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Cairo, Egypt
30° 2' N 31° 15' E
Sep 24, 2005 20:17
Distance 3216km

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Other entries in Cairo

On the continent of Africa..Welcome to Egypt!

Text written in: English

 I took an Altalia flight from Paris to Cairo via Milan and it was a smooth flight. I had a window seat and anxiously awaited for the plane to touch down in Egypt. A new adventure to a place that was not visited by most Americans these days. It was a smooth landing and when I got of the plane, I spotted a guy holding a sign that said "Imaginative Traveller". This was the name of the tour company I had signed up with. The guy greeted me and helped me through the custom formalities. I handed my passport over to the Egyptian custom official and he kept my passport but didn't tell me anything. I was standing next to an Italian guy and told me he was waiting for his passport too. After what seemed like five minutes, we finally got our passports back. They had to run it through the computer or something.  My suitcase was the first one off the loading rack and then I was on my way. The representative from Imaginative Traveller drove me and another Australian guy who had just arrived to our hotels. The drive into the city from the airport was my introduction to TRAFFIC IN CAIRO.

I must say the traffic in Cairo is like no other I've seen. If I had to compare it to something in the States, I'd say imagine going down the highway in Los Angeles during rush hour and adding in people on carriages and donkeys. The population of Cairo is about 17 to 22 million and there are no traffic laws. There are no neat pedestrian crossings to cross the street easily. You just take a chance and walk or run across the lanes in between the cars. The people must be good drivers because I didn't see any accidents. :=)

I was dropped off at the Hotel Salma and checked into my room. I had arrived a day earlier than the tour start date. I didn't know exactly what to do on my first day in Cairo and I was a little bit nervous being in a new country on my own. I didn't speak Arabic but the people at the front desk were friendly and helped me arrange a taxi. I went to the Egyptian Museum and spent a few hours there. The museum didn't have air-conditioning and there were LOTS of tour groups there with their guides. I had a Lonely Planet Guide book with me, but found that you really need a guide once in the museum to tell you what you are looking at. The displays are not labeled very well in the museum, but I was still impressed by everything inside. After the museum, I took a taxi back to the hotel and rested. I was kind of tired and made it an early night. 

Tomorrow I would meet my tour group and the adventure would begin!