I counted that I took 12 plane rides on this trip, as follows: LAX --> London --> Rome --> Cairo --> Luxor; then, Aswan --> Abu Simbel --> Aswan --> Cairo --> Rome --> Catania --> Rome --> London --> LAX. Each "-->" is a plane ride. No luggage was left behind, but just in case I had spare undies in my carry-on. Frankly, with that heat I could only wear clothes half a day tops before having to throw them in the hamper (I did 3 laundries while I was away).
I'm still waiting for the photos my dad took, he's having technical difficulties, such as his computer deleting stuff so it's unclear at this point what will be saved and blogged. Meanwhile, I can start playing with my photos and making some Flickr sets, though you've seen a good chunk of the pics.
Here are some pics from the boat:
This was my cabin. The curtains are closed, unlike on the nice link for the boat, because it was 115F outside.
Since this was a cruise, after all, we got the towel "animals" a couple of times. One of them was this elephant - cute, right?
The next night, this dude welcomed me back to my cabin, which scared the beejebus out of me.
That stupid dummy is lucky I wasn't holding a baseball bat in one hand otherwise the towel dummy would have gotten it! Yeah! No, seriously, it was creepy as all get out, and it totally scared me. I had to take it apart immediately.
Here's the view from the little porch outside my cabin.
On the third night we had Egyptian night, where we all wore native clothes, ate native foods, and then danced like idiots in our little dresses. Here's the group shot:
So I guess this year I might have a costume for Halloween, except that these clothes are designed to be worn in extreme heat, not in the dead of winter, so don't count on it.
Below is my dad, a la Lawrence of Arabia.
He soon discovered that he had to hitch up his skirt to make it up the stairs.
I think my work here is done.

