Egypt was the last stop on a two-month backpacking adventure through Europe in 2000 before real life began. A friend and I met two locals who showed us their Egypt, allowing two of my favorite travel memories to occur. First, we attended a wedding reception in Giza, which ranks in the top three cultural experiences ever. Second, we bribed federal Egyptian guards and climbed the great pyramid to the top! Earlier in the trip, we had run with the bulls in Pamplona; my mother was a wreck!
Fast forward to 2011. The events of “the Arab spring” sprung, and Mom and Dad’s trip was canceled.Hopefully, you will heed some wisdom from my journey through life and schedule or re-schedule that trip. To most out there, tomorrow is today, repeated over and over again. Tomorrow is also a myth that we have time and will get a chance to get to it later. We lost mom suddenly in 2018 and their Egypt trip was never to be. My dad, emerging from both Covid isolation and grief, gave me a call in late 2020. He said, “I am going to Egypt. None of my friends want to go so I am going alone…I’m going now before I am too old to go.” It only took me a second to say, “I’m coming with you.” We booked it in a week, I retired from wall street a month later, and we were in Cairo in October 2021.
Anyone who has been to Las Vegas says, “three days feels like a month, I cannot imagine being there a week.” Well, in August of 2022, I spent 7 days in Las Vegas at Virtuoso Travel Week and had two-hundred meetings. Not a typo. I arranged a series of meetings with on-site suppliers, hotel General Managers, and private river cruise companies (one that Katy Perry bought out for her thirtieth birthday), all in pursuing our itinerary.
Egypt Wanderlist – A journey begins with inspiration
We could tell you all about how we infuse every trip we plan with incredible excursions (the kinds not found in the guidebooks), best-in-class properties, and a bit of Opulent Explorer magic . . . but we’d rather show you.
