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Bangladeshi now with Egyptian Stamp
TSA (or their Egyptian Counterpart) is Apparently the Same the World Over
Filed under:
Egypt,
Middle East,
Travel
by:
Coleman
I made it to Cairo after a pretty interesting flight...As we were taxiing, these 2 guys got into a fight because one started using his cell phone. I get that the cell phone thing is kind of a dumb rule, but I think whenever someone starts disobeying the rules on a plane, it gets everyone on edge. What made it worse was that when the flight attendants asked the man to show them his cell phone (like the flight attendants are a crack anti-terrorism squad that knows what they're looking for), the guys said no. I'll admit that the fact that he wouldn't give the cell phone over didn't help calm my - or I think anybody else's - worries. Ironically(?), an Israeli girl sitting next to him was egging him on, telling him that he shouldn't give the cell phone up on principle. Kind of a dumb principle. So as the plane started to return to the gate, he handed off the cell phone and we were on our way.
After a connection in Istanbul, I made it to Cairo. The insane number of police/immigration/people in uniforms carrying guns is tempered by the fact that they all seem to be more interested in their cell phones than anything going on…case in point. Apparently, there’s a visa window for foreigners at the Cairo Airport. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my Lonely Planet, but I figured that Visa on Arrival meant that as I went through immigration, I would get a visa. Erroneous. The guy at the immigration desk saw something that looked like a visa – a Bangladeshi visa, but a visa nonetheless – and stamped it and I went through immigration no problem.
Egyptian stamp on the Bangaldeshi visa
When I shared this with the people at my hostel, they showed me their very official looking visa and I thought my mom’s worst nightmare would come true – I would be stuck in Egypt. Or my worst nightmare – a night in a foreign jail trying to explain that I didn’t try to enter the country illegally…So it was onto the visa extension office. When I showed up, they said everything was fine, but decided that I should have another stamp. If everything was fine with my first stamp, I’m not sure why I needed another one. But I now have a very decorative passport page filled with Bangladeshi visas and Egyptian stamps.
Decorative Egyptian stamp (on left).
Very technical - complete with stamper's writing
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