Sights and Sounds of the Cairo Airport

7 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is bustling. Flights to Riadh, Beirout, Damascus and all those other Arab countries are leaving. Morocco’s just scored another goal bringing its total score to 4 against Namibia’s 1. Some 20 Moroccans are boarding my flight gleefully watching the big plasma screen TVs across the different corners of the Airport, and some hundred Egyptians secretly thinking “we’ll show those Moroccans when we play them” but half-heartedly praying we never have to play them.
I make myself comfortable in my seat, and start calling everyone I know to keep me entertained while we wait.
The flight attendant was very nice/flirtatious. He seems to think I am gorgeous. I responded with "enta kollak nazar" (which sort of means you’ve got a correct eye on things). I look in the mirror in the bathroom, let my hair down and decide he’s right. I told him I am engaged so he stops flirting. He’s old.
8:30 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is still bustling. This time all the travelers have gone, except for us – our flight got delayed to 4 am because of bad weather in Casablanca. The airport staff and security are dutifully watching another football match. Our TV screen is not on. There’s French commentary from the TV from the next waiting hall. One team is wearing green and the name Drogba keeps being repeated. It’s probably Nigeria. The other team seems to be Ivory Coast but I’m not sure. The Airport staff and security are excited, they are cheering and ooohing and aaahing at every play. It’s hard to tell who they’re supporting, I am more inclined to say Ivory Coast, because they fear a match between Egypt and Nigeria.
The most adorable little boy is crying. His cheeks are so red coz it’s very warm and his mommy won’t take his coat off. I don’t usually find kids adorable, especially when they cry. But this one is just so cute, big brown eyes and chubby cheeks and all. He’s Moroccan. I wink at him and his eyes widen, making him even more adorable.
This doesn’t sound like me.
The couple right opposite me just kissed. They’re not cute.
They just announced another flight, the woman making the announcement has an annoying French accent that accentuates every single letter. “Egypt Air annonce le depart do son vole numbero 685 a riadh”. Then she put on this fake British accent and repeats the same in English.
They promised us a hotel till 4 am, and just called the Business Class passengers. I hope we start moving soon. I hope the hotel has internet.
But it’s ok, I have good movies, and good books with me.
8:45 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is getting quieter. There’s just the French commentary from the TVs and the whispers of the bored passengers waiting. Even the little kids are quiet. Our cheeks aren’t as red – it’s getting breezier in here. I don’t know where the breeze is coming from.
Some Americans just walked in, it’s getting louder. They seem to have an annoying George-Bush-kinda-accent. They are your typical western tourists here on some packaged trip with minimal interaction with Egyptians, coz who wants that!
It’s going to be a long night.
9:00 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is the same. A rude security personnel comes and tells everyone to exit the gate so they can get checked by security. An old Moroccan woman tries to explain to him that we’re from the previous flight and we are waiting for further instructions. He’s not listening and being rude, she’s clearly offended by the vulgar way he’s speaking. I tell him off for not listening to what we’re saying. His response is rude. Some one else calls him on his rudeness but we quietly obey his instructions. The Americans don’t understand what’s going on. I explain to them that they need to exit the gate so they can check their hang luggage. And a wise-ass American says “oh you mean coz they didn’t do their job in the first place”. I understand his frustration.
10:00 pm – I didn’t think this post would be that long. We’re on the bus. Most of the passengers decided to wait in the Airport because they want to send us to a hotel in Haram. Haram is at the far west of Cairo. The airport is at the far north-east of Cairo. It would take us two hours to get there. A hot shot journalist is fighting with the Egypt Air officials and promising to publish this and escalate to higher officials (a very standard threat in Egypt). The Egypt Air official shows exemplary customer service skills by telling him “if you don’t like this, then go complain” (a very standard comeback to the threat in Egypt).
11:37 pm on a Monday night and we are at the Cataract Hotel in Sakkara Road, Haram. No information has been given on when we should get up, and what will happen next.
Egypt Air’s organizational skills are abysmal at best. Security levels on this whole situation are poor. We do not have our luggage; I do not know how it will be handled in the morning. Anyone could have left without noticing. I hope they do not put any luggage on that plane without verifying the owner and checking its safety. But it’s Egypt; so I rely on mere hope and not faith.
5:00 am on a Tuesday morning and we’re back at the Airport. An Egypt Air official came on the bus and actually asked us if we’re all present, and if anyone is missing. Interesting! I guess keeping count is an alien concept to them. By now the passengers of flight 847 are almost certain that this was all a not-so-elaborate ploy to put us on the next flight which departs at 7 am, because they did not feel like operating two flights at about 20% occupancy. I made my mother check the weather conditions in Morocco; humidity was at 95%, it was foggy and visibility was 4 km. I do not know if this is suitable flying conditions or not. (I found out later that there was actually too much fog and all planes to Casablanca we re-routed)
5:39 am on a Tuesday morning and I am sipping my hot drink. As I approach Starbucks I notice a familiar logo next to it. It’s Coffee Bean. I am thankful I decided to head towards Starbucks since they lead me to my ultimate Chai Latte addiction that is in Coffee Bean. I am sitting with McDonald’s on my left, Starbucks on my right, Cinnabon in front and Coffee Bean to my back. And I am in Egypt. Sweet huh?
This post has lasted too long.
Our flight leaves at 7 am. This is my 32nd trip, and probably my 55th flight, so I am not bitter. The odds are good: 1 horrible flight in 55 flights? I can live with those odds. It gets very gloomy if we make those odds exclusive to Egypt Air flights. But I won’t go there.
On our flight we have an Echo, reclusive and alone, a John Locke who is old and thinks he knows everything, we have a Charlie that looks all doped up and we have a Jack Shepard who takes the lead.
I watch too much TV…
11:10 am on a Tuesday morning. We’ve just landed in Morocco.
I have a meeting a 120 KM away that starts in less than 3 hours.

The End

P.S. if you’ve made it so far, I’ll take you out for a Chai Latte. You deserve some compensation for those 10 minutes of your life you’ve just wasted.