Cairo and the Stresses of Travelling

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I had forgotton the stresses of travelling. Walking through the airport at Heathrow and the screen tells me my flight is boarding but no gate number shows itself. No staff members are to be seen and a brief thought flashes through my mind that trouble is starting and I haven't even left the country!
My trip to Egypt was last minute, thinking about it on the Monday (the idea came from a travel book), booking on the tuesday and leaving on the Friday. Impulse desicions are the way I like it, it's so much more exciting that way. First contact of the journey - an Egyptian couple give me their phone number, 'Any help you need just call us!'.
I got into Cairo airport at 6:30pm, walking through the mob of Egyptian men holding up placards with people's names on, I searched one for my name, no such luck...ah yes there it is!
The man from the hostel I was staying at had come to pick me up. We drove about forty minutes down a five lane road with beeping horns playing the part of road markings; I did not see one car without a scratch, bump or simply a huge dent in the side!
Cairo is an amazing city, full of life, colours of the desert and over 14 million people. To cross the road you take one step at a time, squeezing through 6 inch gaps of cars hurtling around the roads and easing yourself into the stream of traffic. It requires a certain skill, involving risk taking and decisiveness.

The first day I explored, learning that the Egyptian men are as not as bad as I thought they woud be and also that some street names are the same in different parts of the city. Therefore getting hopelessly lost with two bags in tow trying to find my next hotel. I also got accusted by a school trip which was pretty amusing, it reminded me of being in India!

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