We recently took an Egyptian holiday for the first time since our son was born… I thought Id tell you how that went and give you some tips to travelling in Egypt with children.
So our destination was Soma Bay, about an hour south of Hurghada along the coast.
We picked The Westin Soma Bay hotel and decided to go all-inclusive as we didnt know anything about the restaurants in that area. And we decided to take a flight to Hurghada since 5 hours in a car is not ideal with a toddler!
We arrive at the airport about 1,5 hour before the flight, since its a domestic flight. We go through the security check to get to the check-in desk. I dont beep but the woman there decides that I look like a nice woman and she would like to have a feel of my bra and belt and down my legs! So she does, as of course this is part of the well-organised security at Cairo International Airport! Our baggage goes throught the x-ray machine as the guy continues to look at his phone, must be an important message… The car seat comes out the other side and he looks confused at it and asks what this piece of plastic is… My husband informs him that it is a car seat… Also known as ‘what all children in the world sit in, whilst in a car, except when in Egypt’.
We go to the first check-in counter and she types some stuff into a computer and says, sorry I cant check you in… Go to the other desk over there… So we go over-there to the other desk… Our tickets are upgraded and my husband informs the check-in guy of this, even thought it is stated on the ticket… He continues to check us in and hands us our boarding passes for economy seats… Either this guy has sold his brain or he is deaf and blind… As my husband said it and it is written in capital letters on the ticket.
So my husband goes back to the check-in counter and asks if business is full… Nope… Okey then why do we have economy seats?!? After an uff and puff and urghhh he takes the tickets and prints new ones in business.. Ah life of a check-in guy is sooo hard… people come and want tickets and want to check in their luggage… its all so much work….
We start walking towards the gate and check the boarding time on the ticket…
On flight tracker AND our ticket its states that the flight departure time is: 14:20! When we check our tickets it says 15:10. So annoyed and angry that the check-in guy has put us on another flight we start walking back to complain. Then we notice the flight number is the same. On the screens at the airport it also says 15:10 but with our flight number! This is Egypt and for those of you who live here will not be shocked. But in other countries where the airlines respect their passengers, they normally inform them about changes to their flights! You know, you wouldnt want your passenger missing his/her flight because you failed to inform them of a time change?!? Right?!? Wrong! Egyptair didnt inform us at all that the flight had been delayed 50 minutes! And lets not go there about maybe they could reach us… My husband flies the freaking planes in this company and is in the main office nearly every single day!!! Who cares, whatever…
In the domestic hall there is absolutely nothing!! If anyone of you have been there, you will know what im talking about! They have a small duty free shop with about 6 perfumes from the last century, 4 watches with so much dust you cant tell the time or designer, and 2 suitcases that have broken wheels, and no employees in the shop, even if you wanted to buy something! Then they have one small cafe with food that is so old the mold comes creeping towards you as you pass the cafe. And thats it! Then of course they have gates to be able to board the aircrafts…
The only childfriendly area was a small area with three computer touch screens where the touch didnt work… Then they had 5 wooden chairs, two of which were broken. And they had 4 small circular tables that you could move small balls inside.. Hard to explain but they didnt work and one had smashed glass. This is how you entertain children in Cairo Airport, domestic hall… Let them play for a while until they cut their hands on some smashed glass and fall over and hit their head from broken chairs… Then have a seat at the gate until your flight time, if your child is not too hurt to fly!
After walking 400 times around in circles in the domestic hall it was finally our turn to board! Remember we came an hour and a half before our original flight time, so we had 2 and a half hours of waiting! We went to the gate and went through security. I was asked to take my shoes off, actually everyone had to take their shoes off… I think the security officers have been watching too much Ultimate Airport Dubai and see that people are sometimes asked to take their shoes off… They then decided to make Cairo airport super safe, they will demand that EVERYONE takes their shoes off! YAY go Team Security,what a great idea… but why? Because shoes are dangerous! So I was wearing flip flops with such a thin sole that I swear if I could conceal ANYTHING in those shoes I would go directly to the World Guiness Book of Records without passing GO and collecting my money!
So there I was walking in my bare feet along with other peoples bare fungus feet on a floor that was so dirty if I could do kung fu, I would do a kung-fu move to make me fly over the dirty areas! I went through the metal detector machine or whatever its called and didnt beep.. Another woman looks at me and comes over to have a touch and feel… Because I didnt beep and im not wearing my shoes, I might be concealing something non-metallic in my bra or belly or even thighs.. Go ahead woman rub me down, just like the other woman did… The amount of times ive gone through security checks in other country, ive never been rubbed down unless I beep… Here they rub you down because they have nothing else to do… Lets drink some tea and then afterwards have a feel on that woman… How many times will you get touched in Cairo Airport? The answer my friends, is 2 times until you get to the gate… Maybe more… Who knows… Only the woman who rubs you down will know!
Anyways this post is getting long, so ill cut it right there and let you know we had an amazing flight from Cairo to Hurghada… The passenger beside us didnt even turn his phone off during the flight and got loads of whatsapp during both take-off and landing… COMPLETE disrespect of the safety rules and huge disrespect towards every single passenger onboard…But then again the amount of phones ringing and plinging on the descent towards Hurghada just showed me that Egyptians cant follow rules…
Femieshe 