Mattopia Jones

Planning and Plotting

As I mentioned in the introduction, the big impetus to finally go to Egypt was the return of Indiana Jones. Watching the premiere of the first trailer featuring the first new footage of Harrison Ford as Indy Jones in 15 years (let's not forget Ford's cameo on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles back in 1993), I got the "Jones," so to speak, to do something BIG.

But one nagging problem persisted, the same problem that has kept me away from Egypt. It's a politically "hot" area. Lots of tensions in bordering areas like Gaza and Israel, genocide in Sudan to the south. And my own bitter memories of constant harrassment in Morocco still linger.

But, oh yeah, Egypt would be ideal. And to spend my birthday at the Pyramids of Giza? Perfect!

With thoughts bouncing around the walls of my mind, it seemed fateful when Michael Slackman had a column in The New York Times Travel section about 36 hours in Cairo. He had some activity and hotel recommendations... Hmmm... I contacted the man with my situation and concerns. He replied! And he put my mind at ease. Excellent. I'm very appreciative.

But I was also wrong about Mr. Slackman. I figured he was "just" a travel writer. The very next week, he had a story on the front page of the Sunday Times about the growing surge in Islamic radicals in Egypt. He's not "just" a travel writer. He's the Times' "man in Cairo."

And with that, it became clear: Now is the time to go. Things will only get more complicated in the future.

Confessions of a multi-tasker: I put the bulk of this plan together while watching the 2006 remake of The Omen and listening to the filmmakers' commentary on Blu-ray. It was one of the five free discs I got in the mail after buying my Playstation 3. Yeah, it was a pretty crummy selection of movies to choose from, although Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was definitely the highlight freebie and a title I would've bought otherwise.

Anyway, in tinkering with the various airline Web sites, the planning became more intricate. I noticed, shockingly, that it was actually cheaper to fly into LaGuardia and fly out of Newark using United's "multi-city" itinerary option. That was when things started falling into place quite elegantly.

The trick was to figure out a way from New York to Egypt. The flights were limited and the cost varied. In mulling it all over, one thing also occurred to me, based on my experience in Morocco: I'd most likely need some "cool off" time before heading home after spending eight days in Egypt. Air France and, as I recall, EgyptAir could get me from New York to Paris. But a weekend in Amsterdam would be the perfect, stress-free remedy, simply because of all the time I've spent there in the past, the (long) three years since I got that Euro vibe (back on the Vertigo tour), and the number of convenient favorite spots for a pint and grub. I like to think of it as "home base" for my European adventures.

Yes. The plans quickly started to take flight, pun intended.

Here's the final itinerary, a masterpiece of travel planning:

There were many choices to make and one of the options that ultimately had to be dropped was a day trip to Alexandria. Maybe next time. As it stands, the night train to and from Luxor helped maximize time efficiency.

Looking ahead to this trip, I knew it was going to be daunting. Looking back on it all, it most certainly was a heckuva lot of work, but it was also mighty exhilirating and worth every ounce of sweat.

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