A Treat, Care of Egpyt Air

Ariel and I were less than thrilled when we saw that we had a 10 hour layover in Cairo on our way back from Israel to Bangkok. While the airport is fairly comfortable, 10 hours in any one building would drive a person crazy. We inquired about either going into the city or maybe even seeing the pyramids. From what we understood, it was possible, but we would spend more time on the road than actually doing anything. Nonetheless, when we landed in Cairo, we asked if we could leave the airport for a few hours. The Egypt Air agent looked at our tickets and said "one second, let me see if you are eligible for a hotel room."

"Hotel room?" I did not fully understand what was going on but explained again that we would like permission to leave the airport.

"Oh, so you prefer a tour of the city?" the agent asked.

Again, Ariel and I looked at each other inquisitively and then shrugged with a polite "Yes, please."

"OK, I will have a private tour arranged for you. Report back here in 2 hours."

"And how much will this cost?" I asked with my traveler's budget in mind.

"It is complementary madam."

At this point our eyes lit up and we simply said "thank you" before he could change his mind. True to his word, 2 hours later we were escorted by another agent out of the airport and placed in the hands of an English-speaking driver and air-conditioned mini-van.

"Are you ready to see the pyramids?" the driver asked.

"Pyramids? I thought we were just going to drive around Cairo" I answered with excitement in my voice.

Over the next hour we drove through Cairo and got a glimpse of some amazing sites, with explanations on each place from our driver. We had been driving for a few minutes with a lull in the conversation and then, all of the sudden, we could see the Great Pyramids in the distance. I must admit that after almost 4 months of traveling, nothing we saw was a wondrous as that sight. I still can't believe that I was actually looking at the pyramids and watching them getting closer and closer as we were driving. Unfortunately there was no time to go inside and explore, but we did get to take some relatively close-up pictures. (check out facebook for more photos).

After the pyramids we made a brief stop at a perfume shop (after all, it was still an organized tour) and then our driver took us to one of the more upscale neighborhoods for dinner...included in the tour of course. The food was nice, but the people-watching was even better. We saw everyone from women wearing tank tops to black burkas and foreigners scattered in the mix.

Our transit back to the airport was as effortless as our departure. Another Egypt Air representative helped us bypass the long line at security and whisked us pass passport control, into the same waiting area we had arrived in 5 hours ago. We still had another hour before we had to board the plane so we watched the championship soccer match between 2 Egyptian teams, competing for the African cup. Sitting there, amongst the various security guards and other Egyptian airport workers, hearing them cheer as their team scored the final goal, was a great end to a great day.