Egypt Travelogue: Day 1: Getting There

My first impression of Egypt was that it was blurry.

Of course, that's just because I was bleary-eyed and exhausted from the flights; we went from LAX to Heathrow to Cairo, with a 2.5-hour layover in between. Even Beijing wasn't that much travel -- 12 hours, direct, on Air China. So it was a lot of sitting, but when it ended, I was at my final destination. Heathrow was 10 hours away and Cairo another four-and-a-half. At least the British Airways flights had those seat monitors so we could watch whatever movies we chose:When I wasn't gossiping with Jessica, I whiled away the hours with Enchanted and, eventually, National Treasure: Book of SEEEEECRETS (you must utter it with a raspy, melodramatic tone), as well as most of the five magazines I packed and part of one of the six books. Like Jess, I have a pathological fear of running out of amusements on flights. It could've been worse: I left the house with eight books but decided to "be good" and leave two behind in the car. I have problems. But, SPOILER, I did end up arriving back home at the end of the trip having read all but two of the books and every magazine plus the Heat I purchased in Heathrow.

The big drama is that we had to fly into Terminal 5 -- our LAX flight landed there, but we transferred to Terminal 4 to catch the plane to Cairo. And about a week and a half before we left Los Angeles, British Airways opened T5 to much fanfare and disastrous baggage-handling problems that stranded or permanently lost thousands and thousands of suitcases. We joked about losing our bags, exacerbated by arriving at LAX and checking in, only to have the dude put "TRANSFER: TERMINAL 1" tags on our luggage because "we're out of all the T4 ones." We all opened our mouths to say something and then noticed the weary expression on his face that seemed to say, "I know what's coming, and I have had to give this answer a thousand times in the last week," so we just gave it up to the fates and prayed the Heathrow people would figure it out. Ultimately all three of us packed carry-on bags full of tiny toiletry essentials and as many clothes as we could fit, though, because the last thing we wanted was to get stranded in a hot climate and a culture that demands more conservative dress and good walking shoes, and find ourselves without an ample supply of those things. Bloody good thing: When we landed in Cairo on Wednesday just before midnight after about 18 hours of travel, Kevin's duffel bag -- into which we'd stuffed spare sneakers, big bottles of sunscreen, Luna bars, an extra hat, and overflow clothes in case we got sweaty and needed to change a few times a day -- wasn't on the baggage belt.

Side note: More thoughts on Terminal 5 later, but because of the suddenness of the flight cancellations and how it stalled BA's full switch to T5, they have a coach route between terminals that takes forever. Seriously, we spent 20 minutes on an overcrowded bus going over and under and around and through all these weird parts of the airport, with random tunnels and an up-close view of planes being restocked and refueled... if I'd been more awake I'd have wondered if this was the part where we were all killed so we couldn't complain about the future whereabouts of our luggage. But more to the point: Even though most flight ops will be from T5, why wouldn't they plan some kind of monorail to other terminals? $4.3 billion pounds and they couldn't drop a couple extra pence in the coffers for a shuttle? Please.

Back to Cairo: Fortunately we'd shelled out for a driver from the Nile Hilton to pick us up, and he helped Kevin convey all the lost luggage information to the right people. Since they kept trying to convince us the bag was somewhere on the belt despite it being empty, the smart money had that suitcase never finding us in Egypt.

The Cairo airport was a crowded nightmare, so having a driver helped immensely. You have to buy an entry visa, but you get it AT the airport before you go through to claim your bags. Lines are long and seemingly random, but the guide meant he could get someone's attention faster, get our paperwork, get our passports stamped, and get us through by circumventing the queues. Imagining having to negotiate that throng of humanity -- and dim lighting -- in the wee hours and on very little sleep, without ANY kind of aid, made my eyes cross.

But finally we were away, sailing through the then-empty streets, past statues and mosque minarets and the occasional billboard (my favorite: a Dorito with a hairy wig). It's always hard to drink in a city on a cab ride from the airport, but our tired eyes were still hungry. We were just so anxious to dive right in and get a feel for Cairo.

When picking our hotel, we went for a combination of location and reviews and moderate price, and we totally hit the jackpot. The Nile Hilton is in downtown Cairo alongside the famous river, right next to the Egyptian Museum and by a subway stop. We were on the same side of town as the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar, Coptic Cairo, the Citadel and other famous mosques; Giza and the pyramids were across the water. And that worked out to be our best decision, in terms of enjoying restaurants and playing our days fast and loose in terms of what we saw when.

It also had a great pool and a rooftop bar, which never hurts.

The one thing we'd read is that the Nile Hilton, one of the first major hotels to be built in Cairo, could use a renovation. And that's sort of true. While the cooling lobby was all fresh marble and ATMs and a deli and some shops, the rooms were a little more rustic. Totally clean, comfortable beds, beautiful Nile views, but fairly basic decor and even some awesome old furniture. When we entered, there was a wooden lattice frame that half-blocked the bedroom from the closet/foyer and bathroom (here, in Jess's room; mine and Kevin's was the mirror image), and one nightstand had channel-changing dials and volume knobs that, in the days of yore, would've controlled the TV, which you can sort of see in Jess's room in this shot. But I wouldn't have changed it for anything. There was something awesomely retro about it, and it wasn't run-down or disheveled. Just not state-of-the-art. And in an era where everyone seems to want to become a hip boutique hotel with minimalist decor that's never actually comfortable, I appreciate that the room felt homey even though it didn't feel new.

Because of the heat, we'd sworn we'd get an early start most days. But this being our first day, we let ourselves "sleep in" and planned to meet at nine to kick off our sightseeing. Even at this late -- or early? -- hour, there was music and chatter wafting up to our seventh-floor balcony, just enough to give us a feel for the rhythm of the city but not enough to keep us from conking out as soon as we switched off the lamp. Cairo would have to wait.

But just for seven hours.

Comments

[Read Teach Sew]

My husband and I went to Cairo and Luxor two years ago over Christmas. I'm excited about reading your impressions!

[JennyM]

I am SO living vicariously through you. Arrrrgh. Seriously, I could feel the jealousy coursing through my veins by the time you got to "Khan-el-Khalili." That's it, I'm going to Egypt.