Boston to Paris to Algiers to Cairo (boring post, warned in advance)

12/25-26

The flight wasn't bad at all. For some reason a sandwich and small glass of orange juice costs $11 in the Algiers airport, I don't think it would have been that much in JFK.

To travel through Algiers, even if you aren't leaving the airport, you apparently need a "transit visa". The possibility hadn't even occurred to me, so I hadn't obtained a visa beforehand, causing a bit of an issue. They were perfectly nice about it though, a guy whom I'm pretty sure was Palestinian escorted me from the arrivals to the departure side.

The police presence in the airport is remarkable: you go through a normal screening checkpoint at the terminal, then again before you get on the jetway, then again at the end of the jetway. I don't know how they think you could have acquired weapons or any other contraband on the way down the ramp, it was a bit much. One fat Egyptian guy started yelling at the police about how ridiculous it was, I think they just said you can go through the checkpoints or you can go back into the airport.

Landed in Cairo and told the customs people that I was coming here to study in Gaza. They expressed a little bit of surprise, then brought someone to talk to me for about five minutes. They asked if I was with the Viva Palestina convoy or with the Gaza Freedom March, and I said no, showed them the letters from Harvard and Mezan, and they said okay and let me go.

The hotels near Cairo's airport have odd names. I stayed in Novotel for $190, which got me a clean room with a telephone that doesn't work and no clock, it was a little strange. It was nice though, no complaints other than the insane price. The breakfast the next morning was fantastic, probably because I hadn't eaten anything substantial since the meal Air France served from Boston to Cairo.

Slept pretty well, woke up around 4 am for whatever reason, got a cab to the US embassy. I made the mistake of setting it up through the hotel's cab service, so it cost me another $40.