Africa Egypt Eritrea-Djibouti trip 2024

Return to Cairo

I planned a trip to Eritrea and Djibouti. On the way there I would have a 24-hour or so layover in Cairo. I was delighted. I hadn’t been to Cairo since 1995. Even more excited because when asked what my favourite country is, a question that is impossible to answer, my standard response is Egypt. I loved Egypt I travelled from to Cairo, Aswan, Suez, Sharm El-Sheikh, and Dahab in ‘95. I loved everything that I saw and did. So I was thrilled to be going back, even if just for a short visit.

(Right about here, I would normally provide a link back to the previous posts that I had done about my past trip to Egypt. But I was there in 1995. This was before blogs and international ATMs, digital cameras, Google maps, text messages and GPS. I think that is part of the reason that Egypt is one of my favourite trips ever, because it was all done solo and without all these modern day conveniences. I really had to figure it out as I went. And it was an amazing adventure.)

*Flashback to me in 1995 heading out on my first solo trip to Israel & Egypt*

Returning to 2024, Egypt and Canada were having some sort of a row, so they had done away, temporarily, with the e-visa and visa-on-arrival systems and I had to spend nearly $300 CDN sending my passport away to the embassy for a more traditional visa. But I had it in place and was ready to breeze through immigration. Which I did.

Arrival and my Night in Cairo – Things go a bit wrong

I landed late. Hopped in a taxi and went to my hotel downtown. The Eileen Hotel. By the time I got to the hotel it was about 11:30 at night. I should have just gone to bed because I had a full day of sightseeing that I wanted to do, and I was already tired from having flown from Vancouver to London to Cairo, but as the taxi zipped through the city and I saw all the people out at cafes smoking shisha and lights on the buildings, I thought “I should go out for just a little while.” And so I did – and here’s where things started to go wrong, as they did repeatedly on this trip.

I didn’t have any Egyptian pounds. I had American dollars and some Euros. But since many things were closed I didn’t see a place to change money, so I went to an ATM. A proper ATM at a bank. I inserted my card, tried to take out money, and the machine would not return my card. It gave me an error message. And when it became apparent that my card was not coming out, I started to panic a bit. This was my only source of getting cash. Yes, I had cash on me, but I was going to two other countries that were primarily cash-based economies, and I needed that money to pay for things like hotels and tours and food. If I couldn’t get some extra cash, I was going to be in a bad way. Plus, I was tired and not thinking that well.

I waited in the ATM vestibule as person after person came in to use it and discovered it was out of service. I tried to ask for help but most of them didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, the machine made a loud kerchunk sound and powered down and powered back up again. The next person that came in was able to use the machine no problem, at that point I knew my card was gone.

I was stressed, and I walked back to the hotel and told the guy at the desk what had happened. He said that I should go to the bank in the morning to try to get the card back, but in the meantime, he said, “I’m just getting off my shift why don’t we go out and smoke some shisha?” And he said he would pay.

The next thing I knew I was on the back of his tiny motorcycle flying through the streets of Cairo to the Khan el-Khalili area, where we went to a second-floor rooftop outdoor cafe, and before I knew it I had shisha and juice, and we were watching performers dance and twirl capes above their heads. It was good fun. And they took credit cards, so I paid for everything. (Not that it was much money.)

He dropped me off at the hotel. At this point it was about 2:30 in the morning and I really needed to get to sleep. My alarm was set to go off at 6:00 AM, as I had a lot to do the next day before I would leave for the airport. I fell asleep immediately.

I woke up not long after when the door to my small room flew open and there was a figure, a man, in the doorway. I didn’t even think. I’m not even sure if I was fully awake, I just jumped out of bed, shoved the guy back, and slammed the door in his face. I then opened the door, yelled “fuck you!” and then slammed the door in his face a second time. (I’m not sure that second door opening was really necessary, but I was angry.) I tried to go back to sleep but my heart was beating so fast, and my adrenaline was going, and it was a while before I could fall asleep again. I slept for maybe two hours total.

A New Day in Cairo

The next morning, the hotel apologized profusely and said they had made a mistake and thought the room was empty. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but nevertheless it was an upsetting disruption to my sleep. And that was the second thing that went wrong on this trip. Perhaps more importantly, this was my second night in a row I was not really sleeping.

After breakfast, I did as the hotel worker had suggested, and I went to the bank. His advice to me was to tell them about my card but not to remain calm. He said that I should appear panicked and that I should cry if I could and tell that I needed this card for my trip. I couldn’t bring myself to cry, but I did work myself up into a nice state of anxiety and told him the situation. After about half an hour I had my card back. So, the first problem was resolved thankfully.

With that done, I set out to explore Cairo. It would have been really nice to have visited the new museum but that was way too far away, over at the pyramids, and I didn’t want to spend that much time in traffic, so I just walked around downtown and went for some nice shisha and coffee, and went back to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar and wandered around there, having a cigar and a coffee, I visited a couple of mosques, and then went to the citadel for more mosques and a view over the city.

