Closing Thoughts

Some closing thoughts, because why not?

We indeed had the trip of a lifetime. It met or exceeded every expectation.

The positives:
We saw amazing things every day, treasures of civilization, and we are so grateful.

In Egypt and Jordan, the people we met were warm and welcoming.

I never felt threatened or afraid. Egypt’s high level of security took some getting used to…dogs sniff every car that enters hotel properties, bags pass through X-ray machines, and you get used to watching men with big machine guns walking around.

Our guides were phenomenal and their passion and knowledge truly enhanced our experience. Our heads are exploding with new facts.

Being guided through the airports by A+R staff was enormously helpful, especially this morning when a few things that we bought in Egypt raised suspicion (damn that little statue of Horus)and required an unpacking of our bag and alternate screenings by men who spoke no English.

The cautions (and we expected a lot of this…)

In Egypt, you cannot walk a block when you enter or exit any tourist location without someone trying to sell you something. It was mind-numbingly relentless, and you could not let it faze you. We felt as if we were running the gauntlet, and some of the more persistent souls would walk along with you. (In Jordan, they respected the polite “no.”)

Egypt is a chaotic place. Traffic is chaotic, it is noisy in the cities, there are lots of people in Cairo, and living conditions for many people appear challenging.

There is trash everywhere in Egypt. This was the thing that upset me the most, especially along the banks of the Nile River. I am not certain as to whether this is an issue with public service or just indicates a level of poverty where people have just given up.

Egypt and Jordan are experiencing much colder than usual temperatures, so some of our packing was off the mark, nothing we could not handle but a challenge some mornings! Climate change is real!

In sum:
We cannot for a minute imagine navigating Egypt independently. Jordan was a much more organized place. We were extremely pleased with the services of Alexander+Roberts. We loved the fact that we were in a small group in Egypt and had virtually a private tour in Jordan.

Thanks for traveling along with us on the blog. We loved getting your comments; even though we cannot respond to them on the blog, they meant a lot to us!