Cairo
Egypt

Getting to Cairo can be an interesting experience in itself. Flights only seem to come and go from there during the early hours of the morning. Egypt Air and Olympic Airways are the two main carriers. I was on an Olympic Airways flight which left Athens at 12:50am and arrived into Cairo at 3am. The flight was like no other I have been on. The bright lights are kept on in the cabin so there is no way that you can get any sleep. The flight attendants weren't exactly what I would call friendly. Much to my disgust, people were allowed to smoke on the flight. There I am in a small plane, full to its capacity, scowling flight attendants, bright lights, its after midnight and the people behind me and next to me light up cigarettes, all at the same time. It is a very casual flying experience. You are not asked to stow your luggage under the seat in front of you or in the over head bins, you can keep it on your lap, on the floor, where ever it won't trip anyone up.

Visas are available from the currency exchanges at the airport upon arrival. At the time of writing this a visa cost US$ 15. You don't have to fill in any forms or have any photos, you just hand over your money and are given two stamps in return. Stick the stamps onto a blank page in your passport and proceed through the immigration counters. An officer will examine your passport and stamp the stamps which are your visa.

While waiting for your luggage you may be approached by men calling themselves travel agents. They will try to sell you a tour or give you pricing which is quite high. My theory is that they are working with the men waiting outside who will hound you and who will offer you a lesser price that what you were told inside so that you feel like you are getting a deal. Everything is pretty much a scam here so you just have to learn to accept it as they way things are there. All part of the cultural experience of being ripped off. Once you get your luggage you will proceed through the customs area which is basically a gateway through which you exit and get questioned by a stern officer who may ask what is in your bags. Then you step outside to a swarm of 'drivers' who will take you where you need to go. There isn't a taxi rank as such, so you just need to bargain with the drivers for a fare that you can both agree on. Around thirty Egyptian Pounds is the average fare to get you down town, plus tip of course, although if you fell like striking a deal and bargaining hard, you could get the fare for less. I had already asked a man at the hotel post inside of the airport what the best way was to get to the hotel. He suggested I take a limo. A limo in Cairo and a limo like I'm use to are not the same thing. Anyway, it turned out that the guy inside had phoned one of the guys outside and told him to keep an eye out for me as I was approached by someone who knew which hotel I was going to. They work in teams and there is no escaping it. I struck the deal and was lead down a path to what I hoped was the parking lot. It was. The car was a beat up wreck which needed a good hose down with disinfectant as do most of the cars in Cairo.
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