Egypt Trip Day One

Saturday, April 4--

On our first day of travel our destination was Eilat. The southernmost city in Israel is located on the Northern tip of the Red Sea and is known primarily for its beaches and resorts. When we left Ra'anana the sun had not set and the public transportation (Shabbat-related) was not running. We cabbed from Ra'anana to the Central Bus Terminal in Tel Aviv and arrived just in the nick of time to catch the five o'clock bus to Eilat. This initial bus ride began a journey back to the country from which my ancestors escaped; an impressive task considering Egypt is so hot and so big. Though the trip as a whole was phenomenal, one of the exceptions was the incredibly bad luck we had regarding transportation (much more on this in upcoming blog posts).

Red Sea, mountains, beach...What more does anyone need?

The first bus ride was foreshadowing. Soon after we got on, two wasted Russian guys (for those of you who know it's not a surprise) got on the bus and proceeded to hit on half the girls on the bus, play obnoxiously loud music on their mobile phones, talk so loudly the whole bus could hear, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Most likely they were traveling for the night for the big party. Every year in Eilat one of the biggest DJs in the world (from Europe) comes to Eilat to spin a huge party. Thousands of young people come out to party and by the time we got to the city it was on. We found our hotel, grabbed a quick dinner and got together with Brandon, a friend of Justin's from back home who is also on a program in Israel. Brandon brought a couple of friends and we hung out with some drinks at our hotel room before hitting a bar. Needless to say, beverage consumption ensued and the next day we woke up exhausted (hungover). We grabbed food and hit the beach. The beach was crowded like any major resort (Eilat is Israel's Cancun) and we agreed that it has to have some of the most beautiful women in the world.

Sam likes to sleep with a frying pan on his head...weird.

Justin, Brandon, me, beach.

After a couple of hours on the beach Justin found out the last bus left Taba (Egypt's border city to Eilat) at 4:30 pm and we only had 1.5 hours to cross the border and get on the bus. We rushed like crazy, took a cab to the border and started going through security. Going through Israeli security was fine, but once we got to the Egyptian side things slowed down noticeably. Apparently the guys stamping passports to get into Egypt are allowed unlimited chat breaks. Chat breaks can happen anytime; like when three Americans are rushing to catch the last bus of the day to Cairo. Once we got through security we were in such a rush that we paid 30 Egyptian Pounds (EP...the exchange is 1 USD : 5.5 EP) to travel about 1 km, which for an Egyptian would have cost less than five pounds. Upon arrival to the bus station (loosely used) we couldn't figure out why the guy behind the counter was saying the bus was leaving in an hour when it was 4:30 now! This line of conversation continued until Sam had the brains to ask what time it was in Egypt. It was 3:30 pm. Egypt was an hour behind Israel time. Meanwhile, we kept getting harassed by an Egyptian with a minibus saying he could get us to Cairo in five hours (whereas the bus might take seven) for 300 pounds. After a bit of bargaining we got a price of 250 pounds. We sat down for our first meal in Egypt (flies everywhere) and then were off in a minibus that looked like it was barely drivable.

The first of many Egyptian meals.

The crazy guy driving the bus spent an hour trying to pick people up (beeping at everyone). For the course of the ride I am guessing he beeped over 1,000 times (literally). After an hour we set off for Cairo. Now it might seem strange to you or me, but in Egypt drivers are allowed to drive wherever they like and go as fast as they like. Speed limits, traffic lights, and lanes are merely suggestions. Note: Not knowing the aforementioned will grey your hair faster than Sam Wachs (too soon Sam?).

Couple of badasses in front of the minibus of death.

After a few hours of private bus we stopped by a rest stop where Sam said "At least we are the only ones on the bus." No more than five minutes later the bus was full of off duty Egyptian policeman chain smoking cigarettes (another of Egypt's charming qualities). We drove on like this, dropping people off, picking people up (sometimes on the side of the highway, which has bus stops because that makes sense). Needless to say it was probably the most stressful ride of my entire life. Egyptian drivers are maniacs, veering, beeping, tailgating. I think if American 16-year-olds sat in a cab in Egypt for five minutes they'd crap their pants and drive like grandmothers the rest of their lives. We got dropped off God knows where (we never actually had a map of Cairo the whole time we were in Egypt) and got fooled with the old how much do you want to pay for a cab ride trick. We paid 40 EP to get dropped off at the wrong location. Luckily we found a hostile (with no hot water...a trend in Egypt) and 2.5 working beds. My bed broke in the middle of the night and I got a painful splinter trying to fix it. In short, if you plan on arranging transportation in Egypt on your own...don't...unless you want to go into a coma from culture shock.

To be continued...

Day Two: Egyptian Museum

More Pictures Coming...

Upcoming posts include:

It's just a cultural thing; you don't understand.

EgypTrip! The Movie