Flight from Cairo to New York (JFK)

After a 4:45 AM wakeup call, we had breakfast at 5:30 AM -- the start of another long day. We left for the Cairo Airport. The security measures in place were manual but extreme. Upon entry to the terminal, all of you bags are scanned. Then they are checked manually by a baggage checker, who checked both carry-on and checked luggage. After you get you boarding pass, bags are scanned and checked again at the gate. There are both metal dector "walk throughs" and wand checks. The flight left at 9:30 AM Cairo time and is due to take 12 hours before landing at JFK in New York.

During the flight, there were a few periods of high turbulence. At one point the place was shaking so much that a few of the overhead comparments open and a few bags fell out. I'd never before experience that on a flight -- but then again, I haven't really flown that much.

They played 3 movies on the 12 hour flight: "Down with Love", "Pirates of the Carribean" and "The Italian Job". I only watched the latter, which was okay, but had a pretty standard "master thief" plot to it.

After landing at JFK, we took a cab to my sister's place in Brooklyn, where we stayed wake for a few hours watching "Minority Report", then going to bed exhausted at 7:30 PM New York time (3:30 AM Cairo time).