April 6th Day 3: Somewhere above the Mediterranean

Chris's Story

We touched down in London at 11:30 am and any feelings of homesickness where rapidly dissolved in the driving rain that greeted the oval window of the airplane as we descended down through the clouds. We waited with bated breath at the luggage carousel and were mentally calculating the odds of all our luggage arriving at the same time. Each piece appeared, one after the other, disgorged unceremoniously from the mouth of the conveyor belt. The only grumble I could complain about was that the wheel bolts had poked through the cardboard boxes, but it did not seem too serious. All will be revealed when we arrive in Cairo. We then went through customs and headed straight to Covent Garden in order to visit a mountaineering shop to purchase some last minute supplies. I would not recommend that anyone walk through the center of London in a pair of shorts and sandals in April in the driving rain. Not only do you get some very odd looks from the members of the public, but it feels like there are icicles forming on your toes. After buying a pair of long trousers and bug spray we went back into the tube and headed to my parents apartment. We had to battle a hurricane strength wind and sheet rain as we ran through Paddington Green. We arrived and were grateful for the warmth of the apartment and the warmth of my parents welcome. Good old Mum had prepared my favorite german delicacy Spatzle ( a homemade pasta type dish with a tasty goulash) I stayed up for a while and updated the family with the latest developments and then crashed out in my old bedroom for a much needed sleep, leaving Frank to watch the Liverpool-Barcelona match on TV with my Dad.

The next day we headed to Terminal 3 and picked up our bikes from the left luggage office and headed by Heathrow express to Terminal 4 (see photo opportunity with Daren the Lion). We were suitably impressed by the quality of the train owned by British Airways. It was very clean, had onboard video with sound system and even public phone boxes! We arrived at Terminal 4 and proceeded to the check in counter. There was a fleeting moment where we thought our bikes would have to be disinfected due to the foot and mouth epidemic, but we managed to convince the check in lady that they had not left their boxes in the country and so the boxes remained intact. We then went through and after a two hour wait we boarded our 747 British Airways Jumbo destined for Al Qahira (Cairo). About time for Frank to say a few words.

Frank's Story

Hello Mum, Dad, "C", Family and Friends and all who are following our adventure

It is now 10.40 pm ( 3.40 pm in Cayman ) and we are 45 minutes from Cairo. I can now accept the fact that I am excited and looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime. Since my last update I have had another reminder of why I left England almost ten years ago. Driving rain and 40 degree weather upon our arrival at Heathrow. Luggage drop off, a one hour tube ride, a dash around London stores and finally to the warmth of Chris's parents, and their home. Whilst I had been hungry for several hours Chris had been watering my mouth with his description of his mother's specialty. After a refreshing drink it was attack of the SPATZLE. I was not disappointed. It was then time to collapse or relax and get to know Chris's family. I was determined to stay up to watch Liverpool v Barcelona but by 7.00 pm Chris had crashed for the night. I contacted my family and " C " and sent a few e-mails before retiring at about 11.00 pm. Chris slept in his own room and I was on the sofa bed in the living room. At about 7.00 am Chris woke me and said he was ready for the day ahead, I seized the opportunity and used his room to take a nap. I was then rudely awoken at 12.15pm by Chris telling me we had to leave. After a quick wash we were off, all refreshed. Another trip on the tube and a trip to the British Airways counter. Chris was very persuasive in getting the charge for the bicycles waived, saving $200 dollars. That brings me up to date and 30 minutes from landing. It is a 4 hour 15 min flight to Cairo and I had salmon for dinner, probably my last dinner for a while. It will be fun trying to get all our luggage in a taxi to the hotel at midnight in Cairo. I will say bye for now and speak with you al tomorrow when the real journey begins. Meetings with the Ambassador and Chief of Police to name but a few items on our agenda OH ! and the fun of assembling the bikes in our hotel without our DENNIS. I must go as Chris ( Dad and Mr. TECHNO ) needs to put the computer away. Until tomorrow !!

April 7th Day 4

Chris's Story

Warmth and big lines greet us when we enter Cairo airport. We queue up in line for about 45 minutes before we get to the immigration officer. The woman in the queue before us was whisked away to a room with the sign "Quarantine" hung outside! So with a degree of trepidation we approach the immigration officer who informs us we have to go to the back of the line in order to purchase a visa. We line up again and 15 minutes later we are in front of the immigration officer again who this time lets us through without problems. We gather our baggage and head towards customs. They stop us and ask us what is in the boxes. We explain that we are going to be riding from Alexandria to Aswan on bicycles and that these were our bikes. He shakes his head as if to say these English men must be mad, and then welcomes us to Egypt and lets us through. We are then surrounded by taxi drivers who ask us if we want a ride. The haggling begins and we eventually settle on Abdul Hamid who drives a 1957 Dodge station wagon. He places the baggage on the roof and ties it down with a piece of rope. We say a quick prayer hoping that it all will get to our hotel and we set off into the heart of Cairo at midnight.

Abdul does not seem to pay any heed to lanes or speed limits or any other road rules as a matter of fact. He is however amicable and we hold a rather animated discussion in Arabic about his children and his home town of Aswan( In the south of Egypt) We arrive at the hotel and he has to take his dodge into a 6 point turn to make the sharp bend into the Hotel's driveway. By the time we make it to the front of the entrance a small crowd of porters and onlookers have gathered staring at these two rather strange looking foreigners arriving in such an antique relic of a bygone age. Every other car in the parking lot is a BMW or a Mercedes not more than three years old!! Anyway we proceed undeterred and unload our baggage from the roof of the cab. The porters take over and we are glad to be relieved from the burden! As we check in the concierge comments on what a lovely car we arrived in. We told him that it had lots of character!! He then told us that we have been placed in a Queens Room which we weren't quite sure how to take!! The concierge added that all the rooms were full and that just for tonight we would have to endure the luxury of a suite on the 22nd floor. We begrudgingly accepted the room!!!!!!! The room had a lush view of the Nile by night as well as lots of goodies which Frank promptly stashed away in his panniers!!

We began to check that everything had made it in one piece and then I made the fatal error of allowing Frank the TV remote! I nearly ended up with Schizophrenia !! I don't think I watched one channel for more than 10 seconds before it was unceremoniously flicked to a next one! I eventually drifted off into a slumber in which my location seemed to change every 10 seconds compounded with a running commentary of a Preston North End vs. Burnely match eerily echoing in the background!!! I wonder who was to blame for this?!!

We wake up at 10:00am and get our bags packed and move into our new room on the 16th floor. The view again is pretty decent and we have no complaints.

We get ready preparing our itinerary for the day. First stop the British Embassy, which was closed! Not a good start to the day. Not to be too disheartened I decide to visit my favorite Restaurant in Downtown Cairo for some lunch. We arrive and it too is closed!! Now I was getting grumpy! I resorted to plan B and went to my 2nd favorite restaurant which was thankfully open and we tucked into a hearty helping of Kushari, an Egyptian staple dish consisting of pasta, lentils, fried onions, chick peas, rice and a tomato sauce. Amazingly enough "Mr. I'm fussy about foreign food Frank" actually braved the local food and said he enjoyed it. Suitably refreshed from a filling meal we headed to the Tourist police headquarters. I shall leave that part of our story to Frank to describe.

The evening was spent with a relaxing trip down the Nile where I began preparing myself mentally for the beginning of our actual cycling. Will write some more when we arrive in Alexandria. Let the adventures begin and never end!!

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