The girl made it...but where are her clothes?

Saturday, September 27, 2008
London England to Cairo Egypt

Well Saturday morning started early….well actually Friday evening technically never ended. I got back to the hotel around 2200 (10pm). I then spent the next little while showering and packing. I had arranged to get a pick-up from the hotel in time to get me to the airport for around 4:30am. In order to do this I was told I would need to be picked-up at 3am. Whatever. So the van was early and I actually got picked-up at 2:50am and made it to the airport by 3:30am because there was only one other stop before the airport and no traffic. Whatever. The check-in did not actually open until 4:30am so I just sat down to wait. When it did open they would not check me in because my flight left at 6:50am but there was a 6:00am flight they had to get done first so the rest of us just waited. Whatever. I then finally got checked in and eventually got on the plane and made it to Rome in one piece to grab my plane to Cairo.

Rome was a little weird though because you have to take a bus to all the planes out on the tarmac. They check your ticket at the gate as usual and then you get on the bus. The bus then takes you to the plane and you get on it. They don’t check your ticket again so hopefully it is the right plane and since it is an Italian airline, they may have said where it was going but I did not understand. So I was really just hoping I was on the right plane. I was a little tired so slept the majority of the flight. When I woke up there was an immigration form to fill out…..written in Arabic. They decided I looked Egyptian and gave me the wrong one.

Best thing was that I was being met by someone from the tour company so really I had not too many worries. Got through everything very quickly. I already had a VISA so there were no issues at all, until I went to get my bag to find out that it had not arrived. There were a few other people on the plane including another Canadian girl with a different tour group that were also missing bags. So we filled out all the paper work and hopefully it will turn up tomorrow. Off to the hotel. The drive was very interesting..…almost fun. There are a lot cars on the roads and appears to not have many rules but the system works. Basically you pick a lane…or make your own and honk at the cars around you to let them know you are there. Cars move out of the way and everyone seems to be ok with it. The donkey carts even fit in ok. They seem to have right of way. Being a pedestrian is a bit of a different story and I am sure I will learn about that first hand at some point in time.

I caught my first glimpse of a pyramid on the way in and must say got really excited. Even now with no clothes I am excited. The hotel is nice. I really cannot complain much but it is very noisy. It is right on a major road so I get to hear all the honking. The view is great. It is right on the Nile. Got a phone call from mom just shortly after I arrived. Took me a few minutes to remember how she knew I was there but of course she as a pretty detailed itinerary with phone numbers and flight schedules so it makes sense that she found me easily.

So tonight I will sleep in a towel and hopefully tomorrow I will get my clothes. It is really hot here so would like my other clothes….and then maybe I will check something out.

Julie