7 Tips for Traveling in Egypt

1. Buffets are not your friend. Nothing tastes as good as it looks (especially the pastries). The fruits look ugly and taste great. There are 12 buffets for every tourist that comes here. And each tourist returns 12 pounds heavier.

2. If you can only go to one location pick Abu Simbel. Unless you love going through airport screening (my husband and I went through 8 machines) and you like waiting in lines at 5 am, you have to go early because even in winter it is really hot by 10 am. Take a car and travel in the 4 am convoy (you get there before the plane) and you get to see the sunrise over the desert.

3. At first when the guards high-fived us because they love Obama we were overjoyed. Then we realized they wanted a tip to have their picture taken.

4. The ancient gods and goddesses are awe inspiring whether they are 3,000 old or 1,200 years young.

5. Go to the Nile, it is awesome: filled with bucolic scenes and rich fields with well tended crops in tiny fields.

6. The women are well educated (40% of young people in Egypt go to college--60% of those are female) and fun, yes even mischievous--every night our cabin crew built odd creatures out of our blankets, towels and yes even our clothes to greet us on our return to our rooms.

7. BYOB when traveling in the dessert, the Muslim innkeepers run dry establishments, except when it comes to towels. BYOT because the ones here are the size of a #5 Pampers.