Chad Bakerson’s love of all things Egyptian dates back to 1974, when his father, home from a business trip, presented Chad with a small marble pyramid he purchased from a gift shop at Dulles airport. Chad would spend the next 35 years trickling change into coffee cans, saving for a trip east. The vacation should have taken place decades ago, but every few years something happened that forced him to exhaust his funds and start again from scratch – first, a girlfriend, then college, then a wife, then the twins, then a second son.

Finally, he’s made it. His family is with him. They are dressed in tradition garb – pleated robes and sandals, golden sashes and headdresses. It takes them twice as long to get through customs. Following a final frisking, they walk like Egyptians to baggage claim. Everyone in the airport is watching them. The Bakersons tell the taxi driver to take them someplace to eat, someplace close to the pyramids. “Drive, slave!” they joke, and pretend to whip him. The driver drops them off at a McDonald’s. Through the window they can see the crown of the Great Pyramid of Giza. They dip their chicken nuggets into plagues of ketchup. No meal has ever tasted so good.