The adventure began flying out of London Heathrow Airport on Air France bound for Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport to meet my connecting flight there to Cairo. After arriving at the Paris CDG, it was announced that my flight will be delayed 2 hours. So I spent the extra time looking around the duty free shops with no interest in buying anything. After awhile, I sat around listening to my iPod while people-watching until it was that time to board my flight. The flight was long and uneventful and I spent most of the time watching the inflight movies and sleeping...when I could...LOL. We finally arrived at the Cairo International Airport around 1 am. After approaching the passport checkpoint, I saw a man holding up a sign with my name and I waved over to him.
After my bags were picked up, he escorted me to the shuttle van. The hotel I reserved was in Giza and took roughly 50 minutes to get there from the Cairo Airport. After my arrival and check-in at the hotel, I went straight to bed. I was dead tired. The next morning, I got up feeling fully rested. I got prepared for the day and made my way to the lobby at the appointed time for the my guided tour. This female approached me and asked if my name is Rob. I responded yes and we exchanged greetings with one another. Her name was Marwa and she was my tour guide/egyptologist for part of the day. We got in a van and we were off to see the pyramids. The weather was perfect.
Marwa went on describing the history of the pyramids and so on. She allowed me to look around on my own but warned me to keep to myself from the ever-so-bothersome vendors that were trying to sell something. I was approached a couple of times by these guys and I was ready to put up a fight with one of them. He was so persistant about me receiving the shirt that he started to wedge the shirt under my arm. Well, for those of you who have been to see the pyramids, I'm sure you can relate to this experience and what he was trying to get from me. For those who don't know, this dude was trying to get me to take this freakin' t-shirt as a gift. If I took it, he would demand a tip.
I was going to take the t-shirt and shove it up his ass, but being a patient dude that I am, I resisted the Incredible Hulk urges building up in me...LOL. I continued my trek around the pyramids taking pictures here and there and evading those vendors as best as I can. I saw other tourists having to deal with the same problem. After awhile I returned back to the guide, and we drove to one area showing all three pyramids from a good vantage point. I took lots of pics there, and Marwa took a few pics of me as well. After the picture-taking session, we saw folks riding camels and I wanted to try my luck riding a camel. Marwa and the camel dude took several shots of me on the camel with the pyramids in the background.
It was an interesting experience. Marwa paid the camel dude and I paid Marwa back. This was a good tactic because the camel dude was asking me for a tip (after being separated from the Marwa) and I told him that my tour guide has my money. It was like 60 egyptian pounds for the ride. Afterwards, we got back in the van and drove to the area where the Sphinx was located. We stopped there and Marwa continued her explanation of the pyramids and how the Sphinx came to be. Afterwards, I went walking around taking several shots of the Sphinx and the pyramids in the background. Marwa continued explaining more about the history of these ancient structures as we went along. Afterwards, the tour ended.
I must say I was quite pleased with the tour and all the interesting historical information Marwa was able to provide me. The rest of the day I went souvenir shopping for my friends of course. I ran across a papyrus store that was a "legit" store. I walked in and was approached by and ever-so-helpful, overly-friendly salesperson. You know the type. I was shown how the paper was made out of the papyrus plant and was given some time to look around their gallery of papyrus artwork that covered their walls. I managed to purchase a particular design that I loved and made my way out of the store. I continued looking around in and around Giza. Afterwards I made my way back to the hotel to relax and recharge.
I was dead tired and decided to take it easy the rest of the evening. The next morning after having breakfast in the hotel, I took a taxi back to Cairo's city centre to visit the Egyptian museum. After arriving there, I paid the entrance fee, left my digital camera in the holding area since cameras and video cameras were not allowed in the museum. This didn't stop other tourists from taking pictures using their cell phone cameras or their slim, small digital cameras. I had a bulky digital SLR camera so I knew I couldn't get away bringing that thing in. I spent most of the day marveling at the different displays. There is just so much to see that I lost track of time. I really got my money's worth visiting this amazing museum.
I did more looking around there in Cairo (Hard Rock, shopping bazaars, etc.). After awhile, I got back to the hotel. It was late in the afternoon and I knew that I had to get prepared since I had a very early flight the next morning. I got up around 4 am the next morning, showered, ate a Snickers bar (breakfast of champions right?) and drank the rest of my bottled water shortly before leaving my hotel room with my bags. After checking out at the counter, I turned around and my driver walked in. We were off to the airport. I can hear my self yawning every so often on the way to the airport. Once I got there, I tipped the driver and said goodbye. Walking in the arrivals area, I peered over at the board showing departure flights.
I found out that my flight was delayed 2-hours...just my freakin' luck. Crap, I could have stayed in bed a little longer if I'd known beforehand. I waited and finally they opened up the first security checkpoint. I dumped my bags on the conveyor belt security machine thingy, and I noticed the smell of cigarette smoke. I looked around and several people were smoking. I guess I was so use to most airports having designated smoking booths. Not the case here I guess. After the long wait and more people-watching, the announcement came through about boarding my flight. I was surprised (and very glad) that this wasn't a packed flight. There were empty seats everywhere.
The guy sitting next to me got up after the seatbelt sign turned off and sat in the row behind me. I smelled myself and cupped my hands over my mouth while exhaling to see if reasons for him relocating wasn't due to me...LOL...no I didn't do that. Actually, he was a tall, slightly rotund guy and wanted more space. I didn't blame him. Absolutely no elbow room in those economy-class seats that most of us can afford...LOL. After arriving at Paris CDG, I found out my connecting flight to London Heathrow was delayed two-hours. What is it about Air France and these freakin' delays? LOL! I finally got back to Heathrow then it was that long-ass drive (1.5 hrs) from Heathrow to my place of residence. Anyway, aside from the flight delays and the bothersome street vendors at the pyramids, I did enjoy my time there in Cairo and in Giza.
