We spent one night in Hurghada after the dive trip. Drew and I had both previously planned on heading to Luxor and the Valley of The Kings, so decided to travel together as neither of us had made any specific plans. A young couple from Boston, Tony and Beth, had similar ideas so we all decided to travel together. Tony was a boisterous, friendly, Lebanese-American guy with a big body and a big personality. He had that classic Boston accent. He and Beth, who was delightful, had not been married long. Drew, Tony, and Beth turned out to be great travel companions.
Tony made arrangements for a minibus ride to Luxor. The route was through the mountains south of Hurghada and, due to security concerns, all traffic had to convoy at specific times with an escort from some form of government security forces. This turned out to be one of those travel experiences you never forget. Oh, yeah.
We four travelers met the next morning in the hotel lobby at an early hour so we could load all our gear (we are carrying scuba gear in addition to regular luggage) into a Toyota minibus so the bus could get in line for the convoy. It turned out that we are first in line and an hour early, which only later began to make sense. The driver didn’t speak much English, but had a long his nephew, who was about 16 and spoke passable English with occasional comic mispronunciations. The nephew explained that, as a point of pride, we had to be in the #1 spot in the convoy, just behind out escort, four guys with sidearms in a four-door pickup which would, apparently drive very fast through the mountains. Nephew warned that other drivers in the convoy would try to pass us but, fear not, for Uncle would not allow that to happen!
An hour later, with another 30 vehicles lined up behind us, the convoy took off. Driving south along the coast from Hurghada was uneventful, but then we started to climb into the mountains. Nephew was fascinated by Beth, who is blond, quite pretty, and dressed somewhat less conservatively than the average Egyptian. Nephew spent the entire 4-hour drive sitting on his knees in the shotgun seat, facing backwards, chatting with all of us, but mostly with Beth. Uncle couldn’t face backwards and drive, but spent a disturbingly large amount of time ogling Beth in the rearview mirror.
As we climbed into the mountains the road got worse, the curves got precarious, and we drove at a breakneck speed to keep our precious #1 position behind the escort. With a driver who was frequently gazing into the rearview mirror instead of watching the road. Nephew kept up a cheerful banter while occasionally giving words of encouragement to Uncle, complementing him on his skill at not giving an inch to the other drivers who now and then made attempts to pass us.
We passengers, meanwhile, were being hurled back and forth in our seats in the rear, desperately trying to hold onto anything as the minibus swerved wildly on curves and in maneuvers to thwart attempts to pass us. We took one mountain curve so fast that the minibus leaned precariously to one side and Tony, addressing his fellow passengers, leaned to the other side and bellowed “Lean, boys! Lean!” Our fear delighted Nephew who translated our cries of terror into Arabic, to the delight of Uncle.
Coming out of the mountains on the western side, we encountered more greenery, some cultivated fields, and pleasant looking villages. Finally, after 4 hair-raising hours, and still in the #1 spot behind the escort, we arrived in Luxor.
