Egyptian Adventure #1

Well, this is different.....I am writing this day from our very comfortable bedroom in Cairo. Lots of adventures since I finished last night. Before we went to our hotel at Heathrow Airport, we stopped at Egypt Air to check on the latest time of our 8:30 AM flight and the terminal # (there are 5 widely separated terminals at Heathrow). They were very sorry, but they did not have a flight next morning OMG!!!!!BUT our tickets were printed with the name “Egypt Air” prominent. A supervisor was called, a few keys were hit, and we learned that ours was a British Midlands International (BMI) flight at 10:10 AM next day from terminal 1; we were currently in terminal 3! This was not a major problem because it was the night before --- imagine what it would have been like if we had arrived at the wrong terminal next day!

Relieved that we had sorted this out we took the Hoppa bus to our hotel, had that wonderful dinner in the restaurant, a great night's sleep, and got to the airport in tons of time. We has a leisurely breakfast (not great, but adequate) then walked 15 minutes to our plane. An uneventful flight, another breakfast, and we arrived in Cairo Airport on time. Then the fun started.


First there were people greeting all kinds of names, but no Noreen & Ron. Panic Time (me) “Wait a bit” (Ron). While he was waiting for his suitcase, I went over to a very cute young Arab whose spoke perfect English. I explained how, without a person to greet us, we did not know where to go. Without hesitation he pulled out his cell phone and called our friend Hedayet (Whose # I had handy). She told him the name of the transport company and the exact address to which we should go, which he wrote in my book in Arabic for our driver...Not how welcoming and friendly is that???? He escorted us through customs, where we found our driver. Ron got money from a hole in the wall, and we started our journey ….Then the fun REALLY started.


The first thing was the great screaming gathering of Arabic men who were blocking the road out of the airport. “Are they demonstrating?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied, “They are very happy about football.” The driver had to literally push through the screaming fans, and I found myself greeted with smiles and a return salute when I gave the thumbs-up sign.

The next part of the adventure was driving through Cairo and discovering that our driver spoke almost no English, did not know how to find the address we were going to, and had no map, or GPS. Once we got into the approximate area, he kept asking police and taxi drivers, and everyone, apparently, gave him different information. Before we even got that far he had to buy gas; got hassled by the soldier who was “guarding” the gas with a very showy and obviously very self-important manner (badge-heavy we would call it). The line was for ever; the pump was half broken, the price was very high. We learned, even with his bits of English, and it was later confirmed, that the army is universally hated in Cairo. We also learned that he is Muslim, political, and he tried so hard to find the words to express how he felt. That most people were just people and were good; he did not hate anyone -----except governments which he thought were just rubbish, and that he is Islamic. He so sincerely wanted us to understand this, it was very sweet.

We finally arrived at our destination after completing an in-depth tour of suburban Cairo. It was quite interesting when we arrived. Soha's apartment is on the 5^th floor of a very nice area. She has 3 bedrooms and an enormous living/dining area that makes our great room look quite small. It will take me a whole week to see all the treasures she has here. She had prepared a lovely supper of very Egyptian foods. We chatted and all retired to an early night.


Soha has WiFi, so we will be able to transmit these tomorrow.

AND SO TO GO ON OUR FIRST WALKABOUT IN CAIRO!
Hugs,Noreen