My Diary

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	did you know..... Egypt's official language is Arabic

Sunday 16th February

Well, it really is happening! I'm waiting at Terminal 3 but where is everyone? Terry approaches me after identifying me by my cycle helmet hanging from my rucksack!
Eventually we're at full force, every one is filling in luggage labels, laughing at each others passport photos and introducing themselves - making those first tentative steps towards friendship.

We seem to queue and wait a lot in Heathrow but finally we board the plane and we're off! I'm so excited but nervous too about what may be waiting for me. The journey is long and involves transferring to a smaller plane from Cairo to Luxor. It's about 3am by the time we get to our boat and everyone is flagging. I'm in cabin 310 sharing with Lindsay who I haven't met yet. She comes and finds me and introduces herself as Ted (long story!). She seems pretty mad like me so I reckon we'll get along just fine!

	Egyptian facts and figures The area of the county is 998,000 sq km The total population is 66,000,000 This works out at 66 people per sq km Cairo is the capital city Cario's population is 6,800,000

It's 4 am and we have the window to our cabin wide open trying to take in the sounds (and smells!) of Egypt as we sail south along the Nile towards Esna. I drift off to sleep to the sound of the call to prayer from a Nileside mosque. I'm overjoyed to be here.

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