When traveling spans time zones, there is a tendency for the days and the airports to blend into one another. If you asked me whether Valerie dropped me off at the Toronto airport today or yesterday, I'd be hard pressed to give you the right answer. But that's how this story started – at Pearson Airport Terminal 3, around 3:00 in the afternoon. Start your clocks, gentlemen. First up, security, security, and more security. Ever since September 2001, flying has become exquisitely bothersome due to all the checks and restrictions. No liquids on board. Show open your laptop. Show us your camera. Where's your passport? I showed it four times before boarding my flight to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) You'd think three times would have been enough, but I guess the attempted attack over Christmas has people on edge, especially when traveling to the US.
We – being Gayle, Maureen, and myself – traveled together on Air France, a very pleasant airline which deserves a couple of words. We flew a newish AirBus which had on-demand movies in our seat backs; that might not sound like a big deal but it's about a billion times better than having TV sets mounted under the luggage bins. Watched “Night at the Museum 2” during supper, then spent the next 4 hours trying to get some sleep, all the while shifting my legs to so they wouldn't jam againt the seat in front of me. Mostly slept in 5 minute bursts. Poor.
Arrived at Charles de Gallle in Paris for a five hour layover in a largely zombified state. I guess a sleepless night helps you appreciate small pleasures like sitting in a chair that isn't vibrating, so camping out in an airport cafe for an hour or two was about all we could handle. I went up to the counter, and asked for “un caffe et un pain au chocolate” in my best grade 13 French. “Black?” They were not fooled. I thought the sounds were coming out pretty good, but not good enough. The bill came to 5.50 €, or just under $10 Canadian. As I was handing over the money, I thought back to the lunch I bought at Tim Horton's in Waterloo for about $6.50 the day before. Oh well. There is no economy when you're on vacation, and besides, in France you don't buy coffee so much as you rent space at a table.
Charles de Gaulle airport has the look of being recently built, or perhaps just recently refurbished. Everything is clean, and everything is well-lit. The ceilings are finished in what appears to be real live (dead) wood. I had to check this out for myself by tapping a support column with the same finish. I was expecting busted knuckles from concrete, but got the hollow thunk of wood instead. To do that for an entire airport terminal takes a LOT of wood. It's a bit like building a road out of wooden planks, which, of course, was done at one point in history, when trees grew so thick they darkened the land that the bison herds weren't already occupying.
The next 4.5 hour flight from Paris to Cairo passed uneventfully. There was more in-flight meals, and “Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince” to watch. Landing in Cairo, we were met with mild dry air and the now familiar pleasant smell of the city – a mixture of car exhaust and wood smoke. A bus took us from the runway to the terminal where an enormous surprise awaited us: Cairo airport, once quite nasty, is really nice now. Really nice. Only two years ago, there was construction everywhere, but the airport still had a late 70's feel to it – lots of fluorescent and yellow sodium lights, dingy floors that had been rinsed many times but never cleaned, baggage carousels which lurched and squealed and maybe even delivered your bags. But now... wow. It's all bright, and clean, and very modern with restaurants you might actually want to eat in, and an attached mall, and space to move in. I really can't say enough about it. Cairo airport has been transformed from something nasty into... well, into any other world-class airport. Astounding.
Checked into the Shepheard Hotel by 9:30 pm local time. Had a cup of tea in the Danish Cafe amidst Christmas decorations (it's the start of Coptic Christmas today). Some of the Texans (who make up the bulk of the tour group) walked by the Cafe and said hello. A number of people arrived yesterday, and still more will show up tomorrow.
I have no plans for tomorrow, other than getting outside and doing a bit of walking. It's the best thing to reset my body's clock.
By the clock, it's midnight in Cairo, but only 5:00 pm in Waterloo. Inside, I have no idea what time it feels like, but I think a shower is calling my name.
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The in-seat televisions are a wonderful thing - certainly help the time pass quickly. Your comments about sleep and lack of comfort sound familiar. I wonder what the business class cost was (I can't think of any other solution for us tall people - unless you want to get your legs amputated at the knee)? :')
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