Arriving while traveling

On the way, I already had my first brief conversation where I was asked if I was flying to Egypt to bring relief supplies to Gaza on foot. I said I was sorry, but I'm not that brave. Many find it brave that I have gone to work in Cairo now, but I didn't feel that way; it will definitely be brave and too brave for me.

The flight and stay at the airport had some curiosities in store. First, there was the notice the evening before that all passengers should check in online, as there would be irregularities. This was then also announced at the airport, it didn't work properly since it was an external provider. This resulted in people at check-in having printed lists where they searched for their names and filled out the boarding pass by hand. I had never experienced that; I think my first flight was in 1990.

Then it took longer for us to take off, with the explanation being that there was too much air traffic over the European Union. We took off about an hour and a half later.

At the airport, I was able to fill out the visa application and easily found the counter for it. There was quite a line, and I got a bit nervous since I had booked a ride through booking.com, and it said the driver would wait only 45 minutes. I was hopeful, since I had given my flight number, that they could check. He had waited for me but greeted me rather unfriendly, saying he had waited two hours for me and held up the paper with the arrival time. Interestingly, I had received an SMS that definitely did not confirm this early arrival; I was surprised how quickly and efficiently the processing went.

I had read that Egyptians are relaxed and was expecting something like in Ecuador, friendly smiling people leisurely stamping passports and making small talk. Not at all, it was hurry hurry hurry.

I was a bit annoyed that everything took quite a long time; I should have sorted my visa on site better. But then I still had to wait a little for my luggage and was very happy when it finally appeared on the conveyor belt.

My father is said to be a fast driver, at least among my friends in the past; they would have been afraid. But even he did not prepare me for this taxi ride. You could overtake from the right and from the left, and I was surprised how this minibus could accelerate. When we arrived, the driver said here was my hostel. I wanted to know which building, but interestingly he didn’t know that. He said a minute, drove into a side street, asked people, and asked me at least three times what the name of the hostel was where I booked this ride, which he definitely had the same expression available as I did.

I then showed him a screenshot from Google Maps with the address of the hostel; there was also a phone number. He called, but still didn’t become much wiser. Eventually, I discovered the name on the side of the street.

After that, it got significantly better. The staff at the hostel are super nice, and my roommate in the women’s dorm is too. There are only four beds in there; I'll share more in the next post.