Roger Moore’s third outing “The Spy Who Loved Me” in 1977 featured Egypt, one of the film location countries long on our bucket list. With recent tourist investments, such as a new Egyptian Museum and enhanced security measures in the country, we were thrilled to finally visit this ancient land.

While many tour Egypt on their own, we chose a blend of our own itinerary along with a group tour organized by Trafalgar tours, which we found to be an excellent operation with incredibly knowledgeable guides.

As this report is singularly about the film locations of James Bond, we’ll skip reviewing the many temples, mosques, shops, restaurants and experiences we had and would insist anyone visiting Egypt be sure to do. We’d be happy to provide more information via email.

Our adventure begins in Cairo, checking into Le Meridian Pyramids Resort, literally across the street from the Pyramids of Giza. Our ride from the airport was a feast of sights, sounds and smells as Cairo is a 24/7 traffic jam of cars, trucks, vans and camels!

We booked our guide for our personal 007 location hunt through Trafalgar and mapped out the locations we had on our list. We thought with the guide, it would be prudent and secure to do so. Interesting enough, the US Embassy also insists armed security join any American on tour, so we had a bodyguard, with a Glock, following us safely behind!

We began our Bond tour at the Ibn Tulin Mosque, a beautiful and accessible courtyard easily recognized as the walkway Bond strolls through on the way to see Fekkesh. As it is a mosque, unlike 007, you will be given coveralls for your shoes. From the Mosque, you enter the Gayer Anderson Museum, a definite must for your visit. You’ll enter at the top of the stairs, where in silhouette Bond arrives, note that now there is a metal detector and guard at the entry (as you will now find at all sites).

Rich and Leslie from Theme Party People joined long time friend and location hunter, Martijn Mulder of On the Tracks of 007 fame on his celebratory tour of the 50th Anniversary of the 007 film,  You Only Live Twice. Many other of our fellow TPP travelers joined the adventure as we traveled from Tokyo to the far west coast of Japan to visit the volcano region and Kissy's fishing village seen in the film. Along the way, we toured the Ninja castle, a Ninja training school, Leslie enjoyed several hours in a makeup chair in Kyoto to experience the way of Geisha and joined Rich in Samarai attire as they walked the streets of Gion, as seen in the film, "Memories of a Geisha". As you can imagine, the cuisine and sake were well sampled and our group reveled in the wonders of Japan and it's people.

The members of Daytona Beach, Florida's Halifax River Yacht Club sought out Theme Party People's participation and theming for their 2016 Summer soiree, "Bonding on the River".  Turning the Club's main dining room into a 007 world of casino tables, Vesper Martini bar and festooned with posters and electronic wallpaper was just the beginning. Richard and Leslie arrived via the "Disco Volante" yacht and hosted a challenging Bond trivia game and shared Bond travel stories and suggested itineraries with the guests. As a special treat, club member Jean Sankowski performed spot on Shirley Bassey vocals on the theme's Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever.

SPECTRE Premieres Around the World

Richard Skillman,reporting.

October 26, 2015

The Bond world gathered the week of October 25th for a celebration of the return of Daniel Craig as 007 in the Bond 24, "SPECTRE" with a fete filled schedule of Bond Parties, Club events, Book signings, Celebrity sightings, culminating in a Royal World Premiere in London and a Paris premiere also attended by the major stars.

The James Bond film location bible, "On the Tracks of 007" stared the week with a 20th Anniversary Party at the Pinewood Hotel hosted by Editor Martijn Mulder and featuring Bond production legend Terry Bamber and Bond Band, "Q the Music". (https://qthemusicshow.com/)

Leslie and I chose Duke's as our hotel, having sample mixologist Alessandro Pallazi Bond inspired cocktails when we visited in 2012 for "Skyfall". Ian Fleming, it is said, invented the Vesper here, and the boutique hotel and small upscale bar is legendary. We recommend a stay on your next Bond visit!

Also on the Bond "life" must list were cocktails at the Ritz and Savoy- unparalleled luxury service and inspired cocktails in their own right. For dinner, Rules Restaurant was the hot ticket this year, as M is seen dining at Rules in the film, "SPECTRE". The oldest restaurant in London, it is founded on the King's game meat and the roast dish and accompaniments are 5 star excellent.

Our Bond event hosts, CinemaRetro's Lee and Janet Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, coordinated 007 activities that would rival a military operation, loading each day with film locations, Bond surprises and major events...which included...

Bond writers Ajay Chowdbury and Matthew Field hosted the launch of their new extensive tome, "Some Kind of Hero", an exhaustively researched deep dive into the films of Bond, a must for any serious fan of the films. In attendance to celebrate were the Bond girls themselves-- Maud Adams, Martine Beswicke, Madelyn Smith and to my pleasure and a full 30 minutes of one on one discussions, Luciana Paluzzi!