Last Few Hours in Cairo

It's shortly after 10:00 AM on New Years Day. I am still in my room at the Marriott, and I will check out at noon, then kill time till 8:30 PM for my pickup ride to the airport. Fortunately I have the Kindle and laptop fully charged, plus two old-fashioned "real" books should batteries start dying on me.

It is a beautiful day today, with none of the haze which prevailed for the last two. It's a bit of a shame that I cannot get out and enjoy it, but I feel a bit foggy headed and also don't want to spread myself too much since I will not have a room in a bit.

As much as I enjoyed this trip, I am ready to leave Egypt. Twelve nights here was comfortable, but at this time I am OK heading back to the real world. Unfortunately, the afternoon seems to be dragging on, as I am now approaching 3:30 PM, which means I have spent four hours in the lobby, and still have five more to go before the lift to the airport. Then it's a four hour flight to Madrid, arriving about 3:00 AM, with a five hour layover there while waiting for my flight to Heathrow. A few more hours in LHR and a nine hour flight should get me home. I'm going to be wiped by the time I complete this one!

I did have the thrill, however, of handing my carry-on bag to a uniformed washroom attendant who dutifully held it while I did my business...the novelty of such a thing was worth a five Egyptian pound tip.

Also, in a surprise "victory" of sorts, I have been able to coax slight smiles out of two (yes, two) of the young women serving me Cokes in the lobby. I guess after seeing me for this long they have realized I am not a Western threat. As trivial as it sounds, just something as "normal" by western standards as this is a significant change after nearly two weeks. You can't really understand it till you live for for some time.