Epic Highs & Unwelcome Lows I Had Cruising the Nile!

Name: Epic Highs & Unwelcome Lows I Had Cruising the Nile! | Open Video
Uploaded: 2025-01-28T05:42:20+00:00
Duration: 14 min 43 s

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it never crossed my mind that I would
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have to sleep on the bathroom floor on
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my Amma waterways Nile river cruise to
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avoid a downside that no one had warned
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me about I instead of course have been
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warned to watch out for things like
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safety issues pushy vendors getting the
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infamous Egyptian upset stomach so in
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the end how did I find it all was it
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worth it even with those nights sleeping
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on the bathroom floor welcome aboard I'm
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Gary bembridge let's start with the
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highs first off although I knew it would
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be impressive nothing had prepared me
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for the actual Grandeur of the sites
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themselves Miami waterways trip by the
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way was 11 days started with three
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nights in Cairo a seven night Nile River
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Cruise selling from Luxor to Aswan and
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back and one final night back in Cairo
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while in that City they took us to see
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the three enormous pyramids and the
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Great Sphinx at Giza where many guests
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also went on camera rides two other
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Cairo how highlights for me with the
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alabaster mosque at the Citadel of Salah
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eladin and of course the famous Museum
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of Egyptian Antiquities but for me the
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absolute best sites were on the cruise
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itself at the start in Luxor we visited
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the Valley of the Queens to see the
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remarkable nefertari's tomb and others
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like titi's tomb who was wife of
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Ramesses III in Valley of the Kings I
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got to see Tutankhamun's tomb and three
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other magnificent tombs with the most
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remarkable being titi's husband Ramesses
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III's tomb stretching deep into the
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hillside we also spent time which I
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loved at the multi-level Queen hat cheap
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shoots Temple carved into the
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Mountainside this is one of my absolute
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favorites from the entire trip also in
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like so we explored the almost 250 acre
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Karnak Temple complex which transported
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me by the way into scenes that I
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remember from Agatha Christie's death on
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the Nile film we also ventured North to
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the Temple of hathor goddess of love
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near Queener with his magnificent blue
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ceilings depicting the Zodiac then on
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the sailings to and from Luxor to Aswan
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we call it an edfu to see the enormous
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Temple of Horus and at com umbo visited
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the only Temple dedicated to two Gods
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Sobek the crocodile God and where is the
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falcon-headed good doctor God once in
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Aswan we explored the philai temple
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which was moved in its entirety from an
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island that was going to disappear under
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Rising lake waters to a totally new
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island I also experienced two things in
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Aswan that will stay with me forever
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first we're selling on a feluca from the
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amadalia ship I was on to have afternoon
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tea at the famous old cataract hotel
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where Agatha Christie spent time writing
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death on the Nile and second was Abu
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simbel these massive and jaw-dropping
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temples were moved 62 meters up and 200
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meters along to avoid the rising Waters
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when Lake NASA was built in the 1960s
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ever since I was 10 years old when I
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learned to this I wanted to see it it
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was the absolute highlight for me of the
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entire trip seeing so much packed into a
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10-day trip was something I loved about
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this trip though with so many temples
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and so many tombs many people have asked
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me if I got tomb fatigue while of course
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seeing so much could have got repetitive
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it was not thanks to the egyptologist
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guides on Amber waterways there was one
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per group of 24 passengers I discovered
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to become an egyptologist takes four
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year study and I found mine no mean a
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mountain of information she was
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entertaining knowledgeable and actually
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a dab hand at helping us navigate some
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of the challenges that I will come to
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later I came away convinced that no mean
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was crucial in making my trip so if you
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ever Cruise the Nile make sure you check
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just how good the company you're
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considering is rated for the Egypt
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ecologist guides fundamentally critical
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another best thing for me was sailing
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the Nile itself unfortunately there
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wasn't as much sailing as I'd hoped
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because the distance covered is not that
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far it's just about 140 miles that's 225
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kilometers from Luxor to Aswan and many
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days we did not sell at all and we were
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docked overnight more on that later as
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that brought some really unwelcome
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downsides but when selling it was
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beautiful and calming I especially
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enjoyed our first day of sailing when
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all the ships departed Luxor roughly the
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same time and raced each other down to
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the Esna locks which are between Luxor
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and Aswan only two ships can enter the
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locks at a time and it's on a first come
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first serve basis watching the ship's
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kind of jostling down the river was
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really really entertaining one of the
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fun things once after locks were the
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vendors in tiny little robots that
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surrounded the ship shouting up about
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what they were selling throwing items up
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to guests high up on the sun deck and
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kind of negotiating from there it was
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really entertaining and unthreatening
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unlike the vendors on land that again I
