Touchdown Gatwick, UK and a welcome home reception

I was still a little groggy when I boarded the flight home, so did my best to use my floppy hat to shade my eyes and get a little more shut eye, although at the same time this was my first time flying British Airways and I didnt want to completely miss the experience.

Having said that there was nothing exceptional about the flight or the food and so in the end I did just slide the window shutter down and drift off for a quick cat nap before I was being nudged awake to yet again raise the window shutter as we were all due to come in to land.

Arriving at Gatwick I noticed that we seemed to have landed at the further point from the luggage collectoin point and it was quite a little jaunt up and down stairs, esculators and travellators before I finally rounded the bend and got to breaze through passport control.

I took a slight detour to grab some fliers and change up some money and thankfully my rucksack was one of the first out and so in no time at all I was repacking all my bag up for the very last time and walking through nothing to declare to where the main arrivals lounge exit was located.

Even though I had done my best to arrange a mini gathering for my return it was still a slight surprise and great relief to round the corner and instantly spot a small crowd of my family and friends all standing together with little signs saying "welcome home captain caveman".

For once my brain was not on form and I didnt think to get my camera out and capture the moment, but luckily my sister was better prepared and did us all proud by snapping away.

As it was still early and the BA breakfast was nothing much to brag about I managed to convince them to take me to the nearest cafe and buy me a slap up plate of honest to god english grub, which tasted soo good that I could easily have finished off two platefulls, while at the same time trying to savour each and every morsel.

After gorging myself to burst we all trundled out and after another round of hugs and hand shakes where I promised to pop over to my friends soon, I gratefully accepted the list home with my sister and was whisked away back to Gillingham where a houseful of eager relatives were all waiting to welcome me home and at the same time avoid being overwhelmed by the thousands of holiday photos that I have been taking.

True, it might not have been all of the exended family, but this was in some ways a relief as there are few houses and even few occasions big enough these days that can accomodate all of us, and what it did mean was that I got to have proper conversations with those that were around instead of trying to split myself into many me's in order to see everyone at once before they all had to get back to their other plans for the weekend.

My sister had printed off a number of my better photo snaps and blown them up to full A4 size before sticking them around the front room which looked awesome, and then to have a nice glass of cool milk, a slice of homemade fruitcake and then strum around of guitar heros for a bit of a giggle and I had no doubt that I was home, that I was happy and that despite travelling being an amazing experience some times you just cant beat spending a little quality time around your nearest and dearest.

For the first time in a long time I was able to just enjoy the moment without having to rubberneck 360, and for the moment at least push to the back of my mind that very soon I would have a mountain of photos to sort out, paperwork and bills to sort through plus the very unwelcome hassle of once again becoming one of the UK's unemployed and in dire need of searching for a new job.

Leaving Rome, Italy and a night at the airport

When I booked my stay in Rome I did not think when Easter was, and so was unprepared for the hike in prices and unavailability of hostels and hotels. I also didnt realise that the earliest train or metro that could get me into the airport was at 6am and thus a 7:30 flight was always going to cause me problems, unless I stayed a night over at the airport.

Likewise in Athens I was not aware that the metro link from the airport was down for six months so that they could add three new stations, but these are the things that surprise us when we least expect it.

Waking up late today, I leisurely took my time and after checking out leisurely strolled my way down to the Railway station, using a different route to the one I had taken to get there. What I found was a wunderful Irish Pub called the Druids Rock and featured the image of Getafix as its mascot. Brill, and only yesterday I was wondering where Asterix was!

I could not pass this by without popping in for a swift coke and was only denied the delights of using its pool table due to it being out of order at the moment. Instead I got to eat fish and chips while listening to Jim Bowens 100 super smashing party tunes, which dragged out one hit wonders galore.

Just before I left I spotted a group of attractive women through the open doorway at just the moment when fate decided to shake lose a few small branches which came crashing down on them, not enough to cause any seriuos pain but I bet it scared the beeezus out of them. I have no idea why but it suddenly reminded me that I forgot to mention that yesterday just before I had my pizza I was caught in the crowd of a passing music video shoot for a very blonde lady wearing a bring pink scarf to some very cheesy pop noise in the background.

Anyway, back to today. I finally made it to the train station where I was gobsmacked that they want to charge 80 cents for using the little boys room, a thing that should always be free unless they expect you to open up and let rip in the middle of the platform. I decided that I would rather hold out that pay and got caught out buying my ticket at the station as I somehow ended up at a travel agency ticket booth and not an outright railstation booth ( though it took a long time to notice the difference ) and thus had to pay an extra EU $1 commission to the agency, despite the main signs for buying tickets pointing in this direction.

The longer I was staying in Rome the more I was having mixed feeling about it, and I was glad to be on a train off to the airport before I found out that I actually didnt like it as much as I would have hoped.

There was a few things to do in the airport, but as I arrived around 4pm and my check in time was 5:30am I still had a looong night ahead of me, made all the longer as I could not see anywhere to easily plug in and recharge my laptop. I checked the wifi but it wasnt free, another pain and when I tried to send a text using my phone it failed. I tried again a few times and then deduced that as I had canceleed my direct debit in order to prevent myself oing overdrawn and paying charges that I must have run out of time and thus would not be able to use my phone til I returned home and reactivated everything.

This night, my last abroad, will likely be a long one and thankfully I managed to hold onto at least EU $40 plus change so any last second expenses should still be able to be coverd when they turn round and say that they wont accept credit card. Which again reminds me, considering that Italy is a pretty well developed country I was very surprised at the amount of old style slide and print credit card voucher machines I had seen still in operation, even in the big places like the hotel. I would have thought a place that could charge EU $95 per night for nothing more lavish than a broomcloset with a bed could easily afford to update their payment system, but apparently not.

After convicing a freindly waitress to let me into the cordoned off area of the restaurant I was able to finally find a place that I could recharge my laptop which meant that I could watch the last of the Harry potter films that I had with me, and have enough juice to run unplugged for another hour after they chuck me out. Only 9 more hours to go now, not long ... I have never liked waiting for things to come but I am always more in control when at least I know how long I have to wait, its the indefinite / uncertain delays that get me going.

The night was not the easiest as there was nowhere in the airport where the lights were turned off and still accessable to the public. I did find a quiet area upstairs where I managed to snooze on and off for a couple of hours til a loud and annoying Italians started chating up this girl around 4am, I could have killed him. I was also glad that I had forseen the night time chill in the airport and doubled up on my clothing, although a good jumper would have done equally well had I not posted them back home weeks ago.

Once awake I decided that I would complete another first, and be the first person to check in on my particular flight, so went downstairs and just sat right infront of the check in desk. Although checkin wasnt until 5:30 the female attendant got my subtle hint and being ready herself a few minutes after 5am they processed me and that just left security and passport control before waiting at the gate to board my very final flight, the 2 hour 40 minute flight home.

A trip to the Vatican in Rome, Italy

After waking in my first morning in Rome I was unsure as to what to do with my day that would be cheap or free but I figured that I would go take a looksie at some of the other ruins that I saw and possibly a museum or two before heading over to the Vatican City in order to see the Sisteen Chapel and home of the Pope. What I should have done was follow my friends advice and woke up as early as possible before dashing out the door in order to beat the line at the Vatican, but I was lazy and in the end paid the price.

