Three Days

I leave on Wednesday. I’m taking a bus from Bangor to Boston Wednesday morning, flying from Boston to New York at six o’clock Wednesday evening, switching airlines and headed to Amman, Jordan sometime that night, and then making the hop, skip, and jump of a flight from Amman to Cairo. If everything goes according to plan, I should be in Cairo by seven o’clock Thursday night. This should be interesting. On the up side, at least I won’t be setting foot on a Greyhound bus; if you don’t already know my numerous Greyhound horror stories, you really should ask me sometime.

To say that I don’t fly often would be quite an understatement. This summer I set foot on a plane for the first time in ten years. I’m glad I did, because otherwise I would be more of a nervous wreck about this marathon series of flights than I already am, and that wouldn’t do anyone any good. What I’m most nervous about is switching airlines in New York. I have this nightmarish vision of myself riding around endlessly on the airport trains or busses trying, but ultimately failing, to find the right terminal. This won’t happen, I just have an overactive imagination, but it’s still a concern. As long as I don’t get stranded in New York, I’ll be happy. At least in Jordan I could practice my Arabic. 

So, a few facts for the trip, in case anyone is planning an expedition to Egypt in the future:

There is a seven hour time difference between Egypt and the East Coast of the U.S. So, when it’s 7 a.m. for me, it’ll be midnight back here at home. 

I don’t have a visa yet, and I don’t need to worry about it. Tourist visas are granted to U.S. citizens automatically at airports in Egypt, provided you have $15 in relatively new U.S. currency.

15% of all mail sent to and from Egypt never gets to the intended recipient. So, if you’re feeling friendly and want to send me letters, don’t be too offended if they don’t get to me, or if my response doesn’t get to you. If you write to me and I get the letter, I’ll write back, I promise. 

They have the interwebs in Egypt! Unfortunately, it has a tendency to be quite unreliable. I will be checking my email, but facebook will probably be a rarity. Also, I’ve committed to a language pledge, so unless you want to talk to me in Arabic, I’ve got to keep communication with those of you back home to a minimum.  I’ll try to update this blog as often as I can, but in general, no news is good news. Also, as of Wednesday my cell phone will no longer be with me, so you’re out of luck if you’re trying to contact me that way.

On that note, wish me luck.