It was just a quick downtown sightseeing jaunt, but it was terrific. Cairo was wonderful. It didn’t feel quite as foreign and exotic is when I was there 29 years before. I suppose both I and the city have changed. But it had a good energy and lots of interesting things to see and do.

One thing that made it much easier is that rather than spending half my time haggling about taxi prices, I was able to cover long distances in an Uber. Some of the drivers will still try to negotiate a price with you in cash, but if you tell them that you were only paying through the app, that ends that conversation. It made things a lot easier.

Finally, after dinner, I went back to the airport, for a late-night flight to Asmara, Eritrea.

*views of Cairo and me at an outdoor shisha cafe*

Egypt Yemen Trip 2025

Cairo Layover: The Interrogation

This was barely a layover, but because it involves a rather funny story, I thought it deserved its own post. My two travelling companions, John and Doc, and I had left Yemen, flying from Seiyun to Cairo. Our stopover was incredibly brief: we landed in Cairo at 9:45 PM, and my flight out was scheduled for 5:45 AM the next morning. Originally, I planned to just rough it and sleep at the airport terminal. However, realizing how crucial a good night’s rest would be, and seeing that airport hotels were reasonably priced, we each booked a room at Le Passage Cairo Hotel right next to the airport. I highly recommend it—even in the middle of the night, they have food and beverage options open, and the property itself is very nice. But first, I actually had to get there.

To leave the airport, we each had to go through immigration to get our passports stamped into Egypt. John and Doc passed through within seconds with absolutely no questions asked. When I stepped up to the counter, however, the officer looked at my passport and began typing furiously into her computer. She asked where I was coming from and where I was heading. I explained that I had just arrived from Yemen and was flying to London in the morning. She kept staring at her screen. Finally, she called over a colleague, who instructed me to follow them into a small side room. None of this particularly worried me, except for the fact that it was cutting into my precious sleeping time. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I wasn’t anxious.

The little room turned out to be an interrogation office, complete with a desk, filing cabinets, and a couple of chairs. A thin man wearing glasses, a white button-up shirt, and a tie was standing inside. He spoke flawless English and invited me to sit at the desk. He held my passport in his hand, and what followed was approximately five minutes of pure silence. Five minutes might not sound like a long time, but in a setting like that, it feels like an eternity.

The man pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, unpeeled the cellophane slowly, selected a cigarette, and tapped it deliberately against the desk before lighting it. He then took off his glasses, cleaned them with a cloth, inspected the lenses in the light, and put them back on. Next, he stood up, adjusted a fan mounted near the ceiling, and switched it on. Finally, he sat down and began slowly flipping through my passport, the cigarette dangling casually from his lip.

At this point, the performance ended and the questioning began. He asked where I was coming from and exactly why I had gone to Yemen. I explained multiple times that I was simply on holiday and enjoyed visiting unique countries. He asked what I did for a living, and I told him I was a lawyer in Canada returning to my home and job the day after next. He also questioned me about the short layover I had in Cairo on my way to Yemen, noting it was suspicious that I had gone into the city for such a brief window. I countered, “Why would I miss an opportunity to go into one of the world’s greatest cities for breakfast?”

He repeated several of his questions, looking for cracks in my story. Finally, he stared directly at me and said, “I don’t believe a single thing you are telling me. But I cannot find a reason to keep you here, so I am going to let you go.”

He handed my passport back and sent me through immigration, where it was stamped and I was finally released. It was a bizarre interaction, and I have no idea what the fellow thought I was actually up to. Honestly, I am glad it happened because I thoroughly appreciated his weird, exaggerated mime theatrics. Perhaps I should have been nervous, but I was simply too exhausted to care.

When I finally checked into the hotel, I was still too wired to sleep. I sat outside in the courtyard having one final cigar before going to bed for a grand total of two hours. The next morning, I would be landing in London for one final day of vacation before heading home to Canada.

Africa Egypt Yemen Trip 2025

Cairo Layover: Heliopolis

My flight from London landed in Cairo just after 4:00 AM. I would have about eight hours before my flight to Yemen. Sure, I could have spent my time at the airport enjoying the comforts of a lounge or speed walking on the moving walkways, but I just can’t resist going into a city. Initially I thought to myself that with eight hours in Cairo I could go and visit the new museum which has been high on my list for many years, but I then realized that landing at 4:00 AM meant that nothing would be open for several hours. I didn’t want to risk going into downtown Cairo and getting stuck in traffic, so I decided to stick reasonably close to the airport and just visit the area of Heliopolis. It took a little while to get through immigration, but once I did, I called an Uber to take me to Heliopolis. I just sort of picked a random intersection and had him drop me off there.

Heliopolis was once kind of a suburb of Cairo but is now just a part of the larger city. Most of its older buildings are from about the early 1900s, so it’s a reasonably cosmopolitan area, but with the number of nice mosques and historical buildings.

