About 20 years ago, I spent 8 weeks going down (or was it up the Nile?) from Alexandria to Aswan. It was on a luxury tourist boat that held about 250 passengers. While the accommodations weren’t super luxurious, they were wonderful and it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken.
Every morning we would get up about 5 am and be on the tour bus by 6 am. That was so we could get out ahead of all of the other tourist groups and so that we would miss the heat of the day. It was usually about a half hour drive to the antiquity site. Then we would spend a few hours being guided by an Engyptologist, then we would return to the boat for lunch. While we were lunching, the boat would cruise down the Nile to our next location.
After lunch it was time for a nap or to grab my bathing suit and sit by the pool. I figured that I would never be able to sit on the deck of a boat and watch the Nile shore go by again. So I always opted for a comfy deck chair by the pool. Because Egypt is a Moslem country and very conservative when it comes to their view of women’s clothing, I left my bikini in my suitcase and opted instead for a prim and proper halter swimdress. Even with that American women were often chastised by the Egyptian male crew for what we wore.
After the boat reached its afternoon destination about 3pm, we would change back into tourist clothing and go out for our afternoon antiquity excursion. It generally wasn’t as long as the morning about maybe two hours.
When we returned to the boat, we had time to shower and change for cocktails and dinner. Between cocktails and dinner our resident Egyptologist reviewed what we had seen that day and answered any questions. Then he would spend a few minutes telling us what tomorrow would bring. Because the Egyptian names were so hard for us to remember, all of the repetition was really useful.
Because of early wake up calls and lots of walking on our outings, most of us were sound asleep by 9pm. It was a wonderful way to spend two months!
