i arrived this evening at Cairo airport. but my luggage didn't. the baggage claim belt shut down, the last passengers had filed away through customs, and my backpack was nowhere to be found.
it felt like one of those movie scenes where the director of the special project says "gentlemen, we all knew this day would come. we couldn't constantly play the odds like this without SOME sort of consequences coming down on us."
and so, as in the classic 80s movie Warning Sign, when the Protocol One envelope had to be opened when one of the worst-case scenarios had occurred, i had to remember three of the worst-case trip scenarios i'd envisioned at the start of the trip, and what i'd planned to do when they occurred:
1.) loss of my main backpack and/or daypack
2.) loss of my passport and wallet
3.) loss of all of the above
so scenario #1 had now occurred.
first step: don't panic.
second step: contact the airline's personnel at the airport. they (no surprise) had no idea why my bag hadn't arrived. they provided forms and an overnight bag with the world's most painful razor, basic toiletries, a single t-shirt, a pair of socks, and one pair of boxer shorts.
third step: settle in at my chosen cairo hotel, and begin the next morning to constantly call the airline's representatives both at cairo and their headquarters until my bag is located and delivered to me.
not the most auspicious beginning to my time in cairo, but after some of the cities i've encountered, it's been surprisingly easy to arrive at my chosen hotel and begin to settle into town. they even provided me with a slightly out-of-date Footprint Egypt guidebook to use while I plan my upcoming days in Cairo.
