Asyut Transportation

I was tempted to put this tip in the warning section but than I thought It was a hilarious experience that made my trip memorable. I had a miserable experience (I thought at the time) due to different factors that gathered at the same time.

We arrived late at night around 2 am. Things appeared very upbeat and promising when the Passport Officer said " let do the Non Egyptian passports first" I thought to my self wow Egyptian hospitality when you need it. Thanks you. After whizzing through passport being the first one to be stamped, I felt grrrreat.

Things started to collapse very quickly. I was prepared for a cold winter weather with layers of clothes only to be confronted by a warm weather. The airport had no bag conveyor built. We had to wait in a small hall and people started smoking after being smoke deprived in the plain. Soon I felt very uncomfortable due to the choking atmosphere in the room and the heavy stuff I was wearing not to mention the big number of people who started to crowed the room.

After a long wait, bags started to arrive out side the hall. we had to wait until all bags were stacked on top of each other. we where allowed to charge, every body for him self trying to find his elusive bag. You can imagine the situation. I bit it was very funny for any one who was fortunate enough "NOT to have a dog in the fight" :-)) . Of course getting to you bag was not easy, Before that you had to squeeze your self out of a tiny door along with the 200+ fellow passengers in order to sift through the mountain of bags until I was lucky enough to find it. You can imagine how happy I was when I finally got it. I had to squeeze my way back into the Smokey room to finish my custom procedure, this time the tiny door was jammed with passengers, bag and wheels all thrown into the mix . but clearing customs was very efficient and fast once you got to the officer

The airport was far away from the city. There was a shared taxi for which I paid a hefty 50 LE. I got a very lousy seat which was probably the worst part of the night.

The Airport receives very limited number of low cost flights from and to destinations in the Middle East like Sharjah, Kuwait City, Jeddah, Bahrain, Riyadh and starting (mid-May 2010)from Dubai. The deals are not bad. It is a nice alternative to have as an entry point to Egypt. Only if the flight arrivals and departures have better times.

Looking back, I'd really do it all over again and won't mind flying through Asyut again. I would just pack more sense of humor. People at the Airport were very friendly and what they lacked in equipment the sure compensated for by effort and friendliness