I checked out the wi-fi, but it was not free here - Gatwick has a contract available but i was not desperate enough to sign up, even though the first 30 minutes was free. Wetherspoon's normal free service with "The Cloud" was not available.
I could not really sit here with an otherwise empty table for 3 hours, and not having arranged any food for the plane, I decided on breakfast. Much too early in the day even for me, so I opted for Scrambled Eggs on toast and a glass of (unfermented) apple juice, which I nursed for a couple of hours. A slow trip round the shops, and then, finally, the gate was announced.
All gates at gatwick North are advertised as max. 10 minutes from the main departure lounge. The travelators were all working, so about 10 minutes later I reached Gate 46. What they don't tell you is that it is then another 10 minutes down a long corridor, with a travelator only in the opposite direction, to the extreme end air-bridge. Boarding was fairly efficient, and I noticed the middle 20 rows of seats were empty, but they would not let us move around until we were airborn. On this 757-200 the seat pitch is generous throughout - aided by there not being low seat-back pockets - and row 10 seemed to have an extra few inches - but all 6 seats were taken.
We departed promptly at 09:20 and soon I found a row of three seats to myself, albeit with a restricted view over the wing. I would guess that only half the plane was occuped - say 120 passengers out of 240. Service was good for a budget line, and a following wind kept the flight time down to 05:05 hours. Visibility was excellent over Europe but we encountered some high cloud and a little turbulence over northern Egypt. No messing around, we both took off and landed southwards so wasted no time in aligning ourself into the wind. The view approaching Luxor along the Nile was excellent - I think that I spotted Medamud temple, and the Luxor golf course was green. Nobody playing - the temperature was around 35°.
I beat the queue for a visa - paid just under €12 as that was the hard currency I had to hand - the ATM to get local currency was working, and there was even no queue at Duty Free (one less chore for tomorrow). The other 100+ passengers seemed to be nearly all booked on cruises - with several boats having lists of about 15 names each. There are two other flights from England later in the afternoon, so the boats will be maybe a qurter full if they do not amalgamate.
I managed to cross the open area in front of arrivals with only relatively light hassle - I guess I am fairly well-known or at least recognisable out here - and reached the parking area just as Tayib arrived. I think he was not expecting me to be early!
Phoned ahead for the RRH to put some Stella in the freezer, and then watched the early eving crowds from the outdoor seating area at the rest house. Crowds? I think I saw one tourist, on a bicycle, but very few coaches, minibuses, etc. Not even many birds!
On to Sheherazade, where my favoutite ground floor room (#105, with AirCon and right next to the wifi-hub) was waiting. I unpacked, abluted, and took my personal table under the awning in the garden. Sorted out the e-mail, chatted with the owners and staff, observed very few guests, had a light dinner (kofta and french fries, bread and salad, £L25, a honey-cake for another £L12) and then, fairly early to bed, where I slept well. The room temperature was about 25°C,