Family Time on the Plane to Cairo

Our trip to Egypt started with a four-hour, direct flight to Cairo from Vienna. While going through security in Vienna (each gate has its own security check-in), we noticed that there were a lot of small children going through security for our plane. As we entered the gate, it was evident that about 25% of the people on our flight were going to be Egyptian children under the age of 5. The gate was a mad house, with kids running around, crying, and screaming. Little did I know I was in for the most unrelaxing, movement-filled flight I have ever been on.

My assigned seat was next to a dad and his son, who was probably around the same age as my nephew, Ryan. The dad was in the window seat, son in the middle, and I was on the aisle. As soon as I sat down, the kid was grabbing me and all over me. I told the dad it was okay and not to worry (I mean, how can you really control a 1 year old?) but eventually I couldn’t take the kid pinching the back of my arm with his banana-covered hands. It seemed like everyone had boarded the plane, and there was no one in the row next to us so I moved to the window seat across the aisle. Big mistake. About 15 minutes after everyone else had boarded, a family of about 15 Egyptian people came on the flight and it was pure madness as they all tried to find their seats. There were five adults and about 100+ children in this family, and of course, I was in one of their seats! I really didn’t want to move back to the pinching kid, so I asked through sign language if they would switch with me and with hand movements they said it was okay. I eyed the family hoping I would get one of the older children as my seat-neighbor, but alas, a young mother with her 8-month old daughter on her lap sat next to me and another woman (who I think was the young mother’s sister) sat in the aisle seat.

The flight consisted of the baby next to me being passed back and forth between family members in different aisle, the baby throwing bread crumbs on me, the young mother exploding a can of Sprite all over our section of the plane, and family members playing musical chairs. It was like every one of them wanted a chance to sit in every different seat they had been assigned. Someone was constantly moving, or talking, or crying. I was exhausted when we touched down in Cairo, but when we did, the young mother looked over at me, and using some of the only English words she knew, said, “Welcome to Egypt.”