A slick entry to Cairo
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008We left Tanzania and had a long trip to Cairo. We flew from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam, picked up more passengers and then flew to Adis Ababa (Ethiopia). Once there, we spent 3 hours in line to get a simple transit visa as our connecting flight didn’t leave until the next morning. So, once we received the visa, the airline dropped us at our hotel, fed us dinner and off to sleep we went. The next morning, they fed us again and brought us back to the airport. The flight took off and then almost immediately landed for a maintenance stop (which was planned… no need to worry) in Sudan. We’re not sure why this flight does this as it is not a long way to Cairo. 20 minutes later we’re up in the air again and on our way… to Cairo, finally.
Paula and I are sitting in 2nd row, behind the 1st class curtain, that is. When it lands the people in front of us but behind the curtain don’t get up immediately so paula moves forward, essentially into the 1st class area. Normally, we just sit as we find it useless to rush to stand and wait in the line when the doors have not been opened yet. Anyway, since Paula moved forward, I decided to join her. The door opens and we shuffle out of the plane. As we’re walking down the steps, I noticed that noone was behind me. We had accidently snuck into the 1st class domain… hmmm… so, here’s some insider info if you’ve never done the 1st class thing. When we get to the bottom of the steps we are escorted to a minivan… no massive people mover this time. Granted, it was one seat short so I had to stand but I didn’t mind. A few looks from other riders told me that they knew we were not one of ‘them’ but the driver didn’t so we were in like ‘flin’. Once we were all there, the van sped off and brought us directly to the terminal. We jumped out and went through the most efficient customs process ever and were then shown to our baggage claim area. Our bags, for some lucky reason, were the second and fourth bags so we ended up being the first out of the airport. A grand total of 15 minutes to get from the ding of airplane (when it stops and you are ‘free to move about the cabin’) through immigration, through baggage, to the airport exit. Lovin’ it!
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