First Class Lounge at Terminal 3 Cairo Airport | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 64) 08D19

Visiting Cairo Airport First Class Lounge at Terminal 3 – Egypt | Leaving Cairo Tonight

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

My Priority Pass app pointed me to the only lounge available at the Terminal 3 in the Cairo airport. Ironically, the name of the lounge was First Class Lounge, although later on I concluded this had to be one of my worst lounge experiences.

The First Class Lounge was small and not well lit. Right after entering, I noticed the run-down and disorganised conditions of the lounge. I decided to do a video first before getting some food and drink. 

The food section had almost nothing. I saw only some sweets, cookies, muffins, and breads. The refrigerator only had 2 types of soft drinks and water. There were 2 coffee machines, but I was pretty leery about drinking coffee out of these machines. I don’t think I had ever seen this type of barely adequate food and drink at any other lounge before.

The sitting area had some chairs, sofa chairs and 3-4 pieces of old long sofas. Nothing looked or felt like I was in a lounge.

I decided to check the restroom, although I had an idea that there was nothing good to expect there either. It was a very small washroom facility with almost no amenities. Some airports’ regular washrooms looked better than that.

I grabbed just a bottle of water and some sweets to kill some time. I had arrived at the last segment of my 10-day Egypt trip. You will be able to see the full trip on my Ahmed Dawn Instagram and Ahmed Dawn YouTube Channel.

I wish to put together my experiences in a book as well, which will soon be published. I will resume publishing travel posts once my next trip starts. Thanks for reading and see you soon.

At The Cairo Airport | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 64) 08D19

Cairo Airport – Not So Organized, Egypt | Leaving Cairo Tonight

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

After our tour van dropped us off at the Cairo airport, I passed the main entrance to enter the airport building and then headed towards security. This is when things seemed to be in disarray and no one knew which queue or section to follow.

At first, the other passengers and I (we were walking together after getting off the tour bus) were instructed to go to one counter to push our luggage through the X-ray machines and they would issue us our boarding passes. When we got there, someone else told us that it was the wrong section and pointed us to somewhere else.

Some people got mad and started arguing with the airport employees. We seemed to get to the right belt at one point. After putting my carry-on on the belt and passing through, I realized that this was not even the main security checkpoint where airport security officers check for liquids and make you go through the body X-Ray scanner gate.

I realized that for additional security measures, the Cairo airport had a double luggage check process. It was time-consuming, but I couldn’t complain because it was to protect everyone.

I passed through the main luggage check section and scanning machines without any incidents and breathed a sigh of relief. I was heading to the First Class Lounge at Terminal 3, as I had free passes to enter under the Priority Pass program.

Last Night in Cairo | Arriving at the Cairo Airport | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 63) 08D19

Cairo Airport, Egypt | Leaving Cairo Tonight

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

We hopped on a van with other travelers to go to the airport. I didn’t know most of them, but some of them I remember seeing in the hotel before.

My tour guide was sitting with me for almost two hours to give me company and it was time to say goodbye. His name was Mina and we became like friends for the past 10 days staying together crisscrossing Egypt.

I took good care of him by giving a lot more than the standard tips, which was recommended by the tour company. He was very appreciative of that. He personally thanked me many times and personally went beyond his regular duties to look after me during my stay. So yes, I felt bad to say goodbye, but that’s life.

We would have gotten to the airport in 30 minutes, but due to traffic it took more than an hour. However, I took the time to immerse myself in some Cairo roadside scenes for the last time. The full 10-day tour was kind of passing before my eyes and I was recalling all the bits and pieces of it.

This happens to me on every trip. The last couple of days, I start to feel bad because the trip is coming to an end and then when I am home, I feel trip sick for a while. Also, I recall these trips vividly for the rest of my life.

I think that’s a part of travelling and that’s what makes travelling unique and this is an eye-opening experience everyone should have if your situation permits it.

The shimmering lights of the Cairo airport are getting visible far away. We should be arriving shortly.

