Welcome to Cairo (again)

Travel is always associated with ups and downs, literally and metaphorically! This is our experience anyway. The trip to Cairo by minibus from Bahariya Oasis is said to take four hours. This is probably true if one had a driver who knew the way. Six and half hours later we arrived at our hotel in a state of relief and relating to the experience of being shaken but not stirred. Our driver was unable to speak more than 10 words of English and our Arabic is of a similar vocabulary meant that we were of no help to him. Cairo welcomed us with her pyramids in the distance but more concerning was the sudden onset of rabid Cairo drivers who all seemed determined to get home before anyone else. Our driver would often force his way through spaces that were more theoretical than actual. At other times he stopped in the middle of the road and seemed to spend minutes on a mobile phone chattering away. We seemed to do circuits of inner downtown Cairo which led us through Tahrir square (but we saw no protesters) and went over, by and probably through the Nile! J1 used a strategy of reading to moderate his anxiety whereas J2 was in stunned mullet mode and was hoping her last words to her children were ones that were memorable in a positive way. We eventually arrived at the hotel and the driver seemed so relieved, threw us out and disappeared within 30 seconds. The hotel is very nice with a wonderful Nile river view. So time for some pampering and time to recharge before the next onslaught of tourism!