The first thing that I did was hide under the blankets in my room as the early morning was quite chilly and I was still suffering from my cold / chest infection.

The second thing I did was take a slow plod down the road, snapping pictures as I went, to see some of the big ruins in the centre of city that were next door to the hour long 5D experience of Rome.

The ruins turned out to be part museum and quite empty of other tourists which was good despite them being still in very good condition, although perhaps it was that they were not as important as the colossium.

I did spot a nice restaurant that overlooked the ruins and thought it would be a lovely place to stop and have a coffee or a light snack, but even preparing myself to how expensive it was likely to be I was still shocked at how much extra they had hiked up the price and I doubt I would have chosen to stay even if they had a happy hour and slashed their prices in half.

The 5D experience was very cool and well worth the EU $9, after taking the discount voucher from the hotel. Being fairly tight with my budget I missed out the classic 3D extra film, but the even the normal film included going back through time and also a mini roller coaster style seating so while you viewed you moved with it so I guess in the end I only did a 4D but thats me.

What I wasnt expecting was that when it rained in the movie the sprinklers from above let out tiny jets of water and when it showed rats swarming over the place they had special wires in the seats that shot up your leg and gave your the eeriest feeling I have ever had in a musuem. It is amazing the power that the mind has over the body, especially if it has visual or audio help it can convince you of just about anything.

The film was also quite informative going back to the birth of Rome with the twins and the wolf, the erection of the Colossium right down through the ages, even including the birth of the Renaissance and the painting of the sisteen chapel.

After finding a much more affordable place to have my very first Italian Pizza I made my way via the subway to the stop where the Vatican City is, only to end up getting caught up and following a crowd that I realised before anyone else that whoever was leading was probably not actually going to Vatican as we were not going in the right direction.

Leaving the ignorant masses at a corner I checked my map and then after taking a mini detour to take some photos of the fort that was very nearby I corrected my trajectory and headed off to visit the Pope and see if he was in.

When I arrived I saw how magnificent the place was, with a ring of pillars four deep perfectly erected and topped with statues, with a few fountainns all leading up to the main building. I also saw the other tourists, waiting in line to get inside, or at least I tried to see but the line was so long that by the end going into the building they seemed too small to be people, more like ants from an airplane window and so feeling stupid I just gave up as I had no desire to wait two hours or more in a line just to see the inside of a church and a well painted ceiling.

It was my own fault, I had been reliably informed with plenty of time in advance and yet had chosen to ignore it, so this should have been expected, but it was still a minor dissapointment.

When the few spots of rain fell I almost hoped for a downpour to scare away the others, but it didnt last, so much so in fact that soon I almost doubted I had felt anything at all and wondered if it was all in my imagination or not.

Truly giving up I headed back to my hotel where I crashed for a couple of hours before heading out into the early evening to grab a bite to eat and try a movie in the nearby cinema. Having already had my two top favourite Italian meals it was time to try the Spaghetti and I was a bit deflated when I couldnt find any with mince, so I had to order a mini three course in order to get my daily ration of meat.

Just before heading off to watch Gran Torino I got chatting to a friendly Aussie and then was most annoyed at the Italians for not putting any adverts or trailers on before the movie, either that or for starting the film before the time as I was no more than two minutes later than the time on the ticket and already the film was in full flow.

It was a good film and a sad film, with not the ending I was expecting at all, but when I left out I found that I was in a very happy mood and was even hoping, skipping and spinning around as I walked back to my hotel room.

Having already made my plan to travel to the airport tomorrow night, as it was the only way of reaching the check in desk at that early hour in the morning, I decided to get a good nights sleep and also figured that tomorrow I would do as little as possible as I would be carrying around my rucksack for the whole day.

Tomorrow is my final day

Well my long and epic journey is now only a day away from being completely fulfilled, but it is not over and as long as I am in good health and memory it never will be.

In total it was 90 cities in 34 countries and using 39 flights and too many buses, coaches, trains and taxis to count accurately thus it definetly covers both 'around the world' and 'trains, plaines and automobiles'.
Also, as it started off with a ferry to Amsterday so when adding in the few tour cruises that I took I guess that even if I cant claim to have 'sailed the seven seas' I still can say that I did my fair share of water travel.

One of my early ideas which never came to fruition was going up in a hot air balloon, but I was never near one when the price was right, and the other was to cross from China to Europe via the Trans Siberian Express but it was just too cold and too expensive and I would have had to stay in Beijing ages in order to sort out the visa requirements so in the end I decided to head south and go via India instead.

I never did quite get to Morocco, Timbuktu in Mali, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Canada, Halifax Island in the U.S.A., Easter Islands, Ayres Rock in Australia, Bali in Indonesia, Philippines, Japan or Petra in Jordan but they are all places that require a lot more patience, money and time than I had to dedicate to them on this trip.

In the end it was only in Egypt that as a whole I was never rained on once, but I did try to never let it get me down too much and to always pick myself up again as soon as the weather cleared and go have another go.

A few people have asked me what my favourite part was, but on a journey such as this this is an almost impossible question to answer as each city and country held its own appeal and merit.

Holland was the first place that I reached, so was good to say that I have officially started and Rome will be the last so it was will be both a relief and a fullfilment to say that I am now was finally on a flight home again. Colombia was the country in which I visited the most cities and Mexico was the country in which I remained the longest.

Well known landmarks like Christo Rey ( Christ the Redeamer ), Manchu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House, Great Wall of China, Ankor Wat, Grand Canyon, Panama Canal and the Vatican City are all places that I passed through and are definite highlights not to be missed.

But then there were the simple things like being the first tourist in the day to walk around Copan Ruinas, getting an authentic Thai massage at the temple where the first school was created, or visiting my first Disneyland theme park in Hong Kong and going on a Winnie the Pooh ride which whisked me back to being a kid all over again and cannot be ignored.

Then too were the many good friends that I met, both those planned long in advance and those I spontaneously just happened to rub shoulders with along the way and soon became on first names basis with, each a memory I will cherish for many a year if not forever.

No man can see or do everything but as a small child I had a dream, a burning desire and a grand idea to travel all around the world and although it took over 20 years from the very first time I thought it just might be possible I never gave up, never lost hope and didn't even speak of it to most people til it was close to coming true.

Some people dare only to have small dreams while others shoot for the moon and never quite make it. My dream was big but was doable and now the only thing worrying me is what does a man do when he has accomplished his lifes one biggest desire, and how will everything else compare to his past achievement?

I hope you have enjoyed my words and photos over the last few months and that maybe my true story will help encourage others to be bold enough to have dreams and not give up or turn back just because things look to be a little rough ahead.

A day wandering round Rome

The hotel was on the third floor of a quite nice building, probably a couple of hundred years old with slight refurbishments throughout but it was the size of the room and its conforts, or lack of, that threw me. In most other cities 100 euros per night will get you a nice big bed, with a view, a tv, mini bar, wifi and telephone access, but here in Rome that barely got me a oversized broom cupboard with a inner walled window and only the barest of essentials in terms of wash basin and shower. I had thought that Paris or London were expensive, but they have nothing on Rome as far as I am concerned.

