In the morning I waved goodbye to A' & B' and then not feeling confident enough to get myself to and fro the pyramids with enough time for my 2pm flight I just dickered around the room til I felt it was time to get a taxi to the airport.
Cairo airport is not the most friendly or well sing posted place in the world, even though us Brits did own it for a few years, and it was a surpreme struggle to finally get from one terminal to the next only to find that my airlines offices were closed at the terminal itself and the number to call was not being answered.
I also tried to contact my travel agent but their offices were closed at the weekends, which was no bloody good to me and cursing them loudy I gave up on them.
I tried to bluff my way into the check int desk, but you had to clear security first and the guard there was not taking any shit and as I didnt have a confirmed booking time and print out he stood his ground and suggested that I go see information. They were not much help, only saying that the only flights leaving Cairo going to Athens were from the airline that I had my booking and so in the end I gave up and headed off down the road by foot to find the nearest airport to use their internet facilities and place to crash for the day.
After much confusion and problems with my credit card, complete with a few phones calls back to the UK to try and fix it, I ended up with a room that didnt have wifi or internet facilities ( for EU $120 ) and their customer services had a lot to be desired. Forcing the issue as I wanted a confirmed booking a.s.a.p. I argued til they switched my room for one on a different floor and hey presto, instant internet ( for a whopping US $28 for 24 hours !!! ).
I logged on, checked my internet and sure enough my travel agents had not rescheduled my flight and so in absolut desperation to get out of here I called the airline direct and booked another flight, leaving at 03:30 in the morning for less than the cost of my original booking. I was happy and spend the rest of the day half tired and still suffering from my cold so didnt really do much except eat and then went to sleep semi early as I had a very early start tomorrow.
If you have seen the film Oceans Twelve where George Clooney is duped into waking up early and drinks several hot coffees to try and wake himself up ... well that is me today. Problem was, just like him, that it was all for naught as the stupid airline telephone operator had only gone and booked it for 03:30 the day after, being Monday and not Sunday!
I woke up, took a cold shower, drank all the coffee in the room and opened my mail box to triple check the details and stared in horror when recognition hit me full in the face that my flight confirmation email said the 6th, not the 5th. I tried to call but their offices closed at 11pm, I tried the internet to change my flight but the website could not find my details and then finally I tried to check in on line only to find it would not let me check in longer than 24 hours prior to flight time which settled it for me, I was staying in Cairo for yet another 24 hours.
By the time I got my wits together fully it was around 2am and in the hotel everything was closed except the bar which had a few foreign unknown-to-me tennis players chilling out, as there was a tour in progress this weekend nearby, but other than that not a lot going on and noone to talk to.
I went back up to my room and tried to sleep, but after a few hours sleep and then this much caffeine in my system all at once I had zero chances of drifting back to sleep any time soon, so I figured I would just use the time to send a few emails and such before going back to sleep around 5am.
My new plan is to visit the Pyramids and the sphynx this morning and maybe meet up again with A' & B' if there is any way of getting a message to them before they head off for the convention tomorrow.
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