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will come to a little bit later another
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thing I also really liked was my Emma
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waterways Fair as with most Nile cruises
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was all-inclusive and pretty much
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everything was included and that
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included someone on hand guiding us all
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the time from arrival to departure which
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as you will see later is really really
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important it was not a cheap trip and
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the 11 nights including pre and post
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days and Cairo cost based on your cabin
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type between about nine thousand US
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Dollars and 12 000 US dollars per couple
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excluding flights that's about seven
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thousand Pounds to about nine thousand
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five hundred pounds now within that fair
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I like that I was met before immigration
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at the airport and guided through had
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all transfers hotels in Cairo flights to
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and from Luxor the river cruise entry to
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all the sites food breakfast lunch often
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in tea and dinner Wi-Fi although it
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wasn't that good daily Sip and sale hour
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with all drinks using Egyptian Spirits
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every single evening Egyptian beers and
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wines with lunch and dinner
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entertainment events and the cruise
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manager Walla and those egyptologists I
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spoke about earlier the only extra cost
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by the way were all optional and those
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were gratuities which were about 250
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dollars per person for the land and
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cruise teams are quite High laundry of
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course and in three optional tours
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abusabel 350 roughly because that
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involved flights the old cataract Hotel
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afternoon tea about 50 and those camel
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rides at Giza Pyramids so all of those
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were the best parts now let me talk
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about some unexpected lows about Nile
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River cruising starting with this really
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important one I was told by the crew
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that there are at least
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250 ships sailing the Nile which means
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it is very busy because all are selling
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that short 140 miles or so between Luxor
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and Aswan which is why I saw 50 or more
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ships docked in some places for example
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as we pull into edfu to visit the Temple
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of Horus I counted 50 ships there and I
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counted even more in S180 gave up
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counting as there were limited places to
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dock ship stock side by side sometimes
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four or five ships deep and also in rows
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and on some occasions I had four ships
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to walk through just to get onto the
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bank it also meant that my cabin often
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had another ship at just literally a few
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feet away making a kind of dark venues
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like the dining room and Lounge would
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have the same too this of course happens
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on European river cruises too but a
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difference here created another problem
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unlike in Europe there's no short side
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power to plug into in Europe the river
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cruises ships seemed to mostly switch
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their engines off and use electricity
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when they're docked in Egypt the noisy
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and fume generating petrol or diesel
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engines run 24 hours a day seven days a
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week whether they're sailing or or not
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and because they dock in rows close in
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front I discovered that a cabin like
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mine close to the front is unbelievably
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noisy from those engines just a few feet
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away from you that's why the first and
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last night doctor overnight in Luxor
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even with earplugs I ended up making a
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bed in my bathroom to close the door and
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try and reduce the noise it was
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unbelievably noisy so make sure you book
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midship as cabins at the rear could also
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have vibrational noise from your ship's
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engines too this is very key because
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ships are docked almost every single
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night we were docked for six of the
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seven nights of the cruise not
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surprising with all the ships the
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land-based visitors and The Limited
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sites to go to meant all the places we
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went were extremely busy I think
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probably the worst was the Valley of the
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Kings which no mean are egyptologists
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called the Valley of the tourists in
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many terms it meant shuffling through
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with lines of people although other
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places including Queen had cheap
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Temple Konica Knoxville temples in Luxor
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and in Cairo at the pyramids in the
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museum they were all jam-packed too one
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good thing about Amber waterways and
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doing a seven night itinerary is they
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did try and visit when places would be a
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little bit less frantic so for example
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at the Temple of Horus we got there
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mid-morning when the bark of the ships
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had finished there are more kind of
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morning visits and were leaving we
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called into com umbo early evening and
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we were the only ship there and when we
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went through the essenor locks on the
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way back to Luxor we went early morning
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when there were no other ships one of
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the downsides of my Nile River Cruise
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was the vendors and the focus on
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shopping is it was basically a bit
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draining every site requires visitors to
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go through a market stall area to get in
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and out there is no way round running
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the vendor Gauntlet the vendors are
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pushy they get in your face and are
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incredibly persistent so I found I just
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had to get ready
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walk bristly through keep my eyes
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forward not glance or look at anything
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not anyone put anything on me nor take
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anything that was offered and just keep
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consistently shaking my head saying no
