December 14, 2007 - Egypt to Portugal
I left my hotel in Sharm el Sheikh at 9:30 pm, taking a taxi instead of the hotel shuttle as it was way cheaper 50 EP instead of 85. I spent a couple of hours in the airport in cold air 
conditioning, which chilled me through and through. We flew out after midnight to Cairo (a half hour late) and I was to have another two hours wait in Cairo, but as we were late, I had to rush. There was no proper link from one air terminal to the other, so I was directed up a non-working escalator (with the help of someone finally as it was long and steep and my luggage weighed too much by this time- I gave him a good tip), out some back door, along the fringes of a parking lot without any proper route or signs, following another family and into the next Terminal. There someone rushed up to me and asked if I was taking the flight to Lisbon. When I answered in the affirmative he told me to hurry as the flight was boarding and I would miss it.
He rushed me into the terminal, past others waiting in line through the security to the ticket counter, and through the next security and then he disappeared when I tried to find my boarding gate…I asked for directions along the way and ran through the crowds worried that I was missing my flight and not wanting to spend the night in the Egyptian airport. I arrived at the gate to find that the loading area was in darkness. I couldn’t understand how I’d missed my flight when it wasn’t supposed to have left for another hour. A security person, who didn’t speak English, emerged from the gate and motioned me to wait.
Then I noticed another young woman standing nearby. I asked first if she spoke English and then if she was also going to Lisbon. She had been rushed the same way, but had been waiting for a half an hour. We continued standing there until the appropriate boarding time, the first in a line-up of people also travelling to Spain. We were then bussed over to the plane.
There weren’t many of us on the flight, so I had a row of three seats to myself and was able to lay down and sleep for a while. The flight was five hours, but they kept the lights on for quite a while after they served us beverages and then woke us up well before landing time to give us breakfast (a wiener with a moulded fried egg, two buns, some jam, cream cheese, and rice pudding). Once we were finished they turned the lights off again and we were able to go off to sleep (well, try anyway), until it was time to land.
My plane arrived in Lisbon as the hint of daybreak beckoned. In the near dark we circled over the city lit like a jewel-encrusted bodice on a black velvet gown. I already knew I would like this country as the twinkling of the lights beckoned and the sun slowly rose through the rest of my travels to Lagoa.
I had another two hour stint in Lisbon before flying to Faro; however this was mostly taken up with two things. One was a very long bus ride through city streets to the local terminal. At one point of this ride, one of my fellow passengers began laughing and pointing at something. I looked back to see what was causing his merriment and saw a piece of lonely luggage lying on the road miles from anywhere. I chuckled too until I looked a little closer. Was that my suitcase?
I couldn’t get a good enough look at it, but it certainly looked like mine. I thought about what was in it and decided not to worry; it was only a bunch of clothes I eventually wanted to get rid of anyway, and if it didn’t arrive, I could go out and buy some new ones with the money they would give me to replace it.
Finally reaching the next terminal I stood for quite a time in the wrong line-up trying to get my boarding pass (which the Egyptian airport people had not given me). The air carrier person
didn’t direct me very well from the information kiosk and I need to go across the terminal to a different place, but I didn’t know this until I’d made my way to the beginning of the line up.
Once I got my boarding pass and my bearings for the gate, I found an ATM and managed to get some Euros so I had some local money. And at least, bathrooms in Portugal were an improvement, though security was almost as tight as in Egypt.
I once again went through several security check points, then to the departure gate for Faro, where we were boarded onto a bus again and bussed almost back to where we had started from to board the plane.
conditioning, which chilled me through and through. We flew out after midnight to Cairo (a half hour late) and I was to have another two hours wait in Cairo, but as we were late, I had to rush. There was no proper link from one air terminal to the other, so I was directed up a non-working escalator (with the help of someone finally as it was long and steep and my luggage weighed too much by this time- I gave him a good tip), out some back door, along the fringes of a parking lot without any proper route or signs, following another family and into the next Terminal. There someone rushed up to me and asked if I was taking the flight to Lisbon. When I answered in the affirmative he told me to hurry as the flight was boarding and I would miss it.He rushed me into the terminal, past others waiting in line through the security to the ticket counter, and through the next security and then he disappeared when I tried to find my boarding gate…I asked for directions along the way and ran through the crowds worried that I was missing my flight and not wanting to spend the night in the Egyptian airport. I arrived at the gate to find that the loading area was in darkness. I couldn’t understand how I’d missed my flight when it wasn’t supposed to have left for another hour. A security person, who didn’t speak English, emerged from the gate and motioned me to wait.
Then I noticed another young woman standing nearby. I asked first if she spoke English and then if she was also going to Lisbon. She had been rushed the same way, but had been waiting for a half an hour. We continued standing there until the appropriate boarding time, the first in a line-up of people also travelling to Spain. We were then bussed over to the plane.There weren’t many of us on the flight, so I had a row of three seats to myself and was able to lay down and sleep for a while. The flight was five hours, but they kept the lights on for quite a while after they served us beverages and then woke us up well before landing time to give us breakfast (a wiener with a moulded fried egg, two buns, some jam, cream cheese, and rice pudding). Once we were finished they turned the lights off again and we were able to go off to sleep (well, try anyway), until it was time to land.
My plane arrived in Lisbon as the hint of daybreak beckoned. In the near dark we circled over the city lit like a jewel-encrusted bodice on a black velvet gown. I already knew I would like this country as the twinkling of the lights beckoned and the sun slowly rose through the rest of my travels to Lagoa.
I had another two hour stint in Lisbon before flying to Faro; however this was mostly taken up with two things. One was a very long bus ride through city streets to the local terminal. At one point of this ride, one of my fellow passengers began laughing and pointing at something. I looked back to see what was causing his merriment and saw a piece of lonely luggage lying on the road miles from anywhere. I chuckled too until I looked a little closer. Was that my suitcase?
I couldn’t get a good enough look at it, but it certainly looked like mine. I thought about what was in it and decided not to worry; it was only a bunch of clothes I eventually wanted to get rid of anyway, and if it didn’t arrive, I could go out and buy some new ones with the money they would give me to replace it.
Finally reaching the next terminal I stood for quite a time in the wrong line-up trying to get my boarding pass (which the Egyptian airport people had not given me). The air carrier person
didn’t direct me very well from the information kiosk and I need to go across the terminal to a different place, but I didn’t know this until I’d made my way to the beginning of the line up.Once I got my boarding pass and my bearings for the gate, I found an ATM and managed to get some Euros so I had some local money. And at least, bathrooms in Portugal were an improvement, though security was almost as tight as in Egypt.
I once again went through several security check points, then to the departure gate for Faro, where we were boarded onto a bus again and bussed almost back to where we had started from to board the plane.
The trip was only 40 minutes long and very beautiful with the sun coming out in full force to shine over the sometimes mountainous terrain. There were lovely patchwork fields and rivers and lakes and then the Mediterranean Sea again. 
The soil seems reddish and lush after the dryness of the Egyptian sands.
Once we landed I was met by a driver in a van, who taxied me to Lagoa and my resort at Carvoeiro.
The soil seems reddish and lush after the dryness of the Egyptian sands.Once we landed I was met by a driver in a van, who taxied me to Lagoa and my resort at Carvoeiro.
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