Got a loud knock at the door at 5.30am from Mahmoud at the Dahab Hostal. I forgot i had asked for a wake up call and was a bit of a shock when i heard the knock and dont know whether he was more asleep or me! Took some photos of the hostal and all of the resident cats there.
Arranged a taxi with the hostal and took me to the airport. The journey to the airport was very quiet and I think the taxi driver had a lot on the day as he was driving like Michael Schumacher (not that i have ever been in the car with Michael Schumacher) but it was bloody quick!! It was quite sad to be leaving Cairo as I have had an amazing trip and met some very interesting people. I know I am going to miss the chaos of Cairo as there is a certain buzz about the place thats hard to explain.....
Arrived at the airport and checked in for flight. The guy that checked my bags in was really looking me up and down (which is normal here in Egypt) but he was doing it a bit more than usual..... Anyway he called his supervisor over and i thought that there was a problem with my visa or passport. In the end he gave me my ticket and i noticed that my seat had changed. I told him i had checked in on line last night and i had the wrong seat.... He kindly explained that i had been upgraded and i gave him a big smile and said a big thank you to my friends who work for BA. They had tried to do it on the way out but it didnt happen and to be honest I was so excited I could have sat on the toilet on the outgoing flight and been content......
I went to the Business class lounge and had a croissant and then left as it was a bit stuffy and couldnt sit still and watch British TV. Had a look round duty free and the shops and then boarded the flight.
I was so pleased to have so much leg room and to fully recline my seat so it was horizontal. The food was declicious and wish the flight had been longer than 5 hours!! After breakfast browsed through the hundreds of movies i was able to watch. I started watching one movie which was rubbish so switched to one that had Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman which was good. Then the lady infront of me was watching one Revolutionary road and then watched that but couldnt see the end as we landed 30 minutes early!!
On departure I asked the lady infront of me what happened in the film and she said it got too depressing for her and turned it off..... Anyway usually when you depart the aircraft you walk for miles and miles before collecting your bags but because i was talking to this lady the time passed very quickly. I found out that she went to Cairo 28 years ago and decided to live there with her husband. She runs a travel agency with her husband and offers tours around Egypt and we discussed Mount Sinai etc.....She gave me her business card and i gave her mine just in case she may need a massage during her 2 week visit here in the UK or just in case i return to Cairo....
Anyway it was very surreal being back as everything was so clean and everybody keeping themselves to themselves and the one really noticeable thing was there was no noise..... ..