Debbie and I love ancient history, so when presented with the opportunity to join the Grand Tour of Egypt at a great price, we jumped at it. We left Brisbane on 19th May and had to spend one night in Abu Dhabi (capital of the United Arab Emirates) before flying onto Cairo. We had booked a room close to Abu Dhabi Airport through the internet. On arrival at 1:00am we were surprised to find that the hotel had no record of our reservation and they were full. We called all the hotels in the district but they were all full. The night manager offered us the vacant presidential suite for a reduced price of $1500. “You have to be joking – we will only be here for six hours. We are tired and we just need a bed – not a suite.” As one does with Arabs, we made a deal. Cash payment – no receipt – good deal – we got the suite. It was as big as our house with five rooms and tons of space. What a waste! We collapsed into the giant bed at 1:30am and left the hotel at 7:00am.
