We landed around 3am in Cairo. It wasn’t chaotic or difficult to find our way through the airport, all of the signs were in both English and Arabic. Our guide wasn’t there right when we landed, and we had a feeling he wouldn’t be, since our flight was supposed to come in at 4:20, not 3:10.. big difference when you’re sleeping!
We got our visa sticker from the teller in the window for $25 USD, filled out our immigration form, then went through customs. The man put the visa sticker in our passports and stamped them-the best of both worlds! Ha! Then we went and stood with everyone else to wait for our luggage. That’s when Hassan, our airport transfer guy found us.
A hour later, we finally had our luggage. Instead of waiting in a huge line to have our things checked, Hassan walked us right through a different gate. The agent checked one passport and that was it! Everyone else was in line to put their luggage through the security scanner again.. not us! Off we went! Hassan got us to our van, and introduced us to our actual guide, Dr. Sherif (said like cher-reef). He’s an Egyptologist and absolutely hysterical.
Sherif and our driver took us to a restaurant that I swear looked closed. They went and talked with the guys out front, and the next thing we knew, we were sitting at a table outside and being served entirely too much food: falafels, local Arabic bread, omelets, fava beans, grilled veggies.. it was incredibly good and so filling! I was in Heaven. I often base countries off of their breakfasts if I could live there or not-I could eat this breakfast everyday. For sure.
We got to the hotel, The Steigenberger Pyramids Hotel, and we were all absolutely beat. We hung out in a lobby seating area and Sherif worked on getting us in our rooms early. I was shocked when we were in before 8am! They’d never do that at home. But the hour and a half or so hanging around was also enjoyable. Sherif entertained us with stories and lots of laughs. Everyone had some coffee, mom toured the pool on her own for some pictures. It was a good time.
Once we were in our rooms, we tried to take a nap.. mom and I fussed some because the room was hot and we were both flipping around in these beds awhile before we could get comfortable and fall asleep. We were supposed to get up at noon-to help with the jet lag.. only 3 hours after noon did we budge. Dammit!
So, at 3:15pm I finally got up and went to find Andrea by the pool. Our hotel is nice and the pool is great, you can see two of the pyramids in the distance, which is pretty neat. Mom came out too, and she and Terri hung out in lounge chairs and Andrea and I swam. It started getting dark by 5pm, which I don’t think we were expecting. Terri and I walked through the restaurant in the hotel and checked out what they had (and maybe got to sample a couple things from the chef, talk about hospitality) and then we met the other two back in our rooms.
Terri and Andrea did as we were supposed to, and stayed up-so they were now headed to sleep. Mom and I were wide eyed and a little bored, so we got ready and went to dinner. The food was laid out buffet style and while some things were odd, everything I tried was delicious. I got several varieties of chicken, some pasta, bread and soup, and several things that I have no clue what they even were. Pastries and red wine rounded out the meal perfectly.
We are now back in the room, not even 8pm, and we’re both getting ready for bed. I’m still worn out! Jet lag is no joke. We have to be ready to leave the hotel with Sherif at 9am tomorrow, after breakfast, to go on our first day of exploration: the pyramids, the sphinx, and several other places are listed on their itinerary for us.
So. Off to sleep I go! I don’t think I’ll have trouble this time 😉 goodnight!
The food looks amazing!!!