Join me as I travel halfway across the globe!  I’m beginning a 10 day tour of Egypt (as group leader) with 18 ducklings in tow, including my parents who’ve never been in the 15 years I’ve been going back and forth.

I kind of had to redefine the “12th” today – since i ended the day in Cairo, I decided to start at 4 pm in Houston, which is midnight in Cairo and, hence, the beginning of the day.

4 PM Houston / Midnight Cairo: Outbound

Yeh, this one was also my photo of the day for yesterday,  It’s not like I have a whole lot of choices here, kids. This is my mom, engaged in reading something as we wait for pushback from Houston.

5:33 PM Houston/1:33 AM Cairo: Happy Hour

Why do I love thee, Air France?  Let me count the free bottles of wine ways.

6:15 am Paris / 7:15 am Cairo: Predawn over the Irish Sea

8:57 am Paris/9:57 am Cairo: Architecture at Paris/Charles de Gaulle

No offense to the French, but for a nation that prides itself on its culinary output, the restaurants at the airport suck.  Not much else to do but wander around and take photos of the architecture in Terminal 2F.

11:02 Paris / 12:02 Cairo: Goods news/bad news

Good news/bad news: the good news is that three of my group were coming from Detroit and their flight was delayed.  It turns out that the aircraft that they were arriving on was the one that was to take us to Cairo, so they wouldn’t miss the connection(not that anyone told them – they ran from the moment they got off the plane). The bad news, of course, is that this put us into Cairo an hour late, which is not the best news after an overnight flight.

11:15 am Paris / 12:15 pm Cairo: universal symbols.

The way I read this, this seat is reserved for morbidly obese women who can cross their legs, and for the terminally constipated.

1:08 pm Paris/ 2:08 pm Cairo

More architecture.  I was trying to keep myself awake.

2:28 pm Paris / 3:28 pm Cairo: Taxiing out

The plane had one of those cameras so you could watch where you were going.  Neat.

Also, for the record, the seat on the Air France A330 may have been the least comfortable airline seat I’ve ever sat in.

5:36 pm Cairo: Snow in Greece?  That’s Unpossible!

6:22 pm Cairo: Sunset over the Aegean

8:29 pm: We’re here!

And so, after 23 hours of travel, we arrive in Cairo—missing two people, who are stuck in New York and will arrive tomorrow.  Insha’allah.

How was your 12th?