Rome certainly is a beautiful city, with winding lanes of anquitiy and huge avenues of grand designs that it staggers the imagination that a race of people many thousands of years ago for saw that space was needed as much as housing.

My earlier experience of the train station should have prepared me for what was to come but in my mind I still thought that there must be somethings that are cheap or free here in the city.

First stop was breakfast and as I had to pass a McDonalds on the way to going anywhere I ducked inside and enjoyed a breakfast, only wishing that their hash brown was a little less oily, but still a good hot and quick meal.

Having decided to leave my Lonely planet guide to Europe back home to save weight, without the internet in my hotel room ( I was unaware at this time that in order to receive a signal you had to go to the lobby ) I had nothing but a map and my instincts to guide me but I knew that the Colossium was a place that when you went to Rome you had to visit. What I wasn't expected was a long queue and a 12 euro entrance fee that wouldnt accept credit card.

Knowing how little actual cash I had on me I was not in a hurry to splash out so much so soon, regardless of what it was being spend on, and so I just contented myself with a leisurely walk around the outside and taking plenty of photos, whenever passing tourists gave me the chance.

It was fun to see some of the local tourist guys dress up like Ancient Romans but I would have preferred it if someone was to dress up like Asterix, Obelix or even Geriatrix and come kick some legionaire butt.

Alongside the actual Colossium is an avenue and high on the hillside is another set of roman ruins so I thought I would go take a look at them instead, only to find the same thing ... 21 euro entrance fee and no credit card accepted. I could not believe how much they are asking for and that yet despite the millions of tourists that pass through here they havent thought to get a credit card scanner working in the entrances!

It was not until much later that I learned of the 7 day Archaeology ticket, that for only 23 euros allows you access to the top 9 historical sites of interest, or even of the Roma Pass which lets you visit the first two places for free.

On the map I saw that there was a small fort and pyramid a little further down the road, so I went awalking and the further away I got the better view I got of the ruins on the hillside that I had just been denied access to, and in the end I found the perfect place that offered such a magnificient view just outside a metro station entrance that I am shocked they have not built a small viewing platform and started charging.

Again up ahead was a much older set of ruins at Caracalla, or at least they appeared that way on the map, and when I got there they were certainly impressive but gated of and again an entrance fee of 6 euros which considering how tired I was was just too rich for my blood.

Heading back towards the metro line I found that I had done a huge loop and was right near the Colossium again but as my hotel was a little further north I was still going to take a 1 euro metro ride than do any more walking.

Back near my hotel I stopped to have a bite to eat and found a delightfully decorated yet modest restaurant where the owner was friendly and the service prompt. I am not sure if I like that it was 4 euros for a can of drink but as they took credit card it was not all a total waste.

By the time I got back to my room it was still early but I was tired and wanting to check messages and much around a bit with the photos so I called it a night, only right before bed finding out that I could get wifi access in the hotel lobby.

Leaving Athens, Greece and arriving in Rome, Italy

My timings for leaving the hotel and arriving at Athens airport was spot on. I caught a metro to the main bus terminal, then with barely a couple of minute to spare I caught the X95 bus back to the airport which arrived a little after 7am and plenty of time to check in.

Regrettably the airport McDonalds did not have free wifi, which puts it behind most other countries and I have no idea why the security made me open my laptop up and boot it up, I guess I looked extra dodgy with my british passport but wearing a Hawaiian blue floppy hat!

I managed to doze a little during the flight but it was the arrivals and subsequent travel to the hotel that threw me totally off guard. Firstly the misposted our flight so we had to ask where the bags were being unloaded and then I somehow managed to totally skip through customs and immigration without even having to get out my passport, very weird especially as I was on inbound from an International not a domestic flight.

Once into the main terminal I made my way to the information desk where I spotted that a shuttle to the city centre could cost me anywhere up to 115 euros, with a tout loitering outside trying to undercut their lowest price to offer it to me for just 35 euros. Somehow I managed to hide my disgust long enough to be shown where I could get the train for a mere 11 euros and then headed off in that direction, which ended up being up an esculator, a very erratic lift and along a few lengthy travelators.

Finally I was able to join a queue and buy a ticket to the city centre although I still had no place to stay but I figured that I would just try a few cheat hotels or hostels near the train station til I find a place. Famous last thoughts.

My rucksack at the moment, including laptop and rear detachable bag, probably weighs about 13 kilos but this is without most of the straps and padding that it originally came with making it a whole lot more cumbersome and problematic to carry around. After a few failed tries I took to going to an internet place and was totally baffled when I had to register my passport details in order to use a terminal at an internet cafe as per new Italian laws!

An hour later and I realised that arriving with no plan or prearranged place to stay in Rome is probably like dangling your privates in a barrel full of paranas and then pouring blood over yourself. There may be hundreds of places to sleep within the city limits, but with no reservation, travelling alone, for 3 nights and only able to pay by credit card there were few and none were cheap.

Even ignoring anything over a 3 star I was still looking at having to book an entire room to myself, with no places left in the dorms and of those almost all that were left said "payment to be made in cash in full upon arrival", which pretty much threw me at the mercy of the select few that were left.

Finally I booked a place that was near, less than 100 euros per night per room and not for the first time I wished that I had done all of Europe when I had time on my side to make the bookings and when the exchange rate between the euro and the pound was much more favourable. The walk to the hotel passed some very nice looking buildings and if I could just get over the fact everything cost an arm and a leg and keep in my mind that I will probably never be coming back so to make the most of it then I could end up enjoying myself.

A whirlwind tour of Athens

My plans were to do a quick reccy of the historical sites in central athens, then go for an afternoon trip to the coast and then back for a meal and traditional greek dancing extraveganza, but as they say the best laid plans.

I walked to the nearby tour agency that I spotted last night, and asked about going on a couple of their trips however the night time dancing program from the brochure that I had picked up was aparently not on tonight and so they I could not book it.

I was more than a little surprised that the salesman made absolutely no effort to arrange a substitute or interest me in anything else and just went back to reading his newspaper, leaving it to his newly arrived assistant to point me in the direction of the Plaka, a region where I could turn up to a local taverna and see some if I wanted to do it on my own.

Once booked I headed on foot to the Acropolis, after buying a map from a street vensor who then had the cheek to upsell it to me for double the price saying "sorry my english is bad" but no matter how bad your english is you know the difference between one and two euros! It was only that I was in a good mood, and partly that I momentarily forgot that the exchange rate was now so bad, that meant I didnt tell him where he could shove his map and demand my money back.

Enroute to the Acropolis, which is easy to spot from downtown as its the big lot of famous ruins on the tall hill in the distance, I passed a few other archaeological sites and decided to buy a one ticket visits all sites entrance ticket for 12 euros which I dont think saves any but at least you get a nicer ticket stub as a keeper.

Having already been to one or two tourist sites I was shocked at how many people were here, as it was probably the most crowded of places I have ever seen. The place is impressive and not exactly small, but it was swamped by hundreds of tourists as bus after bus disgorged its charter of passengers and everywhere I looked they were there, and what is worse is as it was up a hill the slower ones were blocking up all the steps.

The Acropolis was magnificent and offered an unrivaled panoramic view overlooking the city and it was easy to cast my imagination back and think of how the city elders must have felt as they cast their gaze down at the domain over which they ruled.