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no or in fact la la because that
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apparently means no I also by the way I
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was not that excited by what was on sale
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either it seemed to be they all seem to
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be selling the same stuff it all looked
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very mass produced and very touristy on
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the upside there did not seem to be any
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other issues like pickpocketing scams
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and tricks other than over charging now
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the mean told us to aim to pay only
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about 30 percent of what they start
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asking for the other thing which I was
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less keen on although we to be fair
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didn't have a lot of it on our trip
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where shopping trips dressed up as
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excursions for example we went to the
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Luxor Papyrus Institute which really in
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my view was just a shopping trip so we
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did get a short demonstration on high
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Papyrus it's made and we got to paint
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our name in hieroglyphics on a prepared
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parchment kind of in return for the
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shopping trip one of the things I must
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admit that I did constantly think about
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during the trip was getting the upset
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stomach that many people warned me about
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mostly because I was worried about the
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impact it would have on going out on
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those long trips to the sites knowing
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the toilets were limited and generously
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saying not appealing I found the toilets
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overall at the sites were rather grubby
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and you you had to also pay to use them
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they didn't cost much by the way you
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know maybe one US dollar or less would
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suffice but I would not want to really
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sit down in most of them unlike as a
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number of people did on the trip I did
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not get an upset stomach to avoid
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getting one I was a bit obsessed I used
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hand gel all the time and out including
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after touching banknotes as that was a
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tip someone gave me I used bottled water
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supplied by the line both on and off the
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ship including when brushing my teeth
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and rinsing my toothbrush I never had
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ice I avoided salad it's actually the
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first time in my life that I've gone
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nearly two weeks eating no salad and I
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only had food if it was peeled and only
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had cooked vegetables I noticed by the
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way all the bottles of water had
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reminders from the manufacturers to
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check its field before drinking because
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what happens is the vendors fill up
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empty bottles and sell them at the
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various sites which is how some tourists
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actually get upset stomachs apparently
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people that did get upset stomachs told
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me they found Imodium which is what I
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had brought with me did not really work
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but a local remedy the ship provider for
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free if asked worked so that's a good
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tip to remember now the closer I got to
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going the issue of Safety and Security
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worried me because so many people
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started raising it and even when I
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checked the UK foreign office travel
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advice it was full of watch outs that
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sense of worry did hover
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kind of during the trip because
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everywhere we went there were armed
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military and police with barriers
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checkpoints metal screenings to enter
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every single site including the hotel
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and there's up to three screenings at
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airports we also had police escorts a
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few times like from the airport and we
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also had one when we were visiting Kina
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and there was a lingering concern that I
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would inadvertently do something wrong
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for example while the cruise manager
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ordered us to never take photos of the
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police or checkpoints be careful taking
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photos at airports as many have military
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aircraft too not to even take binoculars
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out because that could be misinterpreted
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as spying or suspicious and he advised
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me to not take out some of my camera
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equipment like tripods because again
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that could kind of cause some questions
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with the authorities so while that
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safety was a concern I found traveling
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in the emerald ways kind of bubble
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alleviated most of that because we
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always had someone with us to Shepherd
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us around the issues brief us on what to
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do and intervene if anything arose there
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is for example much online about how
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LGBT people are harassing Egypt and
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being in that bubble I think helped with
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the LGBT couples on our trip they were
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kind of avoid being exposed into that
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risk because we always in a group and
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being Shepherd around so while Safety
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and Security were a concern traveling in
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the ammo Autos bubble for me anyway made
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me feel comfortable and reassured that
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of course for some will be a real
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downside because it means you should be
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staying in the bubble and not truly kind
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of roaming exploring engaging with the
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locals I have to say I never left the
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bubble on the trip although we actually
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didn't really have any time or
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opportunity to and I did have amazing
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time which if I'd chosen a cabin more
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midships would have probably edged that
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up even more to get the answers to the
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most asked questions I keep getting
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including what the ships are really like
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and who should not go coping with the
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heat and a key question that you really
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should be asking if you're thinking of
14:40
the Nile watch this video see you over
14:42
there

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Epic Highs & Unwelcome Lows I Had Cruising the Nile!

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