Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Arrival!

After 6,900 miles, 32 hours, and five airports I arrived in Cairo this morning at 2:00 AM local time, and was very glad AUC arranged a pickup for me at the airport, saving the hassle of finding a cab. My driver averaged about 110 km/h on the way to my hotel, and on arriving I got to experience my first stranger intent on getting baksheesh, or tips. The entrance to the Pension Roma is down an alley off a major street, and as I approached an elderly man came out of the shadows on my left, mumbling something in Arabic. I was either too tired or too trustworthy to be suspicious, which turned out to be fine, as all he wanted to do was direct me to the elevator towards the fourth floor, and help me with my bags. I underestimated the dedication of these guys; anyone guards an entrance until 2:30 in the morning on the off chance that someone checks in at that time deserves a tip.
I'm still quite bleary from jet lag, and I might not make it all the way until tonight without a nap, but now I'm going to take my first fairly random walk around the city. Today's the 19th, and the AUC dorms don't open until the 22nd, so the next few days are more or less entirely mine. One of the nice things about Cairo is how cheap it is, I'm not sure I could afford to arrive a few days early if I had gone to London or Dublin. But here I'm able to get a single for under $15 dollars a night, with breakfast included. Granted, it's not the nicest hotel in the world, and I haven't fully solved the mystery of the shower with two reddish handles, both of which caused very cold water to come out, but I'm young and should be able to handle these sort of things. I'll try to get some pictures up later, I have a few from walking around Amsterdam during my 9 hour layover, but the internet service here is only up for around 4-5 hours a day, so I can't promise they'll be up soon.

2 comments:

  1. ok so josh, i'm stupid lol. i thought you were already in cairo! (as you probably noticed from my last comment to you on my blog). hehehe but anyway hoooraaay you're finally there! hope you have fun! btw you might find it interesting that in the sims 3 world adventures expansion pack, egypt is one of the travel destinations hehe...anywayyyy...have fun in cairo and keep us updated on your adventures!! =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yayy so excited that you finally reached! (I already have Cairo on my list stuck up over my desk - it has all the time differences between me and the places my fiends are.

    I hope you recover from the jet lag soon but wow, Cairo must be so exciting!
    When do classes start?

    ReplyDelete