Sadly I did not have enough time to summon forth the mighty zeus as I was on a deadline to get back to the tour office by 2pm, but I did have time to take a quick walk through down some of the other sites that I spotted from the top. It was a pity that I missed going to see the stadium as it looked very impressive, but I hope that the postcard I picked up will be some consolation.

Walking back through the city I passed a erotic cinema, I think only the third I have seen travelling all around and clearly a dying breed. The advertising fliers showed very cute girls and the price was only EU $5 but judging from the look of the building it had clearly seen better days and besides I have never liked an audience for this sort of thing so I passed it by and just noted it down for posterity.

As I walked along the road to my hotel I was stopped by about six armed police who demanded to see my documents and I so I figure that perhaps some of the locals had objected to the tarts in the area, but they didnt wait around for long and by the time I had dropped off my stuff in the room and changed my camera battery they had gone, and in their place the tarts had returned.

Despite being told to meet at the tour agency at 2pm we spend an hour going round in circles picking up passengers from various hotels and it was not until after 3pm when we finally left the downtown area and headed off towards our destination.

Many people have commented about Amsterdam, LAs Vegas and Bangkok as being places known for their sex industry, but after already noting the explicit porn magazines and dvd's on display at street venders and of course the erotic cinema, I was surprised at how many stripjoints and hotels with entertainment lounges there were on the route from the downtown area to the beach

And even if I hadn't spotted them for myself I would not have been ignorant for long as our tour guide took a weird delight in repeatedly mentining that this area was noted for its lively night clubs and more!

I would suggest that if anyone is going to take the coach to visit the temple of Poseidon that they sit on the left side of the coach as it was an hour journey and the aegean sea view is were far better on that side than the boring right hand side which is nothing but barren fields and rocky hillsides.

My big mistake was not getting something to eat before joining the bus as I was famished by the time we arrived and I was almost ready to eat anything no matter the cost when I finally arrived at the temple and my enjoyment was marred by the fact that I wanted to visit the place as quickly as possible to return to the restaurant at the hillside entrance to quieten my stomach.

Poseidons temple is much smaller than I had expected, but its location could not have been more perfectly chosen as it sits atop a high outcrop almost raiased from the seabed for exactly this reason.

Apparently the first temple was built of stone but was burned to the ground and so it was rebuilt by later Athenians and this time in marble. I often wonder how anyone managed to set stone on fire, with enough heat to make the very stones shatter and crumble, but I guess that they found a way.

Out stop here was only an hour, not even the same time as it took to take us here and with the entrance fee only being US $2 per person ( free for students ) I take it the EU $40 we all paid was just for a brief tour and to be transported from and to downtown Athens.

About now I felt that a visit to a cinema, a game of ten pin bowling and a trip to a Greek night club or strip club to sample theri particular brand of eroticism was very much in order but I had not been keeping too close an eye on the old pennies and so after paying in cash for the cinema and bowling I didnt have much left so took a trip to the ATM and was denied even taking out EU $40.

I wracked my brains trying to find why, as I didnt have my cellphone on me to call and ask why it was declined, and then I suddenly remembered that my mortgage, telephone bill and the erergency hotel in Cairo had all been paid through my debit card within the last few days and so I must have reached or exceeded my limit.

I knew that I still had some on my credit card but only to use for direct transactions and no longer for cash advances, and I didnt want to start putting night club drinks and entrance fees through my card so I just jumped on the metro and headed on back to my hotel.

The cough syrup that I had bought was having littlle effect, being not much more than honey, lemon and paracetamol and I knew that one of the first things I have to do when I get back to the UK is take a trip to get some antibiotics from my doctor to clear my now present chest infection.

I finally fell asleep around eleven with my alarm set for just after 5am in order to reach the airport for my 9am flight to Rome tomorrow morning.

Listening to your body in Athens, Greece

I knew when I went looking to see the belly dancers in Cairo that I was burning the candle at both ends but regretably they didnt start til 01:30.

I knew I would regret my caffeine overdose at 1am the next morning when the airline booked the flight for the wrong day but I was too awake to get any sleep.

I tried to have an easy day on the last day in Cairo, I dozed in the airport and again on the flight over to Athens but I could not deny that my body needed sleep.

My body was fatigued, my head ached and my intelligence dimned so when I finally got a room at 9am the first thing I did was strip and fall asleep, not waking up til around 5pm.

Hunger and thirst drove me to go out into the city and find sustinence but I knew still felt rough and frayed at the edges so it was nothing more than a quick pit stop before returning to my hotel room.

By now my brain was clearing up and starting to work, but my body couldnt match it, so I used the laptop to record the most recent ideas and thoughts, thus emptying my mind of anything it needed to remember or think about and then went back to bed.

It worked as I then slept from 10pm right through to 8am.

Regrettably this means that I have been delayed or slept through almost my entire time here in Greece, one of the places that I was really looking forward to visiting before my arrival as fewer places are deeper in the history, culture and philosophy that has shaped my life and imagination since a small boy, but on a trip such as mine there will always be casualties.

Today, after a shave and a shower I hope to venture forth to see as much as possibly if the rain keeps off before an afternoon tour to Cape sounion followed by an evening show with folk dancing, bouzouki music and a meal thrown in. All in all not a bad days itiniary by any means and considering my condition, circumstances and time I woke up I doubt that any save a local could do better.

I also need to try and find a chemist so that I can get something for my cough / cold as I fear it is developing into a lungs / chest infection.

Arriving in Athens, Greece

After the debarcle of the flights and the most annoying taxi drivers in the world, I finally caught a free shuttle service to the airport from the hotel, which in fact took longer for them to ride than it took me to walk the same distance, however at almost midnight I did not feel safe walking with a rucksack through remote unlit side streets.

Cairo airport has a maximum three hour waiting period, where if you arrive before then they will not even let you past the first line of security, so to kill the last few minutes I went downstairs and had a pizza and fries, all the while trying to avoid being myself ate alive by mosquitos.

I was a little miffed that despite buying a meal in the restaurant in order to use their wifi I had to pay extra and was more than a bit glad that I am leaving as I fear I am fast on my way to racially dumping Egyptians in the same 'generally best to avoid' category as I have done with Indians.

However proving that not all Egyptians are to be avoided at all costs, in the airport lounge a friendly female local who was happened to be on the same flight came up to me and started chatting to me, and by the time we were due to fly we were almost chummy, and her talking was the only thing keeping me awake at that point.

As soon as all the air stewardesses had passed and straps themselves in I immediately unbuckled myself and thanks to the luxury of being on an almost deserted overnight flight I was able to stretch out and was probably snoring before we even reached the standard cruising altitude.

For about the hundreth time I wondered why the air stewardessses felt the need to disturb me in order to tell me, not ask, to lift up the window blind and I dearly hope there is a red hot poker in hell waiting eagerly for the posterior who thought that one up.

One of the many benefits of being a European citizen was that while all the other passengers were forced to queue up in the very slow moving lines through immigration I was able to start my own line of one in the EU section and literally waltzed through with barely an upward glance. True this way you dont get to have your passport stamped this way, but there is more to life than stamps and not being stuck in a line for ages is a worthwhile trade off.

Having completely spent my time in Egypt without being rained on I had began to feel that my weather jinx has been broken, but with Athens almost underwater I soon realised that in fact it was just the exception that proved the rule.

