It should have been our flight day, except that our flight home was cancelled and we had to make arrangements to fly home the following day. We woke up before 8am to pack and eat breakfast quickly so that we could fit in one last activity before heading to the airport hotel we had booked. I was feeling rough, so I couldn’t eat much at the included breakfast. We left the hotel before 9am and headed to the metro, getting off at Mari Gargis station. This is the station with the Coptic Quarter of Cairo, but this time we exited to the west of the station and walked about 15 minutes to the Nilometer. There was a really interesting pedestrian bridge along the way that crossed the nile, like nothing I had ever seen. We arrived at the Nilometer and paid the 40 EGP entrance fee. They made us take the memory cards out of our cameras so that no photos or videos could be taken. The security guard then unlocked the Nilometer and accompanied us in to make sure we didn’t take any photos which seemed a tad extreme. 

The roof was super decorated and elaborate, much like the ceiling in the Christian museum we had visited in the Coptic quarter. The Nilometer itself was three levels downward with three doorways along the side that would allow water in to be measured along the large needle looking pillar in the centre of the cavern. The “needle” had 19 lines on it, apparently a water level of 16 was the ideal year. The nilometer was built in 861 and the keepers of it back then were revered because they could predict so accurately the growing seasons using this technology. 

We then walked back to our hotel to check out. I had one last shower as we packed up our stuff to check out. We asked at check out if the hotel could help us to call a cab, but they claimed that they needed 24 hours notice to help us with that, so we headed down to the road to hail a cab. The cab driver we eventually got to pull over told us it would be 100 EGP to the airport, so we agreed and jumped in. Mistake number one. The cab driver sped off, calling a lady as he did so. He passed the phone to me and the lady on the other end told me in English that the driver wanted more money, not a whole lot more, so I agreed. Mistake number two. After being in Egypt for over a week we were so tired of haggling and fighting with EVERYONE we interacted with, so we figured this would just get us to the airport and away from the stress of Egypt. 

After a while it became apparent that the driver had no intention of bringing us to the airport or maybe no idea that we wanted to go to the airport (giving him the benefit of the doubt). The driver pulled over and talked to some taxi buddies, and they tried to direct him to where we were headed…. I think? Eventually I had to give the driver turn by turn directions to the airport using my data free app Maps.me. Five minutes later we arrived at our destination and went to get out of the cab, but the driver wouldn’t let us get out. He now wanted 500 EGP, five times the price we had agreed to. On top of that I HAD DIRECTED HIM to the airport…. He kept yelling at us and demanding more money, because apparently now he knew English. Eventually he let us out of the cab, but I think only because two security guards at the airport hotel were looking and getting suspicious. The same security guards asked us if we were okay as we exited the vehicle. What a terrible last experience in Egypt! Honestly, this cab experience sort of summed up our time in Egypt. 

We checked into our airport hotel with no issue. It was a pretty nice room, then we grabbed our swim gear and jumped in the pool. We swam for over an hour, and honestly it was just what we needed. We retreated to our room around 4:30 and ordered some room service, as the restaurant was closed until 6:30 and we had to get to bed early for our flight early the next morning. We ordered some Egyptian lentil soup, which I had been really enjoying while we were in Egypt, and a pizza with lots of veggies on top! 

The following morning we woke up at 3am to take the airport shuttle bus to the airport to fly back to London and then to Toronto. When we arrived at the airport we had to go through security, but I had to go to another area to go through a security scanner with a female attendant. I had no problem going through security, but Jives had a very difficult time. The security agent that was checking him would not let him enter the airport until he produced a boarding pass. British Airways would not let us check in online so we didn’t have boarding passes yet, we only had emails that outlined our flight details. This email with the details was not enough for the security guard that was power tripping and screaming at Jives. I made it through security and then found Jives and the intense security guy. The security guy began screaming at me telling me that Jives could not enter the airport until I provided his boarding pass. The lady at the check in counter for British Airways could not check us into the flight without Jives present, so we were stuck…. Until a female security guard was able to calm down the male security guard and he finally let Jives into the airport. Again, Egypt was just WAY too intense for us. 

Also, we most certainly will avoid British Airways in the future as they told us we had never requested vegetarian food on the last leg of the flight, despite receiving vegetarian food for the other 3 legs of the flight. 

Urgh, series over. 

On to happier things! 

If you have any questions about our time in Egypt, let us know down below and we would be happy to give you any advice we can!