The aroma of Coffee and the warm breathe of pan-o-chocolat was what greeted me at my first moments of consciousness. Jeff in all his magnanimity and general kindness brought my breakfast over to me in bed, and laughed with his good natured smirk and told me to make sure "you put that in the blog." ((It should be noted, that it would have made the blog either way)).
We packed our things, doing all that we could to rearrange our bags to fit our carry on's into them. Security was on high alert because of the attempted terrorist attacks. And the only possessions that we were allowed to have was the contents of a small translucent ugly plastic bag. Jeff gave me a look that was something like, "Can you believe we are really walking around with these plastic bags?" And I was thinking the same thing.
Traveling with a Rock Star:
Traveling with Jeff is an experience of its own. He wears just the right clothes to be both comfortable and give off an air that tells people to do what he says. He wears casual blue jeans, a white polo and a nice suit jacket, which combines to make him seem both professional and a nice guy to know. He knows the travel industry in and out, so when he talks to you, he knows what he is talking about and if he asks you something--he knows that it is possible and how the system work. It seems like to me if I was someone in the travel industry, Jeff would be the type of person I would want to deal with, someone who knows how to use the system to his best advantage, while never asking the impossible or abusing your services.
We got to the airport several hours earlier than when our flight left and we warned of the perilous lines that awaited us at Heathrow Airport. Which, as it turned out as 100% correct. My first reaction was to boldly prepare for the long, slow, boring 2 hours ahead of me staring at someone else’s butt. I mean—not that I would stare at anyone’ bum. I mean staring at the ground, or the ceiling or our bags or anywhere other than someone’s bum. Moving on. Anyways, luckily I was blessed to be with Jeff. Who calmly took in the mile long lines, swamped ticket counters, and disgruntled drones waiting for their number to finally be called. He quickly swiveled his way to the front of the line at the first class ticket counter, and I by this point had a slightly incredulous look on my face which only heightened when Jeff motioned me to follow him with the bags. This time I really did stare at the ground as I walked past all the other mere mortals who had to wait in line and who gave me a stare of death when I politely said, “Excuse me, I have to go to the front.” 15 minutes later we were in the first class lounge, eating a second breakfast and dozing on the soft leather couches they have.
The trip to Frankfurt was uneventful and would have boring because the terrorist had stolen our carry ons away from us. Well, practically. Jeff and I talked to pass the time. I am not sure about what, I think it had something to do with golf communities and how they are bigger money than ever. I will have to remember that if I ever get mountains money to invest in something.
At Frankfurt we bypassed several more lines, and I was severely embarrassed in a good way. I just tried to follow Jeff’s smooth and suave lead. We spent another couple hours in an amazing first class lounge that looked like something out of a magazine with its modern furniture and wide windows that looked out as the dinosaur planes evolved into flight. They also happened to have a full gourmet buffet at our disposal and I was asked what I would like to drink several times before I could even sit down, “Would you like a coke sir? Would you like champagne? Can I get you anything to drink?” Jeff and I ordered some shrimp, amazing meat balls, fried mushrooms and calamari, and Jeff taught me how to say, “I would like a coke to drink please” in German. I never quite got it. I did get 'thank you' down pretty well though.
The flight to Egypt was pretty long, and I got to sit by a boy about 13 or 14 years old, who was from Egypt and spoke both German and English well enough to converse with me comfortably. His name was Mustov and he really liked Football (soccer). I like soccer too, so we got along well.
We arrived in Egypt around 8:00 o’clock and we were met by a representative from The Four Seasons, who cunningly guided us through lines and customs with us doing little more than smiling occasionally. Yet again, Jeff’s powers and quality of travel amazed me.
We got to the hotel around 9:00. And after hanging around the room for an hour or so, we started to wonder what had happened to Joel who was supposed to meet us at around 9:15. So, we decided that we must go searching for him….at the pool area, actually in the warm pool on the starry night. Joel eventually found us, and we ate a delicious dinner by the pool and laughed at all of Joel’s crazy adventures that he had.
A belly dancer came out (by this time it was well past 12), but we left shortly after that so we could get some sleep, so we might be fresh and ready for the perils that comes along with exploring Ancient Egypt.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home