Egypt - just the word conjures up images of Pharaohs, Pyramids, and an amazing culture thousands of years old. And like many tourists, Wayne and I went to Egypt to see its antiquities, but little did we know that we would return with memories of something even more valuable, the kind and gentle Egyptian people.
Without a doubt, this was our most difficult shooting trip - ever. To begin, there is the 10 hour plane ride from New York to Cairo. Added to that, for the first time in our company's history, Wayne and I will be part of an organized tour group. In the past, we've always traveled independently, making our own reservations, staying as long as we wanted in a location, controlling our schedule. But this time, we would have to attempt to shoot our video according to a tour guide's schedule. We didn't think it would be easy, and it wasn't.
We didn't think we could manage Egypt on our own and that turned out to be a wise decision. The language problem alone was a large part of the decision. I had spent months with a book teaching myself Arabic but as soon as we arrived in Cairo, I quickly discovered that attempting to learn Arabic from a book was futile - no one understood me.
Landing in Cairo, we met our guide and other members of our tour group and set off for our hotel in Cairo. After an orientation meeting, we settled in and attempted to reset our biological clocks to Cairo time.
We spent one week in Cairo followed by another week cruising the Nile. Highlights included viewing the mummy of Rameses in the Egyptian Museum, a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings at sunrise, a nighttime carriage ride in Luxor, and meeting and talking with so many gentle Egyptian people during our visit. Nowhere in today's world is an American made to feel as welcome as in Egypt.
But our main goal was to film a one hour virtual walk in Egypt and we accomplished that! Actually we were able to film two separate virtual walks in Egypt and today are releasing "Egypt Virtual Walk - Volume 1."
In addition to the one hour Virtual Walk itself, we always include a Bonus Chapter on the DVD and we wanted this Bonus Chapter to be special. So we made arrangements with an authentic Arabic band, the Salaam Band, to supply the music that accompanies our Bonus Chapter, "Images of Cairo." We believe that "Images of Cairo" is one of our best featurettes.
Yes, the trip to Egypt was difficult, but would Wayne and I do it again? Absolutely! In fact, we hope to return to Egypt soon, and this time with our daughter, Sarah. We can't wait to share Egypt with her.