At the point at which the Uber driver dropped me off it was still a bit dark outside. I hadn’t really factored this into my layover plans. The interesting thing about getting into the city that early was that there was really nothing going on. The streets were empty, apart from a few dogs and cats wandering around. I walked down the streets and took in the atmosphere, such as it was, thinking wow I’m in Cairo. But it did have a different, apocalyptic feel without seeing any other humans.

Finally I came across a little corner restaurant that was open. No one there spoke English, but I walked up and explained that I wanted something to eat and the serve me a feast of a breakfast. There was foul and falafel and pita bread and hummus some fresh vegetables, and, inexplicably, french fries, as well as coffee and water, all of which cost me about $3.50 Canadian. I couldn’t even finish it all and gave my French fries to some cats that were stalking my table. It was quite nice.

I walked around some more, and I took in some churches and mosques and poked my head into one where there was a service ongoing with beautiful music. It was so early there that, really, very little was open and not much to do, but it was a nice way to see a part of the city that I had never seen before and to get in a bit of exercise before I boarded my third flight.

I wanted to get back to the airport early because I was meeting two friends there for the third flight, So at around 9:00 AM I called an Uber to go back to the airport. I can’t believe I was ever so anti ride sharing; it certainly does cut down on the stress and hassle of catching a taxi in city with Cairo. I arrived back at the airport, cleaned myself off a bit and got ready to check in for my flight for Yemen. More on that in the next post.

Eritrea-Djibouti trip 2024 Europe United Kingdom

London Layover: Mayfair Morning

I left Djibouti city late afternoon, had a short layover in Dubai, and then a seven-hour layover in London. Never one to miss a London layover, I caught the Heathrow express to Paddington and then walked Mayfair.

If you read my blog at all regularly, you might know that I always go into London if I have a layover of at least five hours. The longer the layover, the more I can do. (Check out this post for my best ever London layover.) Seven hours is a decent amount of time. It gives me an hour from wheels down to arriving at Paddington, and then I usually give myself three hours before my flight to head back to the airport (because i am paranoid about missing flights) so I only had about three hours in the city, but it was worth it.

Every time I go into the city, I tend to pick a different neighbourhood or activity, although often that activity involves cigar smoking. With not very much time, I decided that a little coffee crawl around Mayfair would be a good idea. My flight landed at 7:00 in the morning so it was a perfect time to hit up the cafes. The air felt cool and refreshing after having been in the scorching heat of Djibouti. I sauntered leisurely around the streets and hit up a few cafes.

I went first to Cardinals Café. Nothing too extraordinary, but I liked it, an Italian café tucked down a side street and busy with people off to work. I had a double espresso and small cigar outside on the patio where a man awkwardly told me that my backpack had caused my dress to ride up above my bottom. Is there a word in English for being both mortified and thankful? There should be.

I went to the charming and fancy H.R.Higgins, a tea and coffee merchant in business since 1942. There I got a little adventurous and I tried some concoction that was a mixture of orange juice and espresso. Honestly I didn’t really care for it, but I also I had a croissant before carrying on with my stroll.

*H.R. Higgins (I resisted the urge to make any Magnum PI references)*

I visited Everbean x BIBI’S for my third espresso of the day, a nice neighbourhood café. I sat outside and was feeling so relaxed and in the moment that I even forgot to take a photo.

From there I just meandered about before going to Selfridges to visit the James J. Fox cigar store at that location. Usually I go to the James J. Fox location on St. James’s St., which has an excellent cigar lounge upstairs. This is simply a small retail outlet inside the Selfridges, but I wanted to pay to visit. I went in and picked out a few nice cigars. I was feeling a little bit sheepish because I looked a little rough. After traveling around my clothes were a bit dirty and rumpled and I had the look of someone who had been on a red eye flight, and I was still wearing my backpack, but I still received a polite reception and the people were very friendly as I chatted with him and told him about some of my recent adventures. Cigar people are lovely people.

At this point, I didn’t have much time left, so I leisurely walked back to Paddington station, smoking a small cigar. Did I do any sightseeing? No. Was it still worth it heading to London for this short time? Yes. Thought that maybe the espressos talking.

It was a perfectly pleasant way to end my trip to Eritrea and Djibouti. Even with all the things that went wrong on this trip, it was my favourite trip of 2024.

(My next trip would be to Southern California for some Halloween fun.)

Anonymous
21 March 26 at 9:45 pm

Those were some harrowing experiences for a 24 hour layover. Super Dale overcomes evil. 🙂

Reply

Wandering North

Return to Cairo

Arrival and my Night in Cairo – Things go a bit wrong

A New Day in Cairo

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Arrival and my Night in Cairo – Things go a bit wrong

A New Day in Cairo

Share this:

Related Posts

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

1 Comment

Leave a Reply