My friendly Egyptian traveller was still with me on the way to the city centre and we shared a bus as far as it went when we were forced to part company as her hotel was in one direction and mine was the other. Had I any of my business cards left I would probably have given her one so that we could keep in touch, but alas my supply was now all spent and I was far too tired to think so I just said farewell and then opened the door to her taxi.

A few minutes later I caught my own and was a little surprised when thirty seconds later he opened the door and accepted a second life, and all I could think of what that at least he was an old man and thus less likely to be a mugger.

Although it was barely 8am my day was still going downhill as when I did arrive at my hotel they had cancelled my reservation after I had failed to show up two days ago and were not full. I briefly argued that I had contacted them by email twice, but I was still too exhausted to mount any real enthusiasm and so I just asked if he could help me find another hotel. "There are many hotels" with much theatrics and gruffness to his voice and I could tell that he hated his job and was only waiting for his next glass of wine and a chance to relax.

I declined the suggestion that I could stick around til after eleven ( almost three hours ! ) to see if they received any cancellations, already knowing that the further away from him and his hotel the happer I would be, and also I felt on the verge of deciding to get a taxi to the nearest 4 or even 5 star hotel if for no better reason than they would cut through the crap and let me have a bed post haste.

As luck would have it there were plenty of hotels nearby and on the second attempt I found a slightly grubby one in a rather shady location but it was dry and cheap and that was all I cared about at the moment. The rickety old lift was so narrow that with my backpack on I could not even turn around and so had to reverse out into the hallway when we reached my floor.

I passed a concom vending machine in the hallway and when I reached my room I found a spirit level lying on my bed. With no view at all from my main window I went to the bathroom window to see if the view was any better in there and could see only an alleyway where two leather clad hookers ( one a transvestite I bet, even from this distance he was a dead giveaway ) were loitering for a passing trick to come their way.

After coughing my lungs up for the umpteenth time in 48 hours I tried to wash myself up in the basin only for the faucet to drench me and my legs, so far from my most auspiciuos start.

Dumping my clothes on the ajoining single bed, I layed down and passed out in moments, not waking up til 5pm, having just slept through the best part of the day and thankfully the rain had stopped.

I considered if it was worth trying to book a trip to Delphi tomorrow or even a nighttime trip, but with my cold and cough still lingering and the rain I felt it probably best just to instead grab a meal and see what the weather does tomorrow morning before visiting much more of Athens.

Even before I managed to get outside the hotel I noticed that the two hookers I saw from earlier had now been joined by a few friends and the whole group were pretty much filling up the whole doorway outside the hotel, which was met by total oblivion by the hotel receptionist so I am guessing that they are either in cahoots or just its not worth the hassle making a scene.

My card refused to let me take out more than 50 EU$ and I remembered that the exchange rate from Bahrain dollars to EU dollars was better than for pounds, so I am guessing that the GB£ might now be worth less than a EUS which is disasterous news for Brits, especially those abroad.

I managed to find a bite to eat in a little restaurant around the corner form the hotel, but with no map in the dark I didnt want to venture far and within the hour I was back in my room, tring to get some sleep.

A busy sleepless day in Cairo, Egypt ( part 1 )

After waking myself up at a little after midnight thinking that I had a flight booked I downed coffee and coke then slowly came to realise that both the timings and the caffeine were a big mistake. I tried in vein to get back to sleep for a few hours before finally being able to drift away and catch at least a couple of hours sleep only to then be rudely brought back to the land of the living by the noises of the hotel waking up and the light streaming through the rooms thin curtain.

I tossed and turned for a few more hours, but I always knew that check out was at midday and as the room rate was extortionate I was super sure that I didnt want to slip over into being charged for an extra day.

I suppose that I could have checked into a dingy one star hotel and crashed for the day but instead I decided to leave my main rucksack in the aiport hotel and go check out the classic touristy places on Cairo, the Citadel; the pyramids; the sphynx; the national museum; the old town.

Outside the hotel was a taxi driver who spoke great English and we came up with a price of 250 Egyptian pounds for me to hire him for the day, or whatever was left of it, and although that is a bit high, but the hotel was near the airport which is a fair way from the city centre, he had a modern car with aircon and with his good English it meant that I could at least get a good conversation out of him instead of just grunt and repeat over and over again the destination I wanted to go for hoping he would catch my meaning.

First on the agenda was a driver by the old Citadel, graveyard and old fort. Being close to midday already I figured that I would not have much time to waste going round them all, but I checked them out and took a few good piccies before we stopped off at a Papyrus shop. In Egypt they call shops Museums as a marketting ploy, and all it really means is that they give you a thirty second introduction to whatever it is that they are sellin before the shopping and the haggling starts.

With prices around 150 for a small piece of work to 2800 for the medium size bits, none were cheap but the trick here is either to not bother going in ( there really is no information to be gained and nothing is on display except the items for sale ) or to feign total disinterest and see how low he drops his prices. In the end I refused to be tempted at any of the small pieces and when he pushed I indicated a few of the medium size ones that I liked but told him flat out that they were way out of my budget.

For his new "friend" he first cut the list price in half" but this was stil 1400 and I continued to tell him that i was not here to shop and that I didnt have a budget for such lavish items. After more bargaining I slipped in a low bid of 300 ( which on reflection was still a bit too high ) which he of course refused and when I went to leave he then dropped the price to a flat 500 and meant that he "was not making any profit" but just liked me and wanted to be sure that I told all his friends about his great shop and gifts ( like hell he wasnt !?! ).

Next stop was the pyramids themselves and here things got a little silly and ugly. I had already told him that this was my third visit ( its actually my second but I didnt want to be hassled too much ) to the pyramids and I was just going to kill time and take a few photos, nothing lavish and with in no desire for special needs like a camel or horse.

Despite this he took me to his friends camel and horse place that was a good fifteen minutes ride away and then they told me that the entrance to the area was 60 and they expected another 60 for the horse. I told him flat out that I was not going to pay that much and yet still he smiled, gave me the usual flannel about I could pay whatever I thought it was worth and then my taxi driver / guide drove away which sort of left me at their mercy.

The big mistake on their part was that this was the very same dirty, cheating, no good guide that had screwed me over the last time when I was on riding the camel, his shifty eyes and carefully rehearsed speach about being good to each other for mutual satisfaction unmistakable as well as being instantly recognisable.

Sticking to my guns, I refused to be cajouled into buying anything from his friends or the 'random' locals we happened to be passing by, and after I told him that I could ride a horse perfectly well ( a little white lie but done for a good reason ) and thus he could send back to the shop the boy who was leading my horse ( and would expect a tip if I didnt send him back right away ).

From then on, I took the lead whenever I felt he was slacking the pace, refused to let him take my camera for photo opportunities and managed to reach the pyramids in good time. The fact that you can walk off the street ( right across from the pizza hut over the road ) through an entrance and be at the pyramids within seconds is one of the reasons I was angry, as the route we plodded over was mostly empty dessert and took a pain staking fifteen minutes.

