I was flying with Lufthansa and I was not even in my seat at SFO when I felt the plane move as we pushed back from the gate. I looked at my watch and saw it was exactly 3 p.m., scheduled departure time. The guy in the next seat noticed my look and said “It’s Lufthansa.” I guess the German ideas of timeliness extends to leaving even if the passengers are not yet seated. I’ve gotta admit, I rather like it.
I had a reservation on a live-aboard dive boat out of Hurghada, but decided to spend a few days in Cairo first. A local tout inside customs and passport control talked me into a 1-day tour the following day then, since I was his client, walked me briskly past customs and to the head of the line with passport control. Somewhat unnerving, but standard practice, I guess.
I had read up that Egyptians tended to dress somewhat nicer than the average American, never wearing shorts or t-shirts. So, in an effort to blend in, I wore chinos, a button shirt, and travel shoes that were brown leather. Instead of making me look less like a tourist, however, they made me look like a well-dressed tourist, and thus a bigger target for touts and hawkers. I learned that they look at your watch to gauge your affluence and will also engage you in conversation, asking where you are staying, again to gauge how much you might have to spend.
Being constantly followed and harassed by the ever-polite touts quickly got to be very annoying. Little did I know that this would last for the entire trip. After 3 days in Cairo I got so sick of this that I spent the final afternoon in my hotel room reading.
The one bright spot in Cairo was the National Museum of Antiquities. While somewhat poorly displayed, the exhibits were awe-inspiring. It reminds you of the relative youth of the United States, when you visit a national museum that has artifacts dating back six thousand years before Christ.
