Giza here we come

2 December 2008, Madrid, Spain - Cairo, Egypt
Its hard to believe we are in Cairo. It has felt like time has stood still and we are just floating from one amazing place to another. Our day was pretty relaxed as we packed, and went for a final stroll around the streets of Peurta de Sol where I picked up some spanish fans, and a set of tarot cards. Last minute email off to our hostel in Cairo to confirm our pick up at the airport and we were off. Our trip to the airport was a bit cheaper this time at 25 euros, but still took forever to get to our gate. There are heaps of terminals at Madrid airport so first you need to make sure you are dropped at the right terminal, then you go down to catch a train to the satellite terminal, then you need to find your gate. It is about 30min from check-in to get to your gate. The Egyptians are funny as well. While we were all waiting patiently at our gate, there seemed to be a subliminal message sent to all the Egyptians who suddenly stood and lined up. No announcement had been made, but it seemed like they didn't want to miss out. 45 minutes later, our flight was finally called ... and they were all still in line. We also shared the flight with the Egyptian Handball Team, who were very excited by spending their last euro's at the chip vending machine! The flight was like no other we had had. It seemed the Egyptians had ants in their pants as they were all up and down out of their seats all through the flight, noise was also something that they all seemed to find endearing, while the rest of us longed for a little quite to get some sleep.

First impressions of Egypt airport were a little feeling like we'd gone down a rabbit hole somewhere. As soon as we had landed the Egyptians clapped loudly and were of course lined up at the door of the plane ready to get off. Why did they clap? Is landing a plane safely some miracle here? Should we have been more worried? Why did they want to get off so quickly? The flight crew had had enough, and had continued to ask them to sit down and buckle up, and I think they were ready to tell the pilot to turn the plane around and go back to Madrid.

Customs was no problem - welcome to Cairo was about it. We were then met by our contact from Hostel Brothers. Some guy grabbed our bags and helped us onto a bus, then stood in Pete's face and wouldn't let him get on until they were given money 'Welcome to Egypt'.

Our hostel was great, and the brothers that run it know what they are up to. By the time we got in, it was 12:30am. By 1am we had our 4 days in Cairo sorted out and booked. Wednesday - Giza Pyramids, Thursday - Luxor West Bank, Friday - Luxor Balloon and East Bank, Saturday - Cairo Museum and Cruise the Nile, Sunday - depart. Whirl wind trip of Cairo but all sounded great. Got to bed around 3am.