After no more than five minutes at the pyramids, and not even given the oportunity to pay extra to see the sphynx up close, we headed on back to the shop which took another fifteen minutes and all along the way back I was figuring out what a fair price would be for the use of the horse that I didnt want or ask for but never-the-less accepted. In the end I settled in my mind at 25 for the horse and only 1.50 as tip for the so called guide, though really all he did was take me on a long winding path that ate up time and serioulsy hurt my backside.

When I got off I almost caused a fight as the horse owner, the guide and two of their friends all stood around making noises that I had agreed to 60 and that as they took it so badly I threw back a few insults and comments that the main reason I was out for so long was that their shop was so very far away form the pyramids and that I had said all along I only wanted a quick look to take a few photos so if anyone was wasting anyones time it was them and not me.

The final result was that I just stood firm against them all, refused to budge even an inch and then just headed on back over to the taxi where the driver did his best to act as peacekeeper before letting me in and driver away. It was all a bit act, they still made on the deal and they knew it, but they feel they have to or else every tourist will do it and drive the price down. The only regret about this is that I forgot to get a hold of the entrance ticket before we had the big row as of course they were not in the giving vein afterwards.

A busy sleepless day in Cairo, Egypt ( part 2 )

My next main stop was the National museum, which was pretty cool except that I did ask if cameras were allowed and my driver said yes only for the signs all over the plce to say otherwise and it meant that I could not take some amazing shots as there is plenty of cool things there to visit.

I had forgotten about the war boomerangs, and I dont even think I bothered with the christian or muslim exhibits last time, but this time I had a couple of hours to wander round. The place is like a tardis as the big pink building is much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside, and made all the more full as it rarely wastes space with useless things like information plaques, instead happy to cram in as many similar artifacts side by side as they can.

The entrance price was 60, but the souveneir shop more than makes up for this cheap price with prices being totally out of kilt with the rest of the city. I tried to buy a single can of coke only to be quoted 12 pounds, which is more than even a room service 4 star hotel price, and when I said with shock and alarm how could it be the girl simple replied ( in good english ) that "Yes it is but you are now in the museum. Welcome to Cairo".

After walking around I made it to the exit with only a few minutes prior to my taxi driver comig to pick me up, and a lesser honest man would have just grabbed another taxi and headed off back to the hotel and then off to the airport and thus pay only the 75 or so instead of the full price that was agreed upon.

In hindsight , not that I would ever condone or suggest such a course of action, but ... a lesser moral person could easily walk to a different hotel than the one he is staying in, get an early taxi driver for the whole day, leaving the national museum to the last stop and then give them the slip ( as taxi drivers are not allowed to park out the front of the museum and thus while he is off parking the car elsewhere you just skip the museum and get a taxi back to where you are really staying at, with the taxi driver having no clue as to the deception til it is too late. ).

Of course, as all this entered my mind I dismissed it as soon as I thought of it, myself being far too much of a nice person to do over a taxi driver, even one who had duped me into going into a papyrus shop and then a horse ride that I didn't want or need.

Once my taxi driver picked me up I headed on over to our last stop together which was a cinema / the shopping distict of Helioplis, a much richer and prosperous area of Cairo complete with shops and malls more like Europe than the dirty and grimy filth that describes most of the downtown area.

I did some walking and passed two cinemas, but none were showing anything remotely that I was interested in, and so I walked back after stopping for a McDonalds and then a hair cut, neatly trimming my sideburns back to a non-crazy hermit image for a mere 25 pounds plus tip.

Feeling good with myself I forgot the golden rule which was to seperate my notes in my wallet and always have change, so when I took a normal taxi to the airport and stopped short to avoid paying the parking entrance fee he pulled the old "I have no change" scam and dratted I had given my last small bundle of notes to the hair salon.

Feeling that 15 was probably not going to be accepted I broke the second rule by not getting out and then paying, and then I broke the third rule by giving him the 50 note instead of waiting til we could get change elsewhere.

After a run around the 20 pounds fare suddenly switched into a 35 pound fare and he flatly refused to budge and give me any notes, so feeling very grumpy I got out and swore plenty of nasty insults as he drove away 15 pounds up and almost regretting that I had not stiffed my day long driver.

Finally I made it to my hotel where I collected up my rucksack and was stiffed again through lack of change by the hotel waiter, 15 pounds for a coke that almost anywhere else would be 3 and even here should only be 12.50.

The more I think of it the more Egypt seems to be just one long string of haggles to prevent being ripped off, which takes a lot of the fun away for me and is a real put off from me returning. I have said before, and save perhaps Miss Egypt, the best thing about Egypt is its geography and history, with its worse feature definetly being the locals.

Personally I feel that unless you are rich or come from a country where haggling for each and every purchase, even the tiny ones, is the norm then travelling to Egypt will either be expensive or a constant battle where the slightest let up will cost you dearly.

Thankfully the hotel had a nice lounge where I could plug in my laptop, crop a few photos and back out a couple of emails and blog entries which is one less thing to do tomorrow, but I still will find it hard to fit in all that I planned to do in Athens within a time phrase less than half of which I had originally scheduled.

Failure to fly away from Cairo

In the morning I waved goodbye to A' & B' and then not feeling confident enough to get myself to and fro the pyramids with enough time for my 2pm flight I just dickered around the room til I felt it was time to get a taxi to the airport.

Cairo airport is not the most friendly or well sing posted place in the world, even though us Brits did own it for a few years, and it was a surpreme struggle to finally get from one terminal to the next only to find that my airlines offices were closed at the terminal itself and the number to call was not being answered.

I also tried to contact my travel agent but their offices were closed at the weekends, which was no bloody good to me and cursing them loudy I gave up on them.

I tried to bluff my way into the check int desk, but you had to clear security first and the guard there was not taking any shit and as I didnt have a confirmed booking time and print out he stood his ground and suggested that I go see information. They were not much help, only saying that the only flights leaving Cairo going to Athens were from the airline that I had my booking and so in the end I gave up and headed off down the road by foot to find the nearest airport to use their internet facilities and place to crash for the day.

After much confusion and problems with my credit card, complete with a few phones calls back to the UK to try and fix it, I ended up with a room that didnt have wifi or internet facilities ( for EU $120 ) and their customer services had a lot to be desired. Forcing the issue as I wanted a confirmed booking a.s.a.p. I argued til they switched my room for one on a different floor and hey presto, instant internet ( for a whopping US $28 for 24 hours !!! ).

I logged on, checked my internet and sure enough my travel agents had not rescheduled my flight and so in absolut desperation to get out of here I called the airline direct and booked another flight, leaving at 03:30 in the morning for less than the cost of my original booking. I was happy and spend the rest of the day half tired and still suffering from my cold so didnt really do much except eat and then went to sleep semi early as I had a very early start tomorrow.

If you have seen the film Oceans Twelve where George Clooney is duped into waking up early and drinks several hot coffees to try and wake himself up ... well that is me today. Problem was, just like him, that it was all for naught as the stupid airline telephone operator had only gone and booked it for 03:30 the day after, being Monday and not Sunday!

I woke up, took a cold shower, drank all the coffee in the room and opened my mail box to triple check the details and stared in horror when recognition hit me full in the face that my flight confirmation email said the 6th, not the 5th. I tried to call but their offices closed at 11pm, I tried the internet to change my flight but the website could not find my details and then finally I tried to check in on line only to find it would not let me check in longer than 24 hours prior to flight time which settled it for me, I was staying in Cairo for yet another 24 hours.

