Egypte / Egypt 2002

June 29, 2002 – Luxembourg – Cairo

We took off at 11:40am in a Fokker 50. After a flying over Brussels, we are ready to land at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam after a just 1h10 flight. At the airport, I can see the second half of the third place match between Turkey and South Korea for the World Cup 2002. After seeing the match, I buy a train ticket to spend the next hours in downtown Amsterdam (5.20 EUR roundtrip) because I have to wait until 7:40pm to catch the plane for Cairo.

The flight is a little bit delayed due to an illegal alien who is forced by the policemen to remain seated while waiting for the takeoff but the guy is screaming at the rear of the aircraft. A policewoman told us that he is Egyptian and because he entered Netherlands illegally, he has to go back to Egypt. Finally, the captain asks the policemen to disembark this passenger. Everybody calms down and we are soon ready for the takeoff.

There’s no problem during the flight and we land at Cairo Airport just before 1am. After the usual duty frees, in such airports, there are the desks of many Egyptian banks to change some cash for Egyptian Pounds (EGP). The change rate is the same at any desk, so I take the one with nobody waiting. The change rate for euros on June 29, 2002 is 1 EUR = 4.506 EGP. There is no problem changing euros there as anywhere else in Egypt (banks and streets).

The stamps for the visa must be taken at these booths. The price is the same for every nationality, 70 EGP.

After catching my bag, I walk my way towards the exit where a lot of friends welcome me, by friends I mean the taxi drivers all of them want to drive me to downtown where they know the best hotel for me. But as I said my budget for hotel is limited to 30 EGP a night, so soon there is no one to give me his plan, too cheap. Furthermore, I have not booked a room so let’s go to the departure hall and his marvelous plastic chairs to have a rest like last year in Damascus Airport. I will wait there for the first CTA bus #356 to downtown at around 6am.

Main expenses of the day:

Egyptian visa: 70 EGP at the change desks before the passport check