Good morning from Cairo, Egypt! The land with free wi-fi at the airport, and clean toilets! Nothing fancy, but they are clean, and smell fresh. Dearest Nigeria, it is possible to have clean toilets in our airports o! Even if you want to have ladies handing out little bits of tissue paper like was done here (how they’ve predetermined how much any one will need beats me though) but please, it is possible!
Can I say the bits of the airport I’ve seen are really nice? I got a small bottle of water (Evian) for $5 but it’s all good; all these airports will answer to God on the day of judgement for their exorbitant pricing. The airport’s also got most of the ‘known’ names; Burger King, Haagen-Dazs, Cafe Ritazza, I could go on and on. You can spend sterling, Egyptian or American Dollars, Swiss Francs, and Euros at this airport.
How did I get here? It’s that wonderful time of the year when I get to be in Nigeria (whoop), and for the first time ever, I decided to fly Egypt Air. Major reason? My brother flew this airline to Malaysia sometime this year, and he was treated like a king! Hotel room on his stopover, buffet meals, the works; I said I had to see what it was about. Then, truth be told, it was the cheapest option to Nigeria at this time, considering I bought my ticket in the last couple days in November.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a pretty tumultuous day for me; from pendulum swinging emotions, to my right knee shutting down, pain in my back, loads of running around to do, you get the picture abi? One of those days. Got to the airport (thank God I’d checked in online), and to crown my day, security took my hand luggage aside to be searched. Odd because I’d checked it to be sure there was nothing in it to attract attention.
It wasn’t just the search that annoyed me, it wasn’t the near 15 minutes wait (I’m sure if there was anyone psychoanalysing my face from anywhere he would have read nothing but disgust and anger), it was the fact that the lady removed every one item from the box! When she was done she asked me, ‘why did they separate your box’? I said, ‘ask your colleagues’; trust me, it was the nicest reply I had.
I packed my box, re-arranged my dignity, and then had to walk really quickly to our gate to board; my knee was grating by the time I sat down. Window seat? Yes. Then this diminutive, pimpled guy comes, meets me sitting down and asks, ‘are you sitting here? And where do I stow my luggage, the thing is full’. I ignore the first question (because I don’t have a Christian answer) and would have ignored the second too just that it would have been rude. I point in the direction of the nearest hostess and say, ‘ask her’. Then I plug my ears with my earphones and try to ‘mind over matter’ the pain in my knee.
Young Jock (whose really short fingers I’ve just noticed – made me smile so that’s good) decides we must chat. Errr, there is a reason why my ears are plugged you know. He taps me to ask if I live in London. Yes. ‘Ok’, he says, ‘I live in Scotland’. Then he taps me again to ask my name. And then he tells me his, after which I wrap myself with my jacket and close my eyes. Arrrgh!!
Egypt Air doesn’t hand out earpieces except you ask (probably just in the Economy Class anyway) but I didn’t mind cos my Sennheiser worked, and I was forced to sleep soon by His Majesty. Oh yes, did I mention that Young Jock asked for a second helping? No harm done o, it’s the way he wolfed down both portions that ‘did me one kind’. This kind of person can eat a human being abeg!
Oh yes, there was this baby that started crying soon as we boarded, and honestly cried all the way to Cairo. I felt sorry for her mom, and inside me said a prayer for all the moms I know. This woman stood, sang, walked, played, nothing; this baby just wanted to cry. Then we touch down in Cairo, and the little princess starts smiling. If I was Catholic I would have made the Sign Of The Cross, all these things we can’t explain!
Ok, so I’m going to do a bit of exploring now, till it’s my time to board, and hopefully I can take a couple pictures too. Maybe I’ll have a Burger, or some ice cream; they opened shop at 4am! Who does that?
Me!
P:S – Dear Lord, can I have a quiet neighbour for the second leg of this trip? If he’s going to be noisy, then let him be fine! *wink*
*first chronicle from my new Macbook…..not bad at all!
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