Day 45...Our Egypt Adventure!

Day 45, July 29th:

Egypt Day 3!

Oh what a day!!!  I will go ahead and warn you that this day is not full of sights!  It is full of taxi rides and trying to make our way home to Alexandria.  We began the day by going up to breakfast at our hotel.  Note: the hotel is on 3 levels of a building and you enter each floor by a common staircase, so the hotel attendant must let you into your floor each time with a key.  While at breakfast, the hotel attendant looked the one and only key to our floor on the other side of the door.  When we come down to get our stuff, we quickly realize that we are not getting into our room anytime soon.  We go back upstairs and wait in the fan cooled room, while they work for the next 45 minutes to open the door.  Once inside, we grab our belongings and head to the train station to buy our tickets back to Alexandria for later that day.  Our taxi wanted to drop us off on the other side of the highway from the train station or else it would cost an extra 10 pounds ($2) to get to the other side of the street.  There was no way in hell we were about to walk across the highway, so of course we made him take us around.  It would have been like trying to cross I-20 at rush hour with your legs tied together! 

We get out of the taxi and make our way to this large, filthy building with construction material all over the sides of the building so we can’t read the signage (it was in Arabic anyways…we found this out later).  The interior of the building was just as nice as the outside, so a tourist police asked us where we needed to go.  He directed us to the correct spot and we waited in a very long line.  Once we reach the counter, we learn that only one person speaks English, so we must get in the back of yet another long line.  The only English speaking person then tells us that all trains for all classes are booked completely through Saturday evening (3 days later…the night that the ship leaves).  There is supposedly nothing she could do for us.  We then all walk back out to the large, open terminal to discuss our next plan of action. 

This was all news to us because the interport lecturers and the ship’s crew told us that you can always get on a train the same day and they also said that you can’t purchase tickets more than 24 hours in advance.  Both of these turned out to be completely false!  We immediately decided to call the ship and ask about other ways to get back, as well as if we could jump on a SAS bus that was leaving Cairo all throughout the day if there was room.  I spoke directly to the Dean and he was unaware of where the busses were going to be leaving from and what time they were actually leaving.  He could not get a hold of anyone in the Field Office to ask them either.  He told us to look into alternative methods of transportation; however, the “Greyhound” busses of Egypt are always crammed pack and are without air-conditioning.  We quickly determined that those busses would be our last resort for our 3-hour trip back to Alexandria. 

Since we all were on the SAS camel and jeep safari trip the day before, we knew where that trip ended before it headed back to Alexandria.  We thought it was worth taking a taxi all the way out there to see if we could just jump on the SAS bus back.  We knew that would be the safest way back, probably even better than the train.  We quickly left the train station, took another taxi back to the hotel, ate lunch at a nearby McDonald’s, grabbed our belongings, and got a taxi to the Sakkara County Club.  The taxi driver said he knew exactly where we wanted to go; however, we found out about half way there that in reality he didn’t.  He took us to the town of Sakkara and then asked us how to go the rest of the way.  We obviously had no idea because we were on a bus. 

All we had was the address, in English and in Arabic, and a phone number that didn’t work.  We asked him to stop and ask directions from the locals, but they would only point him in the direction and wouldn’t tell him where to turn or anything like that.  It was ridiculous.  After driving and sitting in traffic for 2 and a half hours, our prayers finally came true!  The SAS busses pulled out just in front of the taxi!  We were so excited to see them!  If we were one minute earlier or later we would have been in for it; however, we told the taxi to go fast and stop that bus.  While the taxi is driving across the bridge and only one of the three busses has not yet drove off, I swung open the taxi door and waited for him to stop in front of the bus before jumping out!  I immediately ran up and pointed to the SAS sign that said it was the back-up bus for the Camel and Jeep Safari Trip.  I told him our situation quickly and he called his boss to see if they would let us ride the bus back to Alexandria.  They said yes!!!!!!!!!!  Our entire day of running, hoping, wishing, and praying was coming to an end!  We caught the last bus!!!!!!!  We paid the taxi driver 40 extra pounds for taking us all the way and doing as we asked.  The 2.5-hour ride was only $20 for all of us.  We were just thankful to be able to get on the SAS bus back to Alexandria. 

The crew on the backup bus then took down our passport info, called back the tour agent company and alerted customs at the port of the additional people coming back.  It worked out perfectly.  The three of us were on a safe, air-conditioned, and empty bus.  There were only 3 crew people, including the driver, and the 3 of us onboard.  They gave us cold bottled water and talked to us for about an hour about our day!  They were so nice!!!  We took a little snooze on the way home, ate some of the snacks we purchased the night before, and listened to some music.  The bus dropped us right off at the port and we were so ready and thankful to be back at the ship!!!  It is our home!!!  We ran up to dinner and ate some real food, talked for a few hours and went off to bed!  We didn’t want to leave the ship again after that!  It was a very stressful day, but everything worked out in the end! 

We never really got to see anything in Cairo, except what we saw from our many taxi rides and our SAS trip.  I didn’t even get a picture of the Nile River because I was watching where we were going.  I did drive over it three times though!  I guess that counts.  I didn’t get to visit the Egyptian Bazaar, where the sell many various items made from Egyptian cotton, etc.  I didn’t get to have my hot air balloon ride either.  Egypt has made me mad because I didn’t get to do anything that I wanted to do, except get on that SAS bus!!!   Oh well!  Finding a safe way home was much more important than the Egyptian Bazaar or the Nile.  WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Just ask yourself, “What did you do today?”  Did you get the opportunity to jump out of a taxi that cutoff a tour bus in Cairo, Egypt?  Did you get to cross the Nile River three times in various taxis?  Did you get to eat a McDonald’s Big Mac for lunch with only bread and meat because you could get E. coli from eating the rest?  Did you brush your teeth with bottled water or shower in a shower with no shower curtain and a broken faucet?  Did you wake up in the Obama Suite of a hotel in a 90% Muslim country?  I would bet that you answered “no” to all of those.  Now you know why Semester at Sea gives you a global education!