Getting there is half the fun

Ahlan wa Sahlan!

Looks like I've made it to Alexandria. If I said it's been an easy journey, I'd be lying. It has, however, been very interesting. I'm breaking this into sections for my own sanity, so bear with me.

Home ---->Bangor
Pretty uneventful. Being the genius that I am, I forgot a bag at Walmart, much to my mother's dismay. In the end, it meant that I made the bus trip to Boston without my Goldfish snacks. Sad, but not a tragedy.

Bangor ---->Boston, Logan Airport
Also uneventful. I wasn't on the Greyhound, so thankfully I don't have any horror stories to tell about this bus adventure. It was nice, quick, and quiet. Always a winner when it comes to busses. I ended up spending a few hours waiting for my flight in Boston, which was actually pretty nice. I picked up a stuffed lobster for my Egyptian roommate, had some pizza, made a few important phone calls to those dear to me, downloaded skype with the free wifi, and most important of all, I enjoyed my last meal in America: Asian cuisine from the lovely Panda Express. My flight left on time, and all went well.

Boston ----> New York, JFK
On the flight to New York, I made a friend. By chance, the man sitting next to me was headed to Saudi Arabia where he works in a school. We were going to be on the same flight to Amman, Jordan, so we teamed up to navigate JFK and our change of airlines. The man was a blessing. He had made the trip to Saudi Arabia before, and knew what to do. I would have been in a mess if he hadn't been there to help me out. After a few minor airport hiccups we made it through security and to our plane.

New York ----> Amman, Jordan
This is where things got really interesting. It's hard to imagine that an 11 hour flight could be interesting, but it really was, I promise. I was flying on Royal Jordanian, which as the name implies, is based out of Jordan. Since it's based in Jordan, all announcements were in Arabic first and then English. The flight attendants handed out complimentary newspapers in Arabic or in English. The screen that was used to show movies had information about our progress, including altitude, miles to destination, time in New York, and time in Amman, as well as a map that showed where we were. The most interesting feature was a diagram of the plane with an arrow pointing in the direction of the Ka'aba. The Ka'aba is in Mecca, the holy city where all Muslims turn and face to pray, everywhere in the world. I wasn't really surprised by this being featured with all of the other important information, but it really was an indication that I had finally made the jump to the Muslim world, even before the plane left New York. The flight itself was long. Very long. There were two in-flight meals, which were delicious, especially because I was tired and hungry, and hot food of any kind was more than welcome. Eventually we landed in Amman, and I had to run around using my limited airport-arabic skills(You'd think Al-Kitaab, our Arabic textbook, would teach us words to use in the airport...nope) to find my way to my gate. I had to go through security again, but it was much different than U.S. security. There were two separate lines for men and women, and I didn't have to take my shoes off. From there, the gate was easy to find, and I was on my way to Cairo.

Amman ---->Cairo
This was a very, very short flight, which after the last one, was nice. The fed us on this flight, too. Everyone was given a box with a small bottle of water, orange juice, three dates, two small cheese sandwiches, and an almond sweet roll. Everything was very good. I strongly suggest flying Royal Jordanian for any trips you may make to the Middle East, they really know how to treat their passengers well.


Ok. I'm only about half-done with my story, it's 1 a.m. here, and I have orientation in the morning. I'll get to the rest of the story tomorrow, with pictures, Inshallah.

Bedtime in Alexandria.