The Trip to Cairo

After two nights in Dahab, we were ready to head to Cairo. There was a big fiasco with plane flights from Sharm, so we hired a driver to save a little money. We left at 8 am, and by 10 we were stopped and taken to the Nuweiba police station. We ended up being there for three hours answering stupid questions like “What tour company are you with?” and “What hotel are you staying at in Cairo?” How the heck are we supposed to find a place to stay if we can’t even get to Cairo?

The big hassle was with the driver. They said that he didn’t have the proper licenses. By noon we were getting really pissed. They wanted us to have a police escort to Cairo, because they said the Sinai Peninsula is very dangerous. “Just fifteen minutes, the escort is coming.” We told them that Hell No we are not having a police escort to Cairo! That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If these terrorist are really out there, do you think they will shoot at a beat car with two dirty kids in it, or at car with a big military escort? Why don’t they just put a big target on the side of our car?

The whole reason that we were hassled the whole time that we were in Sinai was not because they didn’t like Americans, it’s because the police and military were really worried about our safety. They definitely overdo it! Cars filled with Australians could go through checkpoints without even showing their passports, but as soon as they heard ‘Americans’ the authorities would get all crazy. I realized that they weren’t against us, they were just like a bunch of very concerned mothers. Two dead American kids would be very bad for Egypt. All this fuss and commotion was because I was an American, and need to be protected, and this made me feel pretty important. Haha! After this I stuck my chest out and held my chin up like a very important person should.

The whole situation was really crappy, but by one o’clock we had a different driver and we were back on the road without any convoy. Our drivers name was Tony, and he liked to drive pretty fast. He also liked American classic rock. He popped in a tape and Leonard Skynard’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ came on. Dustin and I got some big smiles on our face.

Heading north up the coast, Saudi Arabia turned into Jordan on our right. We arrived in Taba, the Israeli boarder town, and got some gas. We stopped at the checkpoint for a bit, and it was pretty wild to see. Just right there on the hill was Israel, to the right was Jordan, and me and Dustin were chilling at an Egyptian checkpoint. Taba is a pretty turbulent place. It has been long disputed between Egypt and Israel and has had its fair share of recent terrorist attacks.

From Taba we headed west to Cairo. The desert was so big and empty, I really enjoyed driving through it. Tony did get into one pissing match with a beat up Toyota truck that had a really gnarly looking guy behind the wheel. This climaxed into a side by side drag race, where Tony’s car topped out at 200 km per hour. This was a little frightening. Right before the sunset we went under the Suez Canal, where our ship had passed through without us the day before. We arrived in Cairo 11 hours after we had left Dahab that morning. Tony was driving back to Nuweiba that night, poor guy.