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Published: April 10th 2018
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I had always wanted to visit Egypt. There are millions of things to see there and two days is not enough, but I did what I could in that amount of time.
I left Indianapolis on Thursday afternoon on a Continental Express Embraer 145 to Newark. The NYC area was under air traffic control delays as usual, so I ended up getting there with only an hour to spare for the next flight. After arrival, I checked in for my flight to Madrid. This flight was lightly booked, so I stretched out in my whole row of 4 seats.
I arrived into Madrid early Friday morning and headed over to the
Cairo flight. The Agent gave me a lot of grief for not having an Egyptian Visa and was not going to allow me to go, even after all my attempts of telling him that I do not require one in advance.
The agent pretty much told me to go into Madrid and get a room because I was not going to Egypt. I would not accept his decision and went to find another Agent out of his view. I ended up going into the Iberia first class
lounge and the woman there checked me in and apologized for what happened. I had it all worked out and took off for Cairo without further incident. It was an Iberia Airbus 319. It was a smooth flight, in which I mostly slept.
I arrived at about 9pm and was at the Sara Inn Hostel within an hour. The hostel provided me with the airport pick-up for $10. After changing and freshening up, I hit the streets of Cairo, which were actually busy at that time of night. I stayed out until just after midnight, checking out everything I could.
I ate some shawarma at one of the little hole-in-the-wall shops, which is cheap and always satisfying.
I awoke at 7am on Saturday and took a taxi to
Giza for $10. By 8am, I was on a camel heading out to the Pyramids! I paid $20 for the ride and figured it to be a short ride of 30 minutes or so, but 3 hours later, I was finally finished with the camel ride. I took the taxi back to the Nile Corniche area and walked up and down for a few hours and check out the
Egyptian Museum on the way back to the hostel. I rested at the Sara Inn for an hour or so and then went back out all over the city. I stayed out until about 8 and then went back for sleep until about 1 am.
I awoke at 1 am on Sunday and was at Cairo Airport by 2 am. I departed Cairo at 4:05 am on a KLM 777 to Amsterdam. I arrived Amsterdam at about 7:30 am and bought some hagelslaag, because I love that stuff!
At 10:20 am, I was onboard Northwest 63, an A-330 to Newark and seated in 6B Business Class. What a great ride!
Eight hours later, I was back in Newark and I caught a Continental 737-500 back home to Indy. I was home at around 6 pm, to 10 degree weather. Yuck! It had been 70 in Cairo, so this was a shock.
Yes, this was a quick trip. I had a few people tell me that it was crazy and stupid, or even a waste. I look at the glass as half full though and make the best out of anything dealt to me. I paid about
$350 for everything on this trip, including flights, food, lodging, transportation, and gifts. If my own airline flew to Cairo, it would have been even less, so it was not crazy or a waste to me!
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