By the time I got my wits together fully it was around 2am and in the hotel everything was closed except the bar which had a few foreign unknown-to-me tennis players chilling out, as there was a tour in progress this weekend nearby, but other than that not a lot going on and noone to talk to.

I went back up to my room and tried to sleep, but after a few hours sleep and then this much caffeine in my system all at once I had zero chances of drifting back to sleep any time soon, so I figured I would just use the time to send a few emails and such before going back to sleep around 5am.

My new plan is to visit the Pyramids and the sphynx this morning and maybe meet up again with A' & B' if there is any way of getting a message to them before they head off for the convention tomorrow.

Travelling in Egyptian Taxi's with Expats ( part 2 )

After the fort we decided that we had starved for long enough so it was a trip to the local Mall which was surprisingly modern and lavish, with a variety of decent stores that you would expect to find in a place like Hong Kong, Milan or Paris.

The food hall was great and had plenty of variety so we all grabbed something different and after pulling a few tables together managed to fit all eight of us together before leaving to catch the return train back from Alexandria to Cairo.

We experienced the joys of travelling by tram, watching the bustling locals cram inside the tiny metal boxes and wondered why the three rich kids thought it was fun to save the fare money ( one quarter of an egyptian pound ) by loitering on the platform and then hopping onto the cars step as it pulled away from each stop, avoiding the ticket inspectors as they did.

This time round the train was a little archaic but what surprised us most was that it arrived and left late, contrary to what my expat friends told me, which was that the only things that ran on time in Egypt were the trains.

Darkness had already set by the time our delayed train left Alexandria and after the fun filled day we had shared we were all a little too pooped to do much talking on the way back, so instead we sat and slept in silence or would have if it were not for the screaming cries of the baby a few seats back from us.

Leaving the train station we found another station wagon and this time they did not hassle us for a price on the way so yet again we managed to cram all eight of us into one car and happily travelled back to the hotel, only for the driver to "pitch the bitch" and complain at our generous payment of 25 pounds, knowing full well that a normal car taking four passeners each could only expect to make 8 -10 pounds. Why is it that train stations and airports always seem to attract the worst taxi drivers.

Back in the hotel Al volunteered to help me find a place to watch a good bellydancing show, so with the motto of "sleep when your dead" we headed out into the night, half aware that we were unlikely to see any dancing til after 12:30.

After a couple of false leads we agreed to let a touting taxi driver take us to a night spot known for local dancing, a floating boat all set up permenantly moored by the keyside and went inside, already figured out how hard we would have to haggle to get a fair price. They started at 300 per person each, including two drinks and salad, but after much negotiation and us half walking out they settled for 150 per each and let us inside, promising that we would have belly dancing in five minutes.

Liars. We had to wait 10 minutes before anything at all got going, and when it did it was just a band loudy bashing their drums while a sexy singer warbled into the microphone amid chewing gum when she thought we were not looking. The place was a ghostship with us being the only customers at this early hour, but still they did not let us sit even within two tables of the front saying that the place would soon fill up and we had not paid for premium seating.

Double Liars. Around 12:30, just as Al had predicted, we finally got to see a belly dancer come on, although she didnt quite have the curves for it and seing that the room was still less than a quarter full she could not muster up much enthusiasm, just going through the motions til her next set started in another lounge or on another ship. All throughout the show the waiters kept trying to push a salad and trays of nuts on us, but they were all at least 25 pounds each ( for a small tray of peanuts !!! ) and so wise to their scams we shooed them away before they could settle the trays and leave.

I feel a little sorry for Al, as he had just ordered himself a shesha pipe when the belly dancer ended her set, being about 1:30 and it was followed by another singer, which was for me enough for one night and so I bitched just a little, but it was enough for Al to get the message and we left, his pipe still more than half full.

What should have been a ten minute taxi ride back became a nightmare as the place was pitch black when we got back, both me and Al had been drinking a bit and the hostel was not in the best place, so after half hours slow crawling drive around the area I finally spotted the non-lit sign above our heads and then we jumped out and finally crashed asleep.

Travelling in Egyptian Taxi's with Expats ( part 1 )

Today was always going to be a bit of a handful, with not only were we a group of eight folk ( broken into four families ) of all ages, but we had to try and get ourselves to Alexandria and back plus visiting the best bits of there without falling out with each other or getting ripped off by the various taxi drivers.

As we had some worldly wise travellers, including my new friends A' & B' who were even former residents of Alexandria, I felt comfortable that we would not fall prey to many of the scams and beggars that I remembered and feared from my last trip, but as the wise say "it is often when you are feeling at your most strong that you are actually at your most weakest" - I just hope that my return to England is not such a similar shock.

We met up and managed to find two taxis to take us to the train station where we had return tickets for a trip to Alexandria for a low cost of only 10 Egyptian pounds each car, showing that for a short distance it will only cost a small amount, nothing huge, and that they do not try to double or increase the price for a full car, or usually.

All in all we must have taken around 6 taxi rides during the day, and the formula for not getting ripped off too much is not to bother asking them for a price and especially not to try and haggle for a good price to start with, but instead to just give them direction and say "we will pay you a good price when we get there". For around ten minutes only 10 pounds is needed, up to 20 minutes and then maybe 15 or 20 pounds, 30 for a full hour and 150 - 200 for a full day.

A few time the driver would be very pushy, and I still say that 99% of the time you should never accept a taxi from either a foreign train station or airport unless it is a proper metered or fixed ticket fare, and more often than not the ones that were pushy, or even touchy feely, were the ones that we gave short thrift to and just walked away from.

The Cairo train station is a relic from WW2 and you could almost feel yourself slipping back in time as you waited in the coffee bar for the train to pull into its platform.

Our train was a more modern Spanish train that had twin seats that could be reversed so that you could sit together in small groups or all face forward much like airplanes, and so with our 8 seats together we did a combination of both and happily chatted and watched the world go by as we sped towards our destination.

It would appear that much has changed in Alexandria, including the train station, and our former local expats were a bit confused along with the rest of us, but they soon got their bearings a bit more once we were on more familiar turf.

Breaking every travelling law we all knew, we allowed this rather clean but English speaking taxi driver to convince us to pay him 200 pounds and the same for his friend for them to ferry us around for the day, with the first stop being food and the golden rule of "Keep Miss B' happy and we're all happy, upset her and you upset us all". Despite us offering good money it would appear that he forgot this main golden rule as soon as we told it to him and right off the bat he took us to a lovely looking but terribly expensive and seedy restaurant.

Anywhere that has no menues is to be avoided, especially by large groups, and here was no exception, only we did our best to haggle and agree a fair price for a fair amount of food, however what we got was 4 standard meals meant to spread out for 8 people, a couple of plates of chips and them expecting us to fill up on bread and Humus ( for extra of course !).

This was not the start that we wanted but our experience here went rapidly down hill when it was discovered that the male waiters had drilled a tiny hole peeping into the toilets and covered one side with a shirt which they would slyly pull back to snoop into the bathroom whenever one of the ladies was in there and they felt they were not being observed. But observed they were, many accusations were thrown and of course denied, and at one point I had visions that a riot was about to occur, but in the end it eased as the women walked off to understandably calm down while the men drastically cut what we were prepared to pay of the bill, almost in half, and left with a firm repremand and the threat of police action if it was ever repeated.

