It finally happened. The one thing that I had wanted all my life (or atleast as long as I can think) did finally happen: I boarded a plane to start my world trip. One of my aunts and my sister brought me to the airport and opposed to all the imaginative tragic good-byes I had already thought through in the past weeks, it was not difficult at all to pass the gates. I didn't even cry. Somehow I felt strangely calm, almost meditative, maybe because I spent years mentally preparing myself for that very moment. I wasn't especially happy or excited neither, just simpy peaceful as if I had known this would happen someday. Just as it did.
From Hamburg the first flight was to Amsterdam where I had to change for Cairo. While flying over Northern Niedersachsen, I could see the Elbe (a river for those who don't know) opening up into the North Sea. I could see Bederkesa where I went to boarding school and Cuxhaven from where the ships go to Helgoland - I almost cracked my neck trying to see "my island" but I couldn't. The sun set over Bremerhaven and the islands of Ostfriesland, it was beautiful. There it stroke me for the first time - this was me leaving home. REALLY leaving. When we crossed the Netherlands, I thought of Centa somewhere down there and Marieke, both are Dutch girls I met in Spain. Overall I think a lot about you guys in Asturias and this is a BIG HELLO to all of you!!
In Amsterdam the flight monitor showed 3294 km distance to destination Cairo. We flew about 4 hours and by the way, I was very happy with KLM: seat, food and service was all very good. The only thing they didn't get quite right was the time change: they told us on the plane that local time was one hour ahead of Western Europe which turned out to be wrong until a week later when Egypt changed their clocks to local summer time. Until then, time was exactly the same as in Germany, Spain, etc.. Anyway, I arrived in Cairo around 1 am in the morning (still thinking it was already 2 am). But as I was expected by someone from the tour organiser I didn't really mind. Thanks to the guy, clearing customs and obtaining my visa was not a big hassle. In any case I was too tired to bother too much about the slight chaos and strange atmosphere at the airport. I just wanted to get rid of my 30 kg of luggage and wanted a bed. We went to a small minibus where 3 other travellers had waited for us and took off to the hotel. My first experience in Cairo traffic might best be described as: miracles DO happen! Well, first of all, the lines on the street usually marking the different lanes for cars to take, might serve for decoration only - if they actually exist. The indicator to change direction is basically not used at all, instead drivers excessively hunk the horn or flash the lights. Alternatively, they might also yell at each other. All this in vehicles that wouldn't pass any European inspection, at a speed that is scary and accompanied by loud Egyptian music played by the car radio. That it was in the middle of the night didn't change the fact that the streets were busy like during daytimes. After 20 minutes or so, we arrived at the hotel. I didn't know whether I was sweating because of the local temperature or the drive I just managed to survive...
Anyway, upon arrival at the hotel, I quickly got to my room, as it was already 2 am and I was supposed to get up early the next morning. The hotel "boy" who carried my luggage to the 10th floor was the first Egyptian man trying to hit on me by guessing that I was 19... ("You look so young!") He actually had such trouble carrying my backpack that I almost felt sorry to see him struggle ("Me having bad back pain..."). Too bad I couldn't even give him a tip because I didn't have small money yet.
Last thing to report on my first day is the so-called bathroom I shared with my room-mate who was obviously sleeping by then. I didn't want to wake her up, so I didn't turn on the light in the bedroom and went straight into the bathroom. Well, what can I say... the first thing that hit me was the smell - a public toilet at a train station couldn't smell worse. While I approached and used the WC, I saw where the smell came from: the tube that normally connects to the toilet was tied to the actual toilet seat by scotch tape and half the liquid flushing down did end up on the bathroom floor... While "sitting" on the toilet - which you can be sure I didn't touch with any part of my body - I saw a small shadow crawling along the wall - I didn't even want to have a closer look to check what that was. At that time, I just wanted to go to bed.