Egypt Essential #1: A Plane Ticket!

Hello friends! I'm sure you started to believe I'd dropped off the face of the planet! ;) But alas, I have not. Since graduation I have begun my summer nanny job (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, lots of pool and library time).

Over the past few weeks I've been badgering the current teachers in Egypt with a whole host of questions (language acquisition, packing, customs, apartment living, school classroom, etc.) They have been so patient and helpful, and I am eternally grateful for their guidance. I have also been conversing with some of the other new teachers (we found each other via personnel emails and Facebook, haha)! It is fun getting to know some of the people I will be working with before I arrive.

But I'm stalling.... As you can see from the title of this post, I HAVE A PLANE TICKET TO EGYPT!!! This is one of the items that the school provides for me, so they have made all the arrangements, and all I have to do is print my ticket and show up at the airport on August 7th! That's right- for those of you that I've talked to, I am leaving one day earlier than expected!!! I fly from Sioux Falls to Chicago to Istanbul to Cairo, and I couldn't be more excited!!

The only bummer is that my Chicago to Istanbul trans-Atlantic flight is 11 HOURS LONG. That's four hours longer than my longest plane ride to date (Chicago to Madrid last summer). If you have any tips on surviving exceedingly long flights, please feel free to share- I'm going to need all the help I can get!

After many a Facebook message with the current teachers, I have (almost) decided on my luggage. I ordered a super cute monogrammed tote that I'll use as my personal item, and I'll be bringing my trusty floral carryon spinner from last summer's adventures in Europe. As a graduation present, my parents ordered me two more beautiful big suitcases. I'm planning to bring both of those. International flights allow for one free checked bag, but the second bag is $100. And even worse, a third bag is an additional $200!! My plan of action is to only check two suitcases (we'll see if I can do this), and then bring another checked bag from home when I visit of Christmas. This means I'll have to pay for three checked bags next summer when I come home, but on the front end I won't. After my international flights last summer, I have a pretty good idea of what will be going in my carryon and my personal item, so stay tuned for updates on my packing process next! :)