A week ago, I boarded an overnight flight from New York's JFK airport to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with a planned change of planes in Cairo, Egypt.
Everything was fine until I got to the transfer gate in Cairo about noon the next day, where I was informed that there was a problem with my visa. It seems I'd received incomplete information on visa requirements from my contacts in Jeddah, and had failed to acquire the necessary processing in Washington, DC, before departing.
The Egyptian gate agents did their best to help me resolve the problem, making calls and sending faxes to Saudi Arabia, but try as they might, they were unable to obtain permission for me to board the continuing flight. They said they'd keep working at it and see if they could resolve the issues in time for me to catch the next flight, but failing that, I'd have to spend the night in Cairo and go to the Saudi Arabian embassy the following day to seek assistance there.
Well, that's what happened, and although I spent a whole exhausting day going from building to building and window to window in a struggle with an appalling bureaucracy worthy of Brazil (the movie not the country), I had zero luck. I ended up staying two more days in Cairo, still trying to work things out so I could get to Jeddah and deliver my talk, but to no avail.
But I did make lemonade from lemons, and took the opportunity of being in Cairo to spend at least half a day seeing a few of the sights. It's an amazing place, and I hope to return sometime for a longer visit under better circumstances.
Jeepers! "Incomplete Visa Requirements" sounds like something straight out of the movie, 'Rendition'. Glad you made it back OK.
Posted by: Totally Consumed | June 24, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Bummer. Looks like they're getting back at us for our post 9-11 visa restrictions!
Posted by: Michael Anissimov | June 24, 2008 at 05:22 PM
I had a similar problem when I tried to visit Prague 7 years ago. I spoke to the Czech embassy and websites before leaving and was told that I would not need a visa. But it turns out Canadians (I had only one citizenship at the time) did need a visa [I feel it was due to payback for international hockey losses]. I was stopped before boarding the plane. Stayed in Paris to try to sort out the visa issue but could not within a span workable for my vacation.
In the mid-90s, tried to go to Saudi Arabia, but required arrangement of an invitation to the Kingdom from a local native. So the issues getting into Saudi Arabia pre-date 9-11.
Posted by: brian wang | June 25, 2008 at 10:31 AM
That is amazing that you were able to spend a couple of nights in the Cairo city. In the US, in case of visa or transfer visa problem they chain you in the immigration office.
Posted by: Asib | July 04, 2008 at 11:13 AM