Life As I See It - From Egypt

CAI is the Airport Code for Cairo

CAI is the airport code for Cairo. As I sat on the plane, the capital letters kept running in sequence through my mind….C..A..I..R..O. I’m from Kansas – Cairo is all the way around the world. What am I doing on my way to Cairo.. to LIVE? This is the beginning of an adventure. I guess it’s appropriate given that this is my 50th year. What a way to bring it in! The route was Kansas City to Chicago to Frankfurt to Cairo. United and Lufthansa are partners so they were the providers. The airplanes were perfectly comfortable but I did not sleep a wink. It is a 1 hour flight time to Chicago, 9 hours to Frankfurt and then 4 hours to Cairo. I left at 10:30a and arrived 3:00p local time the next day. Upon arrival: All the “Meet and Greet” men holding their signs for whom they will be picking up that day. I go slowly down the line looking for my name in print. Nothing. Okay. I will try again. This time, slower. I look for variations in the name.. Tresa or Millaire. Still nothing. Okay. Wait a little bit. I was one of the first off the plane and could have been through passport control by now if my greeter was on time. Oh well. Third time is a charm. I take my time going down the now depleted line of greeters. “I must think,” I tell myself, “What now?” I need a visa to get through passport control. Usually the greeter gets this for me. But, evidently I will be going through by myself. So, I go to the window of one of the banks on site that sells visas. He speaks English – no problem. Fifteen dollars later I have my small sticker. I try to call Ron. I have his Egyptian phone number. My cell phone doesn’t have an International chip, though. Tough way to find this out. Okay, now what? I will go through passport control and get my luggage. Then I will find somewhere to make a local phone call to Ron. Sketchy plan but all I had at the moment. I get in line with about 200 other people. By now three other large planes have disembarked. As I stand in line with this waving sea of humanity a guy walks by with a sign that says Teresa Malarre. Close enough. I practically knock over my greeter as I rush out of line to claim him. He mumbles something about 4 planes arriving at once. My assessment is that he is late. Regardless, I hand him my visa and passport. We walk around the waving sea to a window at the side, behind which sits a man in an official government uniform. People are vying for his attention from every which side. My guy stands silently for about a minute. Then he pushes my papers underneath the window. The official stamps my visa and we walk out. Just like that. Okay. Now the luggage. I had visions of my luggage being opened by customs officials and never shutting. Of half my stuff not making it and my suitcase on the luggage belt half open with clothes strewn about. Well that nightmare was put to rest. My luggage was safely zipped and arrived quickly. My greeter unloaded it for me and we headed for the front door. A man at the door taps my luggage on top and says “What’s in here?” I said “clothes.” He said “okay.” Okay, great customs. Then, another sea of humanity. I would have to be claustrophobic! I focus on the greeter and my luggage. He is supposed to have a car waiting for me to take me to my hotel. I don’t look left or right. People are everywhere. Some guy is sidling up to me on my left side. Oh bother! He sticks his head around in front of me… It is Ron! Oh, thank God. A familiar Anglo-Italian face and he speaks English. You can’t imagine my relief.

posted by Teresa @ 6:47 AM