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| In 1981 the airlines first introduced frequent flyer programs to the public. In those days the frequent flyer programs were much different than they are today. The airlines, scrambling to build a loyal frequent flyer customer base, during the first several years made offers the likes of which haven't been seen in over a decade. For example my chosen airline, American, had frequent specials where if you flew 5,000 miles or 5 segments in a period of time, like two months, you earned a free ticket. Realizing its success they ran a second, similar special where the figures were 8,000 miles or 8 segments. I can even remember when you could upgrade to first class for a $5 fee. What a wonderful thing that was on those long haul redeye specials. Then, in late 1982 and 1983 the car rental companies and hotels jumped on board and began offering their own programs. It was a wonderful time to earn free trips, a time I've not seen duplicated since. For Anne and I, because of my frequent business trips, it would be a boom time for earning free trips. | ||
 Anne and I on camels at Giza, Egypt |
By January of 1984 I had earned two free airline tickets anywhere in the world on Trans World Airlines courtesy of Avis, 5 free tickets anywhere on the American Airlines system, and a free week in any Holiday Inn worldwide plus two free airline tickets on Pan Am to get you there courtesy of Holiday Inn. It was like: "Where do we go?" On one of my trips I brought home a TWA Getaway Vacation brochure and gave it to Anne. I remember a Sunday afternoon just before leaving on another business trip telling her to look at the brochure and pick somewhere to go. I thought certainly she'd pick a week long trip to Europe since she'd enjoyed our previous visits to Europe so much. Was I ever surprised when I returned home to find that she'd selected a 17-day combined cruise and land tour starting in Athens, cruising through the Mediterranean and stopping at Rhodes, Alexandria, Port Said, Israel, Turkey and several other islands in the Aegean Sea. What was unique about this trip is that we would disembark the ship in Port Said, Egypt and take a 7-day land tour of Egypt visiting the major ancient sites of Cairo, Luxor and Aswan. When our land tour of Egypt was over we would return to Port Said and board the ship for the remainder of the sea portion. I was amazed that Anne picked such a trip. I was surprised even though I really shouldn't have been. She has always loved anything Egyptian and expressed an interest in visiting Egypt. I guess the truth is I just didn't realize the brochure I brought home had a trip to Egypt described within it's pages. Looking at the itinerary and knowing that flying to Egypt would require stopping in Rome I decided to extend the trip by four days to "rest and relax" in Rome before returning home. It was an absolutely wonderful trip that Anne and I still talk of today, a full seventeen years later. Later this same year, 1984, we would take the whole family to Hawaii and then Anne and I would also visit Hong Kong. It was a wonderful year! |
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Following the page links below you can join Anne and I as we walk among some of the most wonderful ancient ruins existing in the world today. Use the Previous/Next arrows to view the pages in order or select one of the direct links to go directly to a particular page in our Egyptian album. Enjoy and, as always, your comments and questions are always welcome. |
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