It Begins

Thursday, March 9
4:54 pm CST
Somewhere over Michigan
Approaching Toronto

From Malev to Alitalia, it is becoming apparent that foreign air carriers do not hold passengers to the same rigorous “security” measures as US carriers. Rules? Merely suggestions, it would seem. Case in point: a man stood for the duration of takeoff. When an overhead bin popped open upon acceleration, he answered the call to “save everyone” from the downpour of weekender bags and overcoats. Try pulling that shit on a United flight and the secretly planted U.S. Marshal on board would tackle you while the flight attendant had a conniption about you standing when the seat belt light is clearly ON. The culprit was a jacket sleeve caught in the locking mechanism. This was quite visible to all but our hero, for he was too busy exercising his slamming hand to take a closer look at the problem. I am not one to point such things out to ign’nt folks, and the Italians on board probably didn’t even notice him. In the end our savior pulled his own belongings from the trouble bin and sat down, leaving the rest of us at the mercy of gravity. Nothing budged. The (Italian) flight attendant swooped by, stuffed the jacket in, and closed the bin in a single motion.

(Cascate del Niagara & Buffalo appear on the flight map! Lago Erie! Hello home!)

So leg one of the journey begins. Chicago to Milan, about 7.5 hours. Then three hours of perusing Italy’s finest airport goods before we board the second leg to Cairo, another 4 hours of airtime. Due to arrive on Egyptian soil around 3:30 pm. Friday in Egypt is like Sunday in Chicago: a holy day on which everyone drives. A Cairo traffic jam is no doubt something to behold. Sedans merging with donkeys and such. Our hotel is actually in Giza, more or less across the street from the pyramids. The reality of seeing that is still a tad surreal to me. (Though I’ve heard that the “pyramid view” rooms are undergoing renovation. There goes the photo op.)

Do we take advantage of the international flight open bar now, or wait til knockout sleepy time? Wonder what the movies are.

Ooh, dinner time!