I feel happy to name and shame in such cases, so my advice is to avoid the Mermaid Bar on the sea front at all costs and to always check for tiny holes in walls when you go into toilets.

When we finally caught up with the women they were still fairly steemed up and were rightly refusing to get back in the taxis that had brough us, so after a five minute stomp flanked by the taxi drivers pleading for money which we flatly refused on principle, we ended up at a posher hotel where we felt we would ditch the idea of hiring a taxi for the day and just take them one stop at a time.

Our first attempt was a big station wagon, which we only managed to fit all eight of us in plus the driver with a tight squeeze and us all getting to know our fellow passenges a whole lot more, but then he turned out to be an even bigger thief than the past lot and expected 50 pounds for a tiny trip. Less than a minute later we were prying ourselves out again as he would prefer to lose the entire fare than to not agree a price ( highly inflated ) and just take us to our destination where he would then receive a far price once we got out.

This was, thankfully though, our last bad taxi ride and after this they were all much more friendly, happy to take us to our destination and did not bother to try and dicker around with prices or uphike the cost once we were at the end. The tip definetly is not to even fix a price, only pay when you are out and, asuming you have given him a fair price, to walk away firmly and never stick around to see if he is happy as no doubt he will say it is not enough, whether you have paid him ten or fifty pounds.

Our firs stop was the Catacombs, which were underground burial chambers which were only rediscovered when a laided donkey fell in though the loose top soil covering one of the halls, and is some great example of mixed greek and egyptian architecture. The guards were very strict on the no cameras allowed rule, and try as we might they were very unmoving on the whole give us your camera thing. In the end we negociated with a "we will give you the camera battery, but not the camera itself" which seemed to pacify them.

Our next stop Pillar of Pompey, incorrectly labelled by I think it was the crusaders who thought it was built to honor the Roman general Pompey, when in fact it is much older.

Stop three was a Roman Amphitheatre which, despite being incredibly small compared to some of those I have visited in Europe, had an amazingly clear sweet spot and changed your voice from what you hear to what others hear just by stepping onto or off of the central stone marker.

Our last tourist stop was the Ottoman fort, built on the site of the old Lighthouse, and it was here that we all got suckered into visiting the miniscule marine museum that we all mistook for the entrance to the fort. It was basically the front keep gate house, cut off from the rest of the fort and had barely enough exhibits to fill one room anywhere else, and here replied on the whole entrance trickery and some huge dodgy looking paper machet displays to keep it going.

Here that I picked up a few female admireres who politely requested that they have their picture taken with me on their cameras and cell phones. I naturally agreed, feeling a bit like a c-list celebrity, and was so surprised that I missed how close they were getting or how they were blushing before they approached me. It was only as they turned the corner of the keep just as they were leaving eyeshot that one looked back and waved at me, but by then I was already heading off in the other direction and could not really double back on myself without making it obvious and risking a confrontation with a group of girls that spoke almost no English.

Due to the main forts ticket booth having no change, even from 50 pound notes, we got seperated from each other and ended up walking around by ourselves for a bit before finally cathcing up with each other before leaving again.

Arriving in Cairo, Egypt

This morning was a little sombre as the news in the apartment block all seemed to be a little bit doom and gloom, with news of my friends visa added to this being my last morning here.

As a nice finishing touch I downloaded some photos for them before I had to pack up all my stuff and once again head of towards yet another airport, but at least this time my friend was taking me there.

Once I got to the airport it was the perfect arrival time of just a fraction longer than two hours before flight time, so ideal for check in and then boarding. Or at least it would have been if the flight was not moved to a different gate twice and delayed twice, making it a much more hectic time and meant that a mini trip to see the pyramids today was out of the question.

However in the line up queue in front of me were two very friendly teachers from the states and once we heard the news that our flight was delayed we got bored and went off for a coffee.

As luck would have it the second time the flight gate was moved to it ended up right outside our coffee shop, which sort of made sence to us, and so we just sat, drank tea and talked til everyone else had already boarded the flight and then joined the back of the line.

The flight was further delayed by standing on the tarmac and unfortunately I wasn't sat anywhere near my two new friends A' & B' but at the least we had arranged to meet up again on the other side and clear customs together.

Once customs was cleared, at the expense of 85 LE sticky visa stamp, I pulled off a bit of a coup as I managed to ride with them in their privately arranged taxi paid for by the hotel for guests staying longer than 6 nights, complete with an old battered meter that is easily twice as old as I am.

By the time we reached out hotel it was still daytime just, but the location was in such a weird and hard to find location that we all had reservations about if we or even a taxi driver could ever find it again, especially late at night.

Once in the hotel there turned out to be no spare rooms for me, so I was bowled over when A' & B' said that I could stay in their room, which had a whopping 4 beds inside it, and that we could just split the bill three ways for the two nights I was there. This was great for me, as it saved me a lot of time and money, not to mention it gave us all more time to chat and get to know each other and within minutes we were plotting and planning where we could go and what we could do.

Just at that moment one of the guys from the next room came in and told us that he had arrived yesterday and that the taxi driver had stolen his passport and wallet while he was rubber necking his way from the airport. However far being a very bad story, the next day ( being today ) he was sent for by the police as they had caught the theif working over yet another tourist while he still had our guys wallet and passport on him. The thief was forced to give back our guys money and then he was given a bit of a beating, right then and there in from on teh guest, before being taken away and thrown into jail. So for him he has what I think amounts to a nice story already and he has yet to visit anyplace.

My friends A' & B' then found out that a few of their other teacher colleagues were also staying here in the same little hotel, so we all arranged to go have dinner and then maybe even stroll through one of the nighttime bazarres if we got time.

For the meal we went to a place called La Bodega, which was a very funky place to visit ... done up like the 1920's and 30's all Toulouse La Trek with the decorations and the prices were very reasonable. For the next few hours we all just sat around the table and swapped stories and travel hints. Although I had done more of South America than most of the group, they sure had me down cold for visiting places like Africa or the Middle East, with the Far East and Europe being about equal.

My experiences travelling had always been either to visit friends or sighseing but with their overseas teaching, aid work and peace keeping efforts where they had worked and lived for two or three years in plenty of places and so had a real chance to get to know the locals, find the good haunts and chance upon discovering some terrific stories and urban legends, which I feel should be written up.

After some good company and scrummy food we then went for a trip down memory lane for some of us while other wandered anew as we went to a few restaurants, antique shops and such all looking for just things that looked shiney and even had fun practicing haggle with the locals just for fun.

My best tip learned ws not to bother arguing with the local taxi drivers, but to first fix a price and anything more than 20 pounds while inside cairo city centre is being over generous, and for anyone who forgets this then the best advice is then to get out without paying at the other end and then just pass through around 10 or 15 pounds, to which they will all say is not enough but then they would say that if you gave them 50 or even 150 it would still be "no no, a little more, is not enough !!!"

Finally with a very early start train ride to Alexandria tomorrow morning we all figured it would be best to go back and try to get some sleep, so my opportunity to see Belly Dancing or smoke shisha and not to mention that I will be try to visit the Pyramids early morning the next day before leaving for an early afternoon flight to Athens.