Well after a fairly uneventful layover in Frankfurt, I'm now on the plane to Cairo. My gate was changed and I had to take a bid to the plane. We all must have stood on that bus for 30 minutes waiting to move. Arabic, German and English battled back and forth for volume supremacy. The ride to the plane only took about 5 minutes and we were all herded off and up the staircase onto the A340. I stowed my carry-on and was pretty content when the doors closed and I had a row to myself. That was until some old Arabic man with a wicked cough and a few too many lbs realized his seat was next to me. Great. So as he stood in the aisle telling me 'please, I sit there' and elbowing some guy in the back of the head repeatedly, multiple flight attendants attempted to raise the arm rest so he could plop down. On the 14th try it was raised and he descended. Luckily a friendly flight attendant found an open row for me closer to the front of the plane and I was able to escape the rude, grumpy old codger with more health issues than I cared to learn about.
And now I have officially arrived. I'm currently sitting in my room at 'The Pearl' trying to let everything soak in. The airport transition was extremely easy with staff and buses waiting on us the second we found baggage claim. We were escorted through customs without any delay and whisked to our waiting vehicles. The drive from the airport through Cairo and along the Nile was a long one. Traffic here is everything they said it would be and more. Trash is strewn in random places along the streets and there seem to be as many clay pot manufacturers as people sometimes. There are many new looking buildings, but surrounding them are rubble filled craters and broken down 'adobe' style abodes. I had a great conversation with Ana, one of the assistant principles who is in charge of showing me to my hotel. She is originally from Spain but has taught or traveled just about everywhere.
My hotel room isn't too shabby; ac, full bath, two beds and a small tv. Seems cleaner than some of the places I've stayed in the States. I think I slept through my lunch meal on the flight here, so as you can imagine I'm starving. A group of us are supposed to be meeting downstairs at 7:30 tonight (it's now 5:18) and I'm not sure if I can make it that long. I slept a decent amount on the flights, but I'm still a little groggy and might end up trying to nap a little.
So my first impressions are that Cairo looks like a developing city. There are people all over the place and you see hints of 'westernization' interspersed with pseudo-desert living. The history here is tangible and I can't wait to start exploring, but it is all somewhat overwhelming. I'm really not freaking out, which is a good thing, but I already can't wait to reach that point where I'm comfortable going to a restaurant or shop solo. But without these initial butterflies, would it still be as exciting?