The Journey Begins (With Afterthoughts on Packing!!)

It is October 29, 2010, a day I will never forget. It was the day I set off to Egypt on what will be a trip of a life time! Amazingly I wasn't nervous, I was just excited and anxious to get my long flight over with. I woke up at around 9am to finalize my packing and make sure everything was in order. I had read tons of travel websites, blogs, books, etc and I thought I was 100% ready! Throughout my trip, I would learn I over packed on items I really didn't need and was short on items I really needed (packing issues in the afterthoughts below).

Then the moment of truth arrived, 12pm and it was time to head to the airport! Mom left work early to drive me to the airport and brother joined us for the trip. The only thing running through my mind was "will my airport transfer in Cairo pick me up". In the days leading to the trip, this was the one thing that kept worrying me. I wasn't scared to travel alone or to spend one week in Egypt. What I was worried about was landing late in the afternoon in Cairo, not speaking Arabic, and my airport transfer not showing up thus having to take a taxi to the hotel. But now, I had a bigger challenge; reassuring my mom that everything was going to be ok, surviving three airports and two flights in the next 22 hrs, and not missing my connection.

After saying farewell to mom and my brother, as I walked through the doors at MIA, the butterflies kicked in full force!!! Now I was really starting to get nervous. I walked over to the check in counter and luckily I met a wonderful Delta rep who answered the 101 questions I had. I then headed over to the currency exchange where again I had the luck of getting a very nice lady who answered the 101 questions I had on Egyptian currency. So far, everything was going great and the butterflies were starting to settle down!!!! At around 2:40pm, I boarded my flight to JFK and had the privilege of sitting next to a very nice young lady who had been visiting Miami while attending some microbiology seminar. That's about where the smoothness ended. We landed at JFK at about 5:30pm but were not allowed off the plane until 6:20pm. It was then I learned the importance of having long layovers; my next flight did not depart until 9:55pm (or so I thought).

After finally breaking free from the plane, I started walking in circles at JFK trying to figure out where Terminal 3 was. Unfortunately, everyone I asked was as lost as I was and I winded up being directed to the wrong place! Some guy pointed in the direction of a Delta check in counter which required I pass through a set of doors. Little did I know that in passing those doors, I now needed to go through security once again. So I stand in line for about 30 minutes and when I finally pass the security check point, I start my 20 minute walk to Terminal 3. I have noticed that JFK is not very user friendly and I definitely got a tour of the airport both at the start and end of the my trip. It is now 8pm, I'm starved, a bit sleepy, but luckily I find this awesome healthy food restaurant! I purchased an awesome three cheese and tomato sandwich, a bottle of some of the best tasting OJ ever, and a yogurt parfait. It was a good thing I stuffed myself because the meals I was served on Delta were quite unappetizing (more on that later)!!! I go to my gate to await my flight to Cairo which was scheduled to depart at 9:55pm but after a few delays it finally left NYC at around 12:05am.

I had a window seat and the lady sitting next to me was pretty nice but then I was blessed that since there were some empty seats on the flight, she moved to be closer to her family. I was left with two seats to myself!!!! That really came in handy when it came to getting comfortable and trying to sleep on the long 11plus hour flight; I basically had a little sofa!! :) Another good thing about the trip was the TV monitors found on the back of the headrests. The times I was not sleeping, I had fun playing solitaire and staring at the flight map. I managed to sleep about 6 hours on the flight and then read half of my Egypt travel guide book. As the time of arrival got near, I started getting more and more nervous  because now there was no turning back! In a few hours, I would be landing in a country I had long to visit for as long as I can remember.

Fall foliage over New York City

Flying over Rome...getting closer

Beautiful view of the sky!

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Why fly Delta? When searching for flights, the only domestic company that provided non-stop flights from the US to Cairo was Delta. Since I was traveling alone and this was my first major international journey, I felt more comfortable making a connection in the US vs making a connection in a European airport. I was able to book a very reasonably priced flight and I was able to get a window seat on all legs of the trip. I had read a lot of negative reviews on Delta from the fact they are number 1 in customer complaints to number 1 in lost luggage. That obviously had me a bit worry but every Delta rep I spoke to on the first day was very helpful from the guy at the check in counter to the flight attendant that made sure I received my vegetarian meals. On the return trip, things were a bit different. The flight attendants were not as nice and the rep I spoke to regarding my connecting flight was having some major anger management issues. After this experience, despite the grouchy people on the last day, I wouldn't mind flying on Delta again. Oh and in regards to the food, I don't select flights based on the meals because I know you'll never get a decent meal on coach. On the flight to Cairo, the only edible thing was the salads. On the return flight, I can't even begin to describe the meals!

Packing! I read a bunch of travel websites, blogs, books etc that I thought I had the packing list down to a science. Boy was I wrong and I noticed it by the second day of the trip. I took a first aid kit with more items than a local drug store; more than 80% of the items I did not use. Not once did I use my bug spray or sunscreen. I took enough wipes and toilet wipes to last me  a year. Then there were the boxes of snacks. My first night in Cairo we stopped at a Mobil Gas Station convenience store, On the Run, that had a bunch of snacks. Throughout my trip, we stopped at little stores which had a bunch of the items I had over packed. Basically, I could have stocked up as I needed while in Egypt. Clothing was what I had under packed! I took with me two pair of jeans and two bermuda shorts but since the weather was rather cool, all I wore was the two jeans. Yeah by the end of the trip, they smelled like camel! I took a handful of shirts with the idea I will hand wash a few during our days in the cruise. Hmm, that didn't happen. Next time I go to Egypt, I'm packing more pants, more shirts (including more long sleeve shirts), and more socks and a lot less wipes. 


Another thing I completely forgot to purchase and pack was an extra memory card for the camera. I actually purchased an extra camera battery which saved my life twice on the trip but next time I need to make it a point to purchase an extra memory card or two.