2 minute read

The decision to come to Egypt wasn’t entirely my idea. In fact, it wasn’t my idea at all. I was required for a work meeting. Well, part of a meeting. 2 hours to be precise. 9 hours of travelling each way for a 2 hour meeting. Awesome.

However, since it was such a long way to travel, and the flights were paid for, I decided to stay on for 4 additional days to see some of the sights of Cairo, and of course the pyramids. But of course, as with all the ‘best laid plans’, the meeting got cancelled, and the flights were non-refundable, so making the most of a less-than-ideal situation, I decided to use the free flights and turn it into a holiday.

So, after short flight from Glasgow to London I arrive at Heathrow with a few hours to kill, even after sitting on the tarmac for 20 minutes after landing waiting for a stand.  The lounge at Heathrow was of an impressive size, with a good range of food and drink available.  And unlike the Glasgow lounge, was large enough to get away from the annoying people talking loudly about golf.  Personally I blame the Scottish Open.

The flight to Cairo was uneventful, other than leaving 30 mins late, and being packed with scouts from all over the world heading to Cairo for some sort of meeting.  I imagine sitting next to them for the whole journey would have been painful …. as they seemed …. let’s just say energetic.

The first thing to hit me at Cairo was the heat.  At 1am it was about 27C, and way more humid than I was expecting.  Even getting from the plane to the bus was a struggle.  At the terminal, there is an odd setup where you buy a “visa stamp” before going through immigration.  They take no information before giving you the stamp (which is a sticker, basically) so it really looks like a way of making money.  At only 15USD it’s not really a big deal though.

Once through immigration my friendly (although non-English speaking) taxi driver met me and took me though the surprisingly busy Cairo traffic to the hotel.  Man … and I thought Chennai was bad for traffic.  At least in Chennai they drove slowly, and it seemed to work that you watched the people in front of you and didn’t have to worry about the ones behind you.  Here, they do drive fast, and the ones behind you end up in front of you very quickly, and vice versa.  And that was about 1am.  Would hate to see rush hour.

Arrived at the hotel and basically collapsed into bed, as I was exhausted.  Got up late this morning and am currently sitting by the Nile enjoying a coffee and an orange juice.  I think today will be a lazy day exploring the hotel and immediate vicinity.  Looks like there’s plenty to photo.

But for now … I should get back to this coffee, and lazing…. and then a bit of exploring.