My heart was so sad to leave this resort town. The minute I got into the taxi, I missed the resort with its hammock in the sun. 

We were a teensy bit late, the last time to drop off bags was 6:40am and we left the resort at 6:15am. It’s safe to say, I was completely stressed and making dua the whole way that everything will be fine. 

We got to the airport in two separate taxi’s, got there at about 6:23am only to find a long line to scan the bags. After waiting a few minutes, I found someone who spoke English and explained our situation and he called us to the front of the line to scan the bags. My parents went through while I waited for my siblings. A few minutes later, they arrived, came to the front, scanned the bags and then we ran to the check-in counter. Somehow, we managed to send through our bags and get our boarding passes before 6:40am. 

All that chaos ended up being for nothing though because once again, our flight was delayed. We ended up waiting for about an hour and a half just to board. 

Eventually, we took a short bus ride to the plane and landed in Cairo about an hour later. Our initial plan was to go to Alexandria but none of us were in the mood for the additional travel so I cancelled the booking and ended up finding a filler Airbnb apartment for the next two days.

After getting our bags, we walked out of the airport to get a shuttle which proceeded to take forever to get us. One of the biggest lessons while travelling is to have patience – because no matter how much you plan, it really doesn’t follow the plan perfectly. 

My siblings and I went to Novotel to fetch our luggage while my parents went straight to the apartment. Once everything was collected, we also caught a taxi. 

Cairo traffic is absolutely insane. There are basically no painted lines on the roads and everyone drives everywhere. There is also the constant sound of hooters (even right now at 12am as I am writing this). I guess that’s the beauty of Cairo but there’s definitely no way I would even attempt to drive here. 

We got to our apartment, settled in and got ready to find that first meal in a foreign country. My sister knew she wanted Hardees’ and so, we caught a taxi to the one near Tahrir Square. 

We ordered some beef and chicken burgers and it was so so good. No Hardees visit is complete without chocolate chip cookies so we had to get some (@ my cousins – of course we thought of you). 

After this, we were ready to explore the area. We walked through the streets finding novels on the way and I couldn’t help but think to myself how many books I would’ve taken home for my grandfather. 

We ended up at Talaat Harb Square which had some really nice shops and I could’ve easily spent a couple hours here but everyone was tired so we called a taxi and made our way back to the apartment. 

We ended up catching the sunset on the Nile and it was so pretty but it should be noted that at this point, we had been awake since 5am and all we wanted was sleep. We didn’t have dinner or anything, instead we prayed Esha and then all of us went straight to bed. The best part of winter is that the night is long and the sleep is great. 

Step count: 9 330