Thanks, all. It's been a full, wonderful, exhausting and exhiliarating trip.

I'm adding a few more photos to the album. It's the "While on De Nile" album. Hope you like!

www.kodakgallery.com User ID cruise@yahoo.com password cc

Cheers, Cleo

Cleo,
You and MA have experienced a trip of a lifetime, worthy of your greatness! Sharing your descriptive, incredible reports and photos with your loyal subjects back in the US has been the next best thing to being there! Thank you. Petra must have been an awesome experience!

BTW, As a loyal subject should, I contacted Crowne Plaza and told them of your visit and to ensure that their bathrooms were sparkling clean for you!

Safe travels, Cleo and MA! Sadly, no longer in De Nile and back to Reality Checkque!

Will someone please convince Cleo to get these posts into Conde Nast! :nw:

I agree - it would be such a shame for this to not be enjoyed by many people.

Cleo, thank you for the awesome posts. What a trip!

Oh my, Cleo! I can't stop laughing over that donkey ride! My arm(s) are throbbing imagining hanging on - especially on the way down!! We can get you (& the donkey) a good deal on rotator cuff repair! Mercy!

Thanks for taking us along...we're rarin' to pick up your footsteps on CAMEL now. :)

Eau Wow! Thanks for scouting the way for CAMEL. Applause to you and Gary for braving the donkey ride and your marvelous descriptions of Petra.....it's only a year away for us! I'll ask many questions when I see you two on FJORDS!

Safe trip home

Thanks to all of you for taking the interest and time to come along on this amazing journey.

A short last post

We left at 10 am for Wadi Rum, or Rum Valley. On the way, our guide Ruby stopped to show us a cave hotel in the hills above Petra. It reminded us so much of the hotel we liked in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. One last shopping tip: the Dead Sea beauty products are excellent and inexpensive. My skin is looking better already.

The desert comes alive at Wadi Rum. This experience ran a close second to our day at Petra and is less physically demanding. Ruby, our guide, recommends you come in the afternoon & sleep out in the desert to enjoy the massive view of the stars at night. I would like to do that next time I visit. I didn't understand what they meant by a "sea of sand". It turns out there are broad streams of different color sand; it shifts with the wind and earth. The landscape includes waves of different colors, hence the "sea of sand" description. There are rock formations I've not seen before. They look like a cake with chocolate melting down its sides.

Ruby dutifully pointed out Lawrence of Arabia's Seven Pillars stone. We enjoyed our 4X4 ride with the Bedouin, and drank the most fragrant spice tea, made with fresh herbs and carefully brewed with hot, not boiling, water. Our shoes accumulated some sand dust, just in time for Easter. They are a bright shade of orange. We spent the rest of the time driving back to the airport, discussing recipes. Ruby could not decide if I was making up the idea of a turducken or if it was truly served in America. She then laughed and said the Bedouin version would be a small goat stuffed inside a sheep stuffed inside a camel. Could you imagine THAT served at your wedding reception?

We arrived right on time at the airport and are now waiting for our flight to Cairo. Ah yes .. return to RealityCheckque. It's going to be a full throttle experience, I expect.

Cheers, Anne (once again shedding another great persona for a great trip)

Cleo; you and Marc A have experienced what many people (myself included) will never experience in their lifetime - thanks for taking us with you via the computer! :app:

Anne,
Thanks for posting. It was great fun to read about your adventure. Alan and I are looking forward to meeting you both on Panda.

Merril

Anne....as always, traveling with you is an adventure and a joy! Thanks for sharing all of your experiences.

Margo

Cleo,
I think I found a pic of Cockoo....

Thank you for your wonderful photos and reports. I know that the CAMEL folks appreciate you and Marc A blazing the trail!

Terrific reports Anne! :nw:

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Cuckoo bids Cleo goodbye!

Waaaa, I am sad that the trip has come to an end! What amazes me most is how Anne remembers all those details, I am not even sure what I had for breakfast today!

Anne: I will miss your reports too! They were so enjoyable and very entertaining!!!!

We absolutely loved your reports. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dave & Christie

Betty and Suzie .. those are striking likenesses to Cuckoo! I wonder where Cuckoo's mouth has been hanging out ..

Gary suggests the Bedouin version of the turducken (camel stuffed with sheep stuffed with small goat) be marketed as a CAMELSHOT.

It was a zoo clearing immigration in Cairo. A group from Kentucky decided on the activist route when the incoming Egyptians were, in their opinion, cutting the line for immigration. The protest paid off .. the official just shut his line down & dispersed everyone to the back of the other lines and an extra hour's wait.

Mr. Nassar met us sporting a Brown and Keene business card, scolded the folks under his breath and then he & a few of his buddies calmed the officer down. He let us slip through with only a 40 minute wait. Then Mr. Nassar dropped us at the Movenpick airport hotel for a few hours. Much better than staying in the Cairo airport.

We continued to prop our eyelids open until we could board at 2:30 am. I don't remember anything until 6:30 am when I felt the flight starting to descend into Milan. We treated ourselves to showers, but unfortunately they were cold water only. As we were settling in to a loong wait (flight was scheduled for a 3 pm departure), I decided to make sure it wasn't cancelled. Imagine my pleasant surprise the departure had just been moved up to 10 am (??). Woo hoo! Home much faster.

Cheers, Anne

Welcome home! See you soon...75 more days!

Anne, I have enjoyed EVERY step of your way on this land/cruise! You really should do this for a living, and at least be able to write off the espenses! Like Suzie, I can wait to wee you in 75 more days, if that's what she says it is til FJORDS!

Lucky Anne - camels spit and you two will be doing what to Anne? Did you mean see her? :app: :rolleyes: :lct: :pass:

Joanna :D I can't wait to wee everybody too! :pass:

I am so excited about seeing you all I am weeing too :3smile: :3smile: :3smile: ;) ;) ;)

OMG! Read the last posts first and thought everyone was "losing it!;" then saw the "seeing?/weeing" you!" Really needed the laughs tonight - thanks!!

Kathy: :D :D :D :D :D great group!!!!

:o W is very close to S on the keyboard, and on a Friday night after a long week, doesn't take much!

We'll ALL be weeing until we get to seeing each other! I'm looking forward to both, now that I'm back in the land of plumbing fixtures. LOL!!

Cheers, Anne

Anne, Michele alerted me to your wonderfully witty travelogue. We are doing Egypt with K&D next January & you paint a complete & very informative picture of what we will see.

We have just returned from a Crystal Serenity cruise very similar to CAMEL, Dubai to Istanbul, and you are giong to love that trip. After the cruise we spent an additional 12 days in Greece.

Both Dubai & Greece have great buys in jewelry. A nice way to start & end any vacation!

Jackie, do you know which of the K&D trips you are doing next January? We did the Elegant Egypt tour.

Cheers, Anne

Anne, I'm just now getting around to reading all the travel reports from Cleo. What a fantastic trip! We're glad you had such a great time, and are looking forward to the same on Camel.