Cairo Travel Blog: At the Cairo Airport - CAI | Travel Blog

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

Cairo Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 1)

At the Cairo Airport - CAI

I arrived in Egypt one day prior to my 10-day trip itinerary. This was because I took one extra trip to Alexandria, which would require one extra day. I had one extra night booked at the same hotel by the tour operator. I am counting my first day in Egypt as Day 0 because I arrived one day ahead.

My EgyptAir Flight MS 996 landed in Cairo on Nov 29, 2019 at 6:25 AM. You can read the full flight review in the previous post.

In the past, wherever I went, I met the tour guide after exiting customs and immigration. I was shocked to realize that my guide was waiting for me at the gate, right where we were exiting the plane.

But I had more surprises waiting. The guide took my passport from me and literally did all the customs and immigration work. I was kind of just following him from queue to queue and he even managed to skip regular lines for me.

The immigration officer even didn’t see me face to face, as the tour guide asked me to sit at a spot and took my passport to the immigration officer, who glanced at me from a distance and stamped my passport.

I realized that tourists are treated very differently in Egypt. Specialized tour guides do all the necessary paperwork at the airport, so tourists don’t have go through the hassle. This is to make Egypt a tourist-friendly country and encourage more tourists to visit.

Later on, I asked my guide at the airport and he confirmed that he (and other tour guides from different tour companies) has an airport pass issued by the ministry that allows him to maneuver inside the airport and assist tourists. He would remain at the airport for the rest of his shift to assist other tourists arriving that day.

A different guide took me to my hotel. I was so pleased that he did all my paperwork so smoothly that I gave him a good tip. He was very pleased.