May 5 & 6 - Cairo to Luxor on the Sleeper Train

When it’s really hot and you’ve been out sightseeing in this hot weather, a cool gin and tonic sounds really good, doesn’t it? Especially about three o’clock in the afternoon. We’re on vacation so it doesn’t seem too early for a G&T. Oh but it is, especially when you are visiting a Muslim country. We went to Shepheard’s Hotel but the bar doesn’t open until five o’clock. Argh!

Back to our hotel to collect our luggage and then we are off to the train station for the overnight sleeper train. Turns out we do not get on the train at the Ramses station but need to go to the Giza station. We arrive about seven o’clock in the evening but our train does not leave until 8:30. Eight thirty comes and goes.

We met a few other English-speaking people who are also looking for confirmation that we haven’t all missed our train. Hmmm… it’s possible we are all taking the same boat for our Nile cruise. Our tour operator mentioned to me that there were three Canadians and two Austrians on our dahabheeya boat. And here are three Canadians: Colin, Gerry, and Anna.

Finally the train trundles in about nine o’clock, everyone jumps on, finds their seat and we take off about five minutes later. The train may be late (it often runs behind schedule) but it doesn’t waste any time getting out of the station.

Dinner and breakfast are served on the overnight train but we are not expecting anything fancy. It’s a good thing our expectations are low.

We’re not sure if it’s beef and chicken or beef and fish. There’s no wine list and no bar car either. What did you expect for sixty dollars per person?

By nine thirty our dinner trays have been whisked away and the steward has returned to make up our beds. Timothy will take the upper bunk; I get the lower bunk and plan to work on my blog. The steward tells us he will wake us at five o’clock tomorrow morning so we can have our breakfast before we disembark at six in Luxor. The train will continue on to Aswan.