Leaving Hotel Oasis, Giza | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 62) 08D19

Final Hours at the Hotel Oasis | Leaving Cairo Tonight

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

Once I reached my room, I was shocked to find out that they gave me a much better room this time. I felt bad because I would be leaving in a couple of hours and got such a nice room, but when I stayed longer for the first time my room was not so good.

My room was on the second floor and quite spacious. There was a balcony overlooking the resort. The washroom was big with a huge bathtub and a standing shower. This is the kind of room you want to stay in and relax, but I had to leave shortly.

I had to rush to finish my shower, organize and pack my only carry-on bag, so I could be ready at the lobby at 8:00. What I didn’t realize was that someone gave me the wrong information and my airport pickup was not until 10:00.

When I was in the lobby and saw no one, the employees at the counter told me I was scheduled for a 10:00 pickup with some other people. I got upset, as I was rushing the whole time to be here at 8:00 and now I’d have to sit and wait for another 2 hours.

I asked for my tour guide and explained to him what had happened. He apologized for the wrong information and offered me the keys to get back to my room (I already checked out), but I didn’t want to go back to my room again.  He was nice enough to stay with me for the rest of my waiting time and offered me tea and snacks. I asked only for tea.

We sat for the next couple of hours and talked about our trips and various other things. I was more than pleased for his nice gesture and spending some time with me, which he didn’t have to do – yet another example of Egyptian hospitality.

Before 10:00, I saw other passengers gathering in the lobby and we finally left for the airport. I looked at the hotel Oasis for the last time and it will remain in my heart for a long time.

Outdoor Patio Restaurant at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar | Cairo Downtown to Giza| Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 61) 08D19

Cairo Khan El Khalili Bazaar Patio Restaurant | Through Cairo Downtown | Khan El Khalili Bazaar to Hotel Oasis in Giza

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

We all gathered at a restaurant and sat in the outdoor patio in the Khan El Khalili Bazaar. I met some people from other tour groups and we talked about our Egypt experience. Our tour guide joined us as well.

I only ordered mint tea. I liked Egyptian mint tea so much that I was having that almost daily.

There were other restaurants on the same row and all of them had outdoor patios. One funny thing I noticed was that some employees were shouting and fighting for customers to get into their restaurants. Sometimes I even saw them grabbing customers by the hand and pulling them onto their premises, so the next restaurant couldn’t get them.

It was an evening I would remember forever. Hot, humid Cairo weather with an invigorating gentle desert breeze, crowds, chaos, smells from the restaurants, and the thought that I was leaving Cairo in just 6 hours … they all made for an unforgettable and eternal experience.

I asked my tour guide to suggest some dry Egyptian sweets to take back to Canada. I also knew some names of sweets from the Felucca cruise. The tour guide asked the restaurant to airtight-pack sweets such as Basbousa, Kunafa, and Baklava for the flight. They prepared those sweets in nice boxes in different layers.

We were ready to head for Giza to our hotel. We would go through downtown Cairo and I was ready to video some downtown Cairo clips.

We hopped in our tour van to head towards Giza and our hotel. This trip would give us an opportunity to see downtown Cairo. Normally it would take about an hour to reach our hotel, but Sunday traffic was especially bad and it took a lot longer.

Downtown Cairo looked like any other big city’s downtown, but with a lot more chaos and crowds. There were big brand stores, restaurants, and cafes with their glimmering lights and shiny invitations to go in and shop.

The streets were heavily lit. There was lots of traffic and honking horns. What made Cairo different was the heavy volume of people. It’s hard to imagine this type of volume if you are from another country. When we were up on the expressway, it gave us a good chance to see the streets full of people from above and I was shocked to see so many people here and there.

I especially noticed the density of people near every open market or bazaar every few blocks here and there. There were vegetables, fish, meat, clothes, restaurants … basically anything you can think of had open-air stores on the streets. I couldn’t understand how it’s possible to even buy anything when you couldn’t really move because everywhere was jam packed with people.

We were supposed to reach our hotel in an hour, but traffic slowed us down. I was getting worried, as I had to leave the hotel on time to catch my flight leaving at 01:50 tonight. We finally reached our hotel after an hour and a half.

I rushed to my room to get ready to leave for my flight.