Day 172 - Arriving to Cairo, Egypt
Saturday, December 22nd, 2018. El Cairo, Egypt.
We arrived in Egypt at midnight and it seemed like it was noon, so much movement. I was a little bit nervous because we didn’t have the visa. Luckily it was so easy and quick. We stopped by a window, paid $25 per person and done. Everything went smoothly until we had to go outside and find the uber that Gregory requested. We asked for directions and everyone wanted to help but for a tip. We finally found the parking lot where we were supposed to be picked up. The taxi drove us to our place and had a hard time finding the number of the building. I was just stressed because of the time and the streets were mostly dark. The funny part was that there were a lot of people in the street, places were open and seemed like if it was 10:00pm. The taxi driver asked people, we called our host and we finally found our place. The Airbnb didn’t say that the apartment was on the 5th floor!
We finally made it to the apartment and it wasn’t what we expected or had seen in the Airbnb. The place definitely looked better in the pictures. Whatever I thought, we are just tired and need to go to bed but our host kept talking and giving us info like if it was noon. I had to ask him if people in Egypt live and night and sleep during the day. He said,” The system is that there is no system in Egypt.”
The place was ugly and dirty but I kept thinking, things will look better in the morning! Well, it didn’t, especially when I wanted to shower and saw the bathroom. I opted for a french bath and went to the kitchen to boil some water. Well, the kitchen wasn't sparkling clean and I only found a tiny pot to boil water. I had to boil water for one cup at a time. I told the kids not to get comfortable because we were not staying. The search for a new place began mostly because there was no internet. We decided to go to Starbucks for a treat and to get free wifi and search for homes. Well, surprise surprise, we needed an Egyptian cell number to access the internet. I used my charms and asked one of the boys if he could help me. He dialed his cell phone and then gave me the code for a password. Now we had internet (and slow) only on my phone, plus we all sat separately because the place was full of people. Anyway, we spend many hours there looking for something and we didn’t find anything. We left and then we decided to look for food. We found a cute restaurant that had traditional food. At first, we all stopped because it looked fancy (can’t afford it) but then we saw the prices and Gregory said, it is fine, let’s eat here. Apparently, it is a famous restaurant, with good food and home environment. After dinner, we went to see an apartment to see if we would like it. The host offered to pick us up. It took him a while and when I was ready to give up, he showed up. It was supposed to be close from where we were but traffic was horrendous. We finally made it, the taxi driver drops us at the corners, we walked through a dark street, I prayed that it would be good but the building was as ugly as the one we are staying. I told myself to be patient but when we started climbing and climbing and climbing, I thought about doing this with our suitcases and wanted to cry. We saw the place and we didn’t like it so we thanked the host and walked downstairs. We requested an uber and went back home. This time, I just couldn’t hold it together and I started crying. I was all emotional for being almost Christmas, no presents, no family and a crappy home.
We arrived in Egypt at midnight and it seemed like it was noon, so much movement. I was a little bit nervous because we didn’t have the visa. Luckily it was so easy and quick. We stopped by a window, paid $25 per person and done. Everything went smoothly until we had to go outside and find the uber that Gregory requested. We asked for directions and everyone wanted to help but for a tip. We finally found the parking lot where we were supposed to be picked up. The taxi drove us to our place and had a hard time finding the number of the building. I was just stressed because of the time and the streets were mostly dark. The funny part was that there were a lot of people in the street, places were open and seemed like if it was 10:00pm. The taxi driver asked people, we called our host and we finally found our place. The Airbnb didn’t say that the apartment was on the 5th floor!
We finally made it to the apartment and it wasn’t what we expected or had seen in the Airbnb. The place definitely looked better in the pictures. Whatever I thought, we are just tired and need to go to bed but our host kept talking and giving us info like if it was noon. I had to ask him if people in Egypt live and night and sleep during the day. He said,” The system is that there is no system in Egypt.”
The place was ugly and dirty but I kept thinking, things will look better in the morning! Well, it didn’t, especially when I wanted to shower and saw the bathroom. I opted for a french bath and went to the kitchen to boil some water. Well, the kitchen wasn't sparkling clean and I only found a tiny pot to boil water. I had to boil water for one cup at a time. I told the kids not to get comfortable because we were not staying. The search for a new place began mostly because there was no internet. We decided to go to Starbucks for a treat and to get free wifi and search for homes. Well, surprise surprise, we needed an Egyptian cell number to access the internet. I used my charms and asked one of the boys if he could help me. He dialed his cell phone and then gave me the code for a password. Now we had internet (and slow) only on my phone, plus we all sat separately because the place was full of people. Anyway, we spend many hours there looking for something and we didn’t find anything. We left and then we decided to look for food. We found a cute restaurant that had traditional food. At first, we all stopped because it looked fancy (can’t afford it) but then we saw the prices and Gregory said, it is fine, let’s eat here. Apparently, it is a famous restaurant, with good food and home environment. After dinner, we went to see an apartment to see if we would like it. The host offered to pick us up. It took him a while and when I was ready to give up, he showed up. It was supposed to be close from where we were but traffic was horrendous. We finally made it, the taxi driver drops us at the corners, we walked through a dark street, I prayed that it would be good but the building was as ugly as the one we are staying. I told myself to be patient but when we started climbing and climbing and climbing, I thought about doing this with our suitcases and wanted to cry. We saw the place and we didn’t like it so we thanked the host and walked downstairs. We requested an uber and went back home. This time, I just couldn’t hold it together and I started crying. I was all emotional for being almost Christmas, no presents, no family and a crappy home.
I did feel bad that I made my family feel sad but I honestly couldn’t help it! Gregory told me to go to bed that I was just tired but I couldn’t sleep. I finally did, praying that tomorrow we would find a better place to stay.
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| We spend many hours in Starbucks to cheer up and to find a place to stay |
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| Beit Ward Restaurant |
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| Add caption |
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| A cute restaurant that looks like home! |
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| The restaurant had two buildings, this one looked like a private home. |
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| Waiting for an Airbnb host that offer to pick us up to go see his place. |
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