Egyptian Nights II

I finally managed to get on board a plane and get to Cairo, but this left things incredibly tight for catching my connecting flight. The flight itself was uneventful - I did not get a window seat, which was a shame, especially as the smug looking woman next to me insisted on keeping the shutter down as we approached Cairo. Still, in a classic case of karma, she was placed in front of some annoying Welsh brat, who inevitably seemed to kick her chair every two minutes for the entire flight.

She was very British about it, and kept looking back at the mother and scowling, but never actually said anything to him apart from a "tut" under her breath a few times. I secretly enjoyed this little game, and wondered how long she would take before snapping and saying something. Surprisingly she lasted the whole flight - now that is what i call the Dunkirk spirit!

Upon landing you are assaulted by all manner of tour reps trying to find their clients. Having missed the flight yesterday, my rep was not there, and so i had to wing it alone. Immigration is a thing in itself. The moment a large party of Western tourists land, all of the visa issuing places in the terminal seemed to shut up shop and count an unecessary amount of money for very little purpose (they could have done this during a quiet time, not the busiest time of the night) . That is, until you realise that this is just a scam they have going with some of their friends in the airport, who take tourists money to go and sort out the visa for them.

Us poor Westerners do not stand a chance here as, there we were all queuing orderly, waiting for our turn, while the streetwise natives just pushed in and shouted. He who shouts loudest is heard and dealt with. This is not just in the airport, but almost everywhere i have seen (so far) it is an expected form of social un-etiquette. There is not enough time for manners here, i suppose this is because it is so hot that people just want to get things done and bugger off out of the heat!

So, immigration held me up a bit and then i had the joy of collecting my luggage. Don't worry i thought, my bags been specially tagged at Heathrow so they will come out first. With true Egyptian inefficiency though, these tags were either ignored, or misinterpreted to think they neded to come out last, because i kid you not, my case was the second to last to appear out of that baggage hatch. I am sure they arrived on camel back!

All this meant that by the time i got to the place where my connecting flight should have been, i discovered i missed it. This is actually a real pisser, as i when i went to Egyptian Airlines ticket desk to book another one, i discovered that they are all booked out for tomorrow (or today) and so i am not going to be on the first night of the cruise.

My only option was to buy a standby ticket and hope that someone doesnt show up. That meant i had to be up at 3:30am so i could get to the airport for the first flight, leaving at 5am. That came and went and it was fully booked. So was the 5:15 flight, and the 6:15 one, and also the 6:45 flight. I thought i stood a chance with the 7am flight, as there are 4 planes that take off at that time, but no, all of those were packed too!

So i had to face the dilemma that i might not be able to make my cruise. Before i did this though i went back to Egyptian Airlines and enquired whether there was any seats on the early flight tomorrow. My luck was in, there was! So i have transferred my "maybe" ticket for a "will be" one and i fly out to Luxor at 5am, and i believe that the first day's sightseeing begins at 7am - things are extremely tight now, it is really squeaky bum time.

What it does mean is that i miss the first night of the cruise. This is not as bad as it sounds, because the first day the ship does not go anywhere anyway, it is just a "meet and greet" and get used to the boat.

My opinions so far are Egypt is not the place to come to if you want a stress free holiday! Still, on a positive note, it has given me sometihng to write about :D