"I'll Have Her, But I'll Not Keep Her Long..."

I am seriously pumped to see Richard III at Boscobel on Saturday! I can even deal with the fact that I will have to wait until the wee hours of Saturday-Sunday to immerse myself in Harry Potter, because I'll finally be seeing my favorite villain on stage, and maybe engaging Lenny Stabs in another Richard vs. Iago debate. Note to self: re-read Othello so I can actually make some good points about that weasely Iago and how he's not even half the man Richard is.

My initial research for Egypt is definitely making me thankful that Sean will be contributing to this trip. The airfare alone is a lot more than just flying to Europe, and though it seems counterintuitive, things seem to be much more expensive within Egypt than in European countries. The average hotel room is about $125--that's crazy, since I got us a series of awesome hotels in Greece for about $75 a night. Greece, of course, is a relatively poor country in Europe, but I just didn't expect Egypt to be so pricey. I'd like to have us fly inside the country, too, rather than waste our time on long train rides, which will be extra.

Right now my basic plan, which is a rip-off the National Geographic Expeditions tour that I wish to heaven we could afford to go on (at $6,000 a person, it's a little bit much), has us flying into Cairo and spending a night or two there, then flying down to Abu Simbel, going from there to Aswan, then (hopefully) sailing the Nile up to Luxor/Thebes/Karnak, and flying back to Cairo. Every picture I look at, while absolutely stunning, also reminds me that unlike Greece, which was temperate and clean and Western, Egypt will be hazy, dirty, crowded and incredibly hot. Sean and I have already argued about the lengths one should go to to fit in; I said that I might try to get a tan before I go (a major feat, considering it'll be December and I don't tan) just so I'm not the absolute whitest person around. Sean disagrees, but he also wants to wear that HAT of his, which I think is silly. I'll also need to invest in a new, desert-friendly wardrobe, as I own nothing that is white, khaki, or made of linen, whereas that's pretty much half of Sean's wardrobe.

I want to ride a camel.