Getting and Arriving There

It's 5am.... It's raining..... It can only be Manchester ! Still, a few hours later we would be in Egypt at the start of an interesting trip. The Britannia aeroplane took off on time and away we went. Usual cloud over England but this cleared as we flew over Europe and down the coast of Greece. We were provided with a standard aircraft meal in the standard foil pack, but I must be a bit weird as I tend to like them ! It was a bit cramped on the 'plane and I'm not over tall so I don't think I would have liked to have spent any longer on it. Immigration cards were handed out for us to fill in on the plane. As we flew over Egypt, following the course of the Nile (which apparently is the only river in the world which flows south to north) I could not believe the vast expanse of the desert for miles and miles either side of the fertile and green banks of the river.

We touched down at Luxor airport on time and boarded a bus to the terminal. At this point, we began to worry as Luxor is not a very pretty airport, in fact it's a dump ! Don't expect the facilities you have at UK airports. But don't be put off ! Usual queue to get through immigration and collect a Visa (if you hadn't got one in England) and then onto baggage collection and customs. Now, if you have a video recorder you MUST declare it at customs (Note: On a subsequent visit in 2005, this was not necessary). They will stamp your passport and enter the serial number and a pile of writing in your passport and surprisingly there was no charge for this. Overall, there was minimal fuss as we passed through customs and were directed to our air-conditioned coach by the Thomson's representatives.

Cabins on the boat had already been allocated and we were given the numbers by our representative, who also put sticky labels on our cases. Once on the coach, it was a short 20 minute journey to the boat which gave us time to fill in yet another immigration form. The coach journey took us past Luxor Museum, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple and the Winter Palace Hotel which gave us a taste of what was to come in the next few days. At this point, my wife got a bit overcome, realising that her dream had finally come true - she was in Egypt. Arriving at the boat, our passports were handed in and keys for the cabins handed over with our cases being brought from the coach by the cabin crew ... now this is where you first need some 'baksheesh'. Unfortunately, I only had big 'baksheesh' so it was a bit embarrassing ... hence, take some small notes if you can get them !

Once settled in our cabins which were on the 'ground floor' and just above the water mark, there was time to unwind before attending the welcome meeting prior to evening meal. Our representative struggled a bit at the welcome meeting and it was his first Thomson's 'assignment' so a bit of a baptism of fire. Although he was enthusiastic and friendly and keen to impart all the information he had to, he lacked a bit presentation wise. However, as most of the excursions were included in the price, there wasn't any pressure to take any of the extra, optional ones which is sometimes the case at these welcome meetings.

The MS Nile Commodore at the time that we sailed on it only had British clients and it appeared that it was dedicated to Thomson's customers only as there were no other representatives or other company's notice boards on the ship.