Egypt : A New Adventure
Egypt: Land of Mystery
Arriving in Egypt the day after Christmas in 1986, I began an incredible two week long adventure. Having never been out of the United States before, I had certainly picked an exotic place to begin my international travels. To top it all off, I was just recovering from an extreme bout with the intestinal flu and was really in no shape to travel.
Due to the international situation in the middle east in 1986, security at Kennedy airport was extremely high and flying by Egypt Air didn’t help matters any. An Iranian airliner had just been shot down the day before, so as we were about to board the plane , we were escorted to a small door behind which were five BIG Egyptian security guards with semi-automatic weapons, who thoroughly searched all of our carry on luggage, even taking the lens caps and lenses off cameras .
As with most flights to that part of the world, we left New York at about 10 PM, flying all night we eventually landed in Paris . A short stop in Paris to add fuel and passengers and it was on to Cairo. It turned out to be a beautiful flight, not a cloud in the sky, flying over the snow covered French Alps, Genoa Italy and proceeding down the west coast of Italy, it couldn’t have been more beautiful.
As
dusk approached Cairo, so did we, landing at about 5:30 PM, the sun was
just setting over the Egyptian desert. To say the least, Cairo airport
was nothing like Kennedy, as we landed, the plane flew over a junk yard where many crashed aircraft were kept.Descending the steps of the plane and taking
an airport bus across the tarmac, I suddenly entered a different world.
Mass confusion abounded every where, the airport was very old and
unclean,with cats and dogs running through the airport, people were
hurriedly trying to find their luggage. Extension cords lying everywhere on the floor, a TV crew was setting up to broadcast live the arrival of some dignitaries. I’m sure they weren’t there to see me, if they were, they missed me, OSHA would have a field day here. I find myself thinking ,”What have I gotten into?”
As I was part of a group,our tour guide met us and we were escorted to our waiting bus which would transport us to our motel for the night. Passing through Cairo , I observed people living in multiple story apartments with only a couple of walls, no roofs and they had built fires in their living rooms to stave off the chill of the cold Egyptian nights.
With
the roads being shared by cars, trucks, horses, camels, and
motorcycles, traffic was horrible, moving along at a snails pace , I
soon learned what travel would be like for the next two weeks. After
considerable effort, we finally arrived at the Bel-Air Hotel, a quaint
motel situated near the quarries where the stones for the pyramids had been
excavated. Checking in and finding our room, it was time to have a
Stella, the local beer, and dinner. Our group had plenty of time to get
acquainted, as we soon learned, a typical Egyptian dining experience
normally lasted about three hours.
Posted by The Florida Hoosier at 3/7/2011 8:19 PM 
Categories: Egypt
Tags: ancient beliefs ancient egypt ancient history Egypt habou historic places museum Pyramids Ramses sphinx third world country Travel
Categories: Egypt
Tags: ancient beliefs ancient egypt ancient history Egypt habou historic places museum Pyramids Ramses sphinx third world country Travel
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