After an unneccessarily long layover in New York, I FINALLY got on my flight to Cairo. I was lucky enough to have an aisle seat in a row with a young egyptian woman, and no one in the middle. Despite having dinner and 2 glasses of wine in my belly, I could not sleep. Too many food and beverage services, announcements, and excitement. Everyone on the plane was going to EGYPT for goodness sake! There was lots of anxious chatter.
I tried to force myself to sleep and managed around 3-4 hours total. But considering that it was a 10.5 hour flight, I had to find a lot of other ways to occupy my time. I would recommend the movies: The Hurt Locker and The Blind Side by the way. So 10.5 hours, 2 meals and 1 on board snack later, it is announced that we are clear for landing. Similarly stunning as flying into the desert of Nevada, I caught a glimpse of the sandy landscape from a window across the way. "Wow, we're really here. In the middle of the Sahara," I thought to myself with a smile.
We land and have to bus to the airport building. The skyline is exactly what you'd expect, hazy with heat, sand and neutral colored concrete buildings, and a random splash of green palm tree on occaision. Thanks to Vince B and my moms insistant nature, I knew I must buy a country visa before anything else. I was first in line, bought that for $15 and got $100 changed to $554 Egyptian Pounds. Phew, got that outta the way. Took me longer to figure out how to flush the toilet in the airport bathroom! Found my checked bag (another huge relief) and go on my hunt for my driver.
There he is "julia - juliana hostel". He got such a kick out of how similar my name was. HUGE egyptian man, Kalet, who barely spoke english. But he knew enough to say "how's new york?" "Museum" "nile right there" and "people crazy" (referring to those that walk infront of the cars with no reservation). Oh and speaking of crazy- egyptian roads do not have lines or lanes. And the cars do not follow any sort of linear pattern when driving or changing "lanes". Infact, u get so close to side swiping the other cars that majority of the vehicles had their side mirrors tucked in. I understand that for PARKING in the city, but that can't be the safest way to drive. I digress. I made it safely. And let me say the Nile had a striking resemblance to the Potomac waterfront downtown.
Nice boy, Karim, working at the hostel. He tells me I have to share a room tonight with a random girl but it'll be free. He later tells me she cancelled, so I get a big, double room to myself, for the whopping equivalence US $13. Ill take it.
They mustve known Sara and I were coming because they laid out 1 purple bed and 1 pink and green bed. :) picture below. I bought a 1.5L water bottle from Karim for 3egp which is around 50 cents. Refreshing compared to the 16.9oz for $1.25 at home! I'm too tired (and quite frankly a little scared) to do any solo exploring tonight. I haven't seen a blonde since the airport and I don't know enough about the area to not look like a lost American.
I tried to force myself to sleep and managed around 3-4 hours total. But considering that it was a 10.5 hour flight, I had to find a lot of other ways to occupy my time. I would recommend the movies: The Hurt Locker and The Blind Side by the way. So 10.5 hours, 2 meals and 1 on board snack later, it is announced that we are clear for landing. Similarly stunning as flying into the desert of Nevada, I caught a glimpse of the sandy landscape from a window across the way. "Wow, we're really here. In the middle of the Sahara," I thought to myself with a smile.
We land and have to bus to the airport building. The skyline is exactly what you'd expect, hazy with heat, sand and neutral colored concrete buildings, and a random splash of green palm tree on occaision. Thanks to Vince B and my moms insistant nature, I knew I must buy a country visa before anything else. I was first in line, bought that for $15 and got $100 changed to $554 Egyptian Pounds. Phew, got that outta the way. Took me longer to figure out how to flush the toilet in the airport bathroom! Found my checked bag (another huge relief) and go on my hunt for my driver.
There he is "julia - juliana hostel". He got such a kick out of how similar my name was. HUGE egyptian man, Kalet, who barely spoke english. But he knew enough to say "how's new york?" "Museum" "nile right there" and "people crazy" (referring to those that walk infront of the cars with no reservation). Oh and speaking of crazy- egyptian roads do not have lines or lanes. And the cars do not follow any sort of linear pattern when driving or changing "lanes". Infact, u get so close to side swiping the other cars that majority of the vehicles had their side mirrors tucked in. I understand that for PARKING in the city, but that can't be the safest way to drive. I digress. I made it safely. And let me say the Nile had a striking resemblance to the Potomac waterfront downtown.
Nice boy, Karim, working at the hostel. He tells me I have to share a room tonight with a random girl but it'll be free. He later tells me she cancelled, so I get a big, double room to myself, for the whopping equivalence US $13. Ill take it.
They mustve known Sara and I were coming because they laid out 1 purple bed and 1 pink and green bed. :) picture below. I bought a 1.5L water bottle from Karim for 3egp which is around 50 cents. Refreshing compared to the 16.9oz for $1.25 at home! I'm too tired (and quite frankly a little scared) to do any solo exploring tonight. I haven't seen a blonde since the airport and I don't know enough about the area to not look like a lost American.
To my pleasant surprise, National Treasure in on my 16" tv in English! So ill snug up in my sleep sac (thanks Robin K!) And get some good rest before meeting Sara at 7am! 8 hour countdown until our reunion! :)
omg. My heart started racing just reading this! So excited for you. Be safe and tell Sara hi. I'll be thinking about you two treking across the desert as I treck across exotic Pittsburgh in the marathon tomorrow! Have fun tty soon.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah...Faby says hi...and she killed a mouse today...
-Elliott