the plane

There’s the plane, EgyptAir at Charles de Gaulle. But it came in from Cairo late, and so now we’re waiting a long time for them to clean it up.

The great thing about homecomings to Egypt from Europe is that, since you pass over the Mediterranean and suddenly see land (or lights) where there were none before, there is always a dramatic “We’re home!” moment. And it never gets old– the fact of being able to say “we’re home!” even though it’s Egypt. But yes, as foreign as everything on the ground below still is, it feels about as comfortable as Eastern Iowa after this many years.

Once you make landfall in Egypt, sometimes seeing Alexandria and sometimes not, it’s usually only about half an hour before touching down in Cairo. (About 2.5 hours by train to cover that distance.) Coming in over downtown Cairo, as often happens, is especially exciting. Actually, you don’t go right over downtown– you go over Zamalek instead, then head south a bit seeing downtown out the left side, then make a sharp left turn to head out to the airport on the northeastern edge of the city. But sometimes they take a different route.

It is often the case that I can see my exact home street when coming in, and can count closely enough to estimate which building is mine. At those moments I always wish for a parachute, of course.