We made it to Egypt, but our bags stayed in London

Like, I mentioned in the title- this has been our drama over the last 24 hours. At this point, still no luggage. But let me back up a little bit. We left off in the Heathrow airport, Brad was sleeping and I was going to take his picture to show how peaceful he was but he woke up as I logged off of the computer. We finally got our gate number, took another tram to the gate and boarded within 20 mins of arrival there. We took a 747 to Cairo- never have been on one of those. That is one large plane…unless of course you are sitting in coach or as I have now deemed it, “low class”. We asked several agents to upgrade our seats (offering to pay for the difference) to business or first class and were unsuccessful- not because they were full, but because British Airways will not do that on our tickets for some unknown reason….seems like a poor business practice, but what do I know? Anyway, we got on the plane for a flight a little longer than 4 hours- not too bad. But we were nearing the end of our patients being up for 30 + hours.

We arrived in Egypt a little ahead of schedule (for a change) and got off the plane not having ANY clue what we were in for. When we were descending, it was at night so we couldn’t see any of the landscape to give us any preview of Cairo. So we got off the plane into the airport and were handed little card to fill out that had name, address of where you were staying and phone number- this card was up and above the entrance/immigration card. So we fill them out, handed it to a guard and got through to the other side with bunch of drivers holding signs with people’s names on them….praying that one of them had our name on it. Brad actually willingly put on his pink and purple sticker so that he could be identified as part of the group..ha ha ha- I knew he would! We saw a man that had a folder that had our travel companies name on it and we exhaled- at least I did. He asked if we had our Visas and we told him no. He instructed us to (and this is almost his exact words) “ go to one of the bank counters behind me, give them no more than 15 US dollars and request a Visa and come back to me”…ok that is the point that hit me…we are not in Kansas anymore Toto. So we got the Visas pretty easily and went back to him to see what our next stealth-like move was going to be. It was almost like a really scary treasure hunt. We then had to wait in the customs line to go to the baggage claim. We were standing at the baggage when we heard somebody calling our last name- this could not be good. We walked over to an airport worker and he broke the bad news to us….our bags were left in London. That is when I started to get sick…my life is in those bags….or so it felt like at the time. So he told us all this info at one time that I hardly could comprehend being so tired and hearing the shock that I had no luggage…not like one bag got lost- BOTH got lost. So they actually knew where they were- which is good (I guess) and that the soonest they could get them to us was 24 hours from then. Which is currently in a few hours. They had to take the next flight from London to Cairo. Then they would deliver them to our hotel. So that is where we stand right now, praying that this is how it will happen. We had two options- to go to the airport when they arrive to carry them through customs ourselves (no idea how we’d get to the airport as our tour doesn’t start till tomorrow) or the other option was to sign a waiver to have them open them and bring them through customs and then to our hotel. We had to pick the second option. So while we are signing the waiver, some guy walked off with our passports that we gave to him to photocopy that is out of the terminal- no photo copier in the terminal apparently….I was completely a mess. Brad was his typical self…calm, cool and collected with a Que Sera Sera- what will be, will be attitude. Thank God for him. So we got with the other people in our group, boarded a bus with our guide representative and went to our hotel.

The Marriott in Cairo is beautiful. Very fancy and luxurious. It used to be a palace, and it sill looks like one today. It is very old and parts of it show it, but I suppose that in this part of the world…it is the best of the best. I will try to post of picture of the outside of it. So we got to our room and even though I had not slept for hours, I could not fall asleep because I was so upset about the bags. But I eventually did and we set the alarm so that we could get the breakfast provided in the morning. We slept through it and woke up just before noon. I needed to make some phone calls to the airline and the airport to confirm what we were told last night and to make sure that they did indeed have our bags in London. One would think that this would be a simple task- not really. First of all, no number for British airways- phone book had bad numbers, front desk could not connect me to the right person and most of the customer service lines, I was told, are only open from noon to two or nine to two. This was helpful…so I finally got through to a representative and confirmed that they would be arriving on the 11:30pm plane tonight. Then after several failed attempts, I got a hold of the airport to confirm that they had the address of the hotel and our room number- thankfully they did. Our rep must have made the call for us. So, now we are playing the waiting game. We luckily had 1 change of clothes in our carry on and minimal toiletries. So we slept in the clothes that we were wearing for 2 days and woke up and showered and put on fresh cloths- that felt good. We exchanged money at the bank in the hotel, which was also interesting. Three men sitting in a semi-closed off plexi-glass area in a room with stacks of cash on a table with computers and a printer. Basically anybody could walk behind the counter and grab a stack of money…but yet the entire hotel compound is surrounded with armed guards with bomb sniffing dogs. Every entrance to the hotel has a metal detector that you have to walk through and get wanded. So odd…but I guess I feel a little safer so don’t mind. After exchanging money we went to get lunch at the steakhouse in the hotel. It was probably the fanciest restaurant I have ever been to. I had soup- it sounded really good at the time and Brad ordered a big steak and potatoes- comfort food for both of us- we deserve it after everything, right? Well it was very good and the service is amazing. It is somewhat difficult to adjust to some of the culture and ways that they do things over here. Things that you take for granted like communication, knowing how to tip, drinking water, ordering food that would not have touched non-boiled water are hard to think about constantly….This evening I ordered a mini burger at the pub in the restaurant and had to think for a few minutes, is this pickle safe to eat..should I…will it give me Mummy Tummy…I gave up wondering and did not eat the pickle. What a dilemma?

This afternoon, we ventured out of “the Marriott Compound” to find an electronics store for a 3 pronged electrical converter- we just realized that the computer charging cord needs one. We were given walking directions to where this store would be. From what I have read before the trip, the street that this store was on had a bunch of shops and was safe and really nice. Hmmm..in comparison to what is what I did not read apparently. I am not sure if at this point I have words to describe what it was like. But we did stop in a few stores and picked up the converter we needed and also went to a gas station to purchase a large bottle of water to stay hydrated. The weather is actually not hot at all. It is warm, but quite nice. The air is somewhat polluted and smoking is permitted everywhere, and everybody smokes everywhere so that takes a little getting used to. We left the streets of Cairo and entered the compound again because we were tired again and needed a nap. We slept until the German polka band in the courtyard started, and they are still playing…yes you read this correctly. Apparently they are having an October fest celebration there and you can purchase a buffet meal of German food and beer and party all night…and so can we from our balcony. Sadly, I know many of the songs…my polish side is coming out and I feel a little “at home”. Brad was doing a little jig a little bit ago…maybe there is a little german side to him that I did not know about. Things are fairly pricy within the compound- for example, we paid 2.5 pounds (about 50 cents) for a huge bottle of water at the gas station and in the hotel, it’d be about 40 Egyptian pounds. There is a price for feeling safe.

Tomorrow will be great and we are really looking forward to it. We meet our group in the morning and go to the pyramids and sphinx during the day and then go to see a sound and light show at the pyramids at night. It will be great to meet some people and see what we came here to see, and I am certain it will be breathtaking. I just hope I have some new cloths to wear from my suitcase that will magically appear in a few hours. More to come tomorrow, we have limited internet access, but will write when we can.