Bob and Ann in Egypt and Jordan 2009

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It was a loooong flight. I’m not sure what kind of plane we were on but it was old. The overhead compartments were small and the seats had various problems such as detachable headrests and non-functioning footrests. The crew was a little disorganized, but charmingly so. At mid-flight, some of them changed to their civvies and back to their uniforms toward the end of the flight. The movies were in Arabic with Arabic subtitles. The food was decent. I would give Egypt Air a C rating – average.

Ann and I tried to get some sleep, but it the seats were slightly uncomfortable. Besides, as soon as we would doze off, one of the many kids on board would cry. I guess that I got an hour or two of sleep at the most.

Our seat mate was a paramedic/emergency room technician from Seattle who was going to Egypt as a volunteer for Project Smile. His job is to teach emergency room doctors how to revive surgery patients when they are dying on the operating table. He said that this basic training is missing for many Third World doctors.

We descended into Cairo on schedule. Looking out the window, we could see vast expanses of flat, brown desert. Scattered here-and-there were some large houses with swimming pools.

The Cairo airport is fairly new and modern. We were impressed about how clean everything was. Passport Control was easy for us, but the man ahead of us had a problem with his passport or visa and was being turned away.

Pool Area at the Hotel

We met our OAT representative who gathered the three of us who are going to Alexandria. The third person was Abel Shafer from New York. We picked up our bags (mine was wet from the NYC weather) and led us outside to our tour guide, Samy Fouad. Samy got us into our bus and on to our hotel, Iberotel and Casino (Le Passage). Our room is typical, but a little smokey. The hotel is nice with a large pool (with a bunch of Brits sun bathing) and several restaurants. We had lunch in an Italian restaurant sitting outside in a covered patio. Prices are fairly reasonable.

We lazed around the hotel all afternoon trying to keep awake. We ate dinner at 6:00. At 7:15 we gave up and went to bed.