Day 1 of 180: After a gruelling flight (as usual) lasting 24 hours, including stopover, we finally arrived in Cairo. Egypt has always been on our bucket list, and every time we travel we look at coming here, but there has never seemed to be a good time. Political unrest, terrorism or Australian Government travel warnings have always stopped us from including it in our plans. Despite the current Government warning "Reconsider need to travel", we bit the bullet and came.

A short 40 minute drive took us to our hotel, which we think must have the best view in Cairo. It directly overlooks the two largest pyramids on the Giza plateau. Our room has a balcony looking directly at the view, so we are very happy.

We decided to have an early dinner since we hadn't slept for 30 hours or so. The hot mezze was very good and included Lebanese falafel, Spanish samosa, haloumi and some delicious croquettes spiced with cinnamon. Then it was off to bed at 6:30. Despite there being a wedding in the area outside our room with deafening music, we slept like logs and woke up at 3:30am.

This morning we had breakfast (a delicious dish called "foul" which is anything but and was recommended to us by Irene), and left for the Giza plateau early. Our tour guide was an Egyptologist who has lectured at University and was very knowledgeable. So knowledgeable, in fact, that he spent almost an hour revising the whole history of Egypt when all we wanted to do was get into the largest pyramid in Egypt, Cheops. Eventually he finished and we went into the pyramid itself. The passage into the burial chamber was quite small and there was no separate line going in and out, so it was every man or woman for themselves. There were plenty of traffic jams inside the passages and some steep sections where you couldn't stand up. Lidia braved her claustrophobia and managed to do the entire trip to the burial chamber and then out again.

After taking some amazing photos of the three pyramids on the plateau, we drove around to a small museum dedicated to a funerary boat that was discovered in 1951 buried in perfect condition between the two largest pyramids. This boat was 5,500 years old and was amazing. It was discovered in a pit that was designed to keep the boat safe for the pharaoh to use in his next life.

Despite warnings from Irene against joking with the people of Egypt (due apparently to my propensity to offend while trying to be funny), I found myself with a perfect opportunity for some A grade Egyptian humour. I was earlier explaining some of the Egyptian gods to Lidia, which included the crocodile God, Sobek. Anyway, our tour guide was explaining to us that he had actually guided Steve and Terry Irwin around Egypt. I turned to him and said "Did he jump on Sobek's back?". Absolute Egyptian humour gold in my estimation. I'm still trying to work out why I was the only one laughing.

Anyway, while still proud of myself for managing to come up with hilarious jokes that transcend culture, we got back into the bus and drove around to the Sphinx. This was a "wow" moment for both of us and quite overwhelming. The pyramids and the Sphinx have been there for over 5,000 years, so it is history incarnate. We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Sphinx and all of the pyramids. What a great experience. The food was also fantastic, all Egyptian dishes that Irene had recommended we try. Okra, dips, eggplant, stuffed peppers. It was all amazing. Back to the hotel now for some afternoon cocktails!