a bridge the has a support of 17 arches, I right now don't remember the significance of 17 but I'm sure there is one. The island, the bridge, and other pieces make the image of a turtle which is a symbol of longevity in China.

From the Summer Palace we went to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. They have four young ones and several mature pandas in the zoo. The youngsters are housed together but separate from the adults. The adults were being fed while we were they so they were awake but not moving around very much. I think all had a good time the short while we were at the zoo.

From the zoo we headed for the Forbidden City. The way this has been constructed is amazing. There are actually many rings to the city. The inner most ring is the Forbidden City itself and it is further divided into more and more restrictive areas at least during the times of the emperor. There is also the inner city, Imperial City, outer city, and other portions with specific designations that you could enter or live in based on your rank in society and your position serving the emperor. The grounds for the Forbidden City are huge. There are many residences and office building as well as store houses. There were originally four gates into the city and it surrounded by a ten meter tall wall and a mote. Pretty formidable defenses for the time period. Over time the Forbidden City has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. Mostly the destruction has been from within through fire. The size of the area boggles the mind and what it must have been like when it was used is really beyond my imagination. This is one of those sites in the world that written descriptions, even pictures cannot begin to describe. You really have to experience it first hand.

We entered the city by the north gate and exited through the south gate right into Tienanmen Square. We all remember the student standing in front of a tank in the square some years ago. The square itself is really huge. It is bordered on one side by the Forbidden City, on another by the legislative hall, on the third by the National Museum and on the forth by Mao's memorial tomb. There is a monument in the center to all of the people responsible for modern China and also the national flag. The flag monument is guarded by soldiers that don't what you to take their pictures. I complied with their wishes.

I have been truly amazed with the attractions we have seen. They are really over whelming. I'm glad I told everyone I would to this blog because it will help each of us to better remember the trip and may encourage others to take the adventure as well.

More later, thanks for reading.

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.

Health Care Providers

So it turns out that our heath care provider has 237 preferred providers in the United Kingdom (UK) and 58 in Egypt. I actually find this quite incredible. These providers include hospitals, clinics, and individual physicians. Since we are going to spend all of our time in the UK in London I just checked out the availability there and came up with 64 preferred providers. In Egypt 45 of the 58 are in Cairo. There are 4 in Alexandria where we will be spending a couple of days. There are none in Port Said where we will be staying most of the time.

The health care provider provides an international website to get the information from and there a surprising number of countries listed. They also list collect numbers in the USA you can call if you are not able to find suitable care at the listed facilities. The collect numbers are not listed on the plan "card" that we carry so you should make note of that before you go. If you will have access to the internet while you are traveling you should be able to access the health care provider's website for additional information.

The site does say that in the event of an emergency get treatment and then call them to get authorization. If it's not an emergency call them first regardless of the circumstance if possible. There are claim forms available from our provider for international claims. You may have to pay all or part of the treatment up front depending on the arrangements with the facililty and the insurance provider. This is something you will have to take care of yourself because most plans will have their own particulars. Ours looks pretty good but won't know for sure until we have to use it and hopefully after the trip is done we still won't know how good it is.

Good luck with this part of the trip.

Medical Insurance

Bonnie is beginning to research what we will have to do for medical insurance if anything. We are sure that our current health care coverage will be lacking once we leave the country. Will have to find out what we need to do to supplement that coverage. Of course this will translate into another expense, just don't know how much yet.

Mt. Redoubt is still rumbling but there is no sign of an eruption, yet. It could rumble for a long time without any eruption or it could erupt any minute. One never knows and that includes the vulcanologists.