INT. LUFTHANSA LOUNGE (IAD) WASHINGTON, DC, 3:37 PM EST (this day in 2021)

Aman and I ate and waited for the connecting flight to Egypt via Frankfurt.

INT. LUFTHANSA SENATOR LOUNGE (FRA) FRANKFURT, GERMANY 8:47 AM CEST

I say, “The Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt has better food than DC.” Aman agrees.   

INT. CAIRO AIRPORT (CAI) CAIRO, EGYPT, 2:30 PM EEST

The second flight to Cairo (CAI) felt longer for me than DC to Frankfurt. There wasn’t in flight entertainment on the second flight.

On the first flight, I watched The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan. And a bit of Zootopia, which I already saw, but someone else on the plane was watching it so I played it again.

Aman mentioned his Mexico trip from ten days prior with his UVA Darden School of Business friends when we landed in Cairo, causing Egyptian airport staff to force him into a Covid test.

They had a fear about people who recently went to Mexico, “South American diseases.”

It ended up working out. The English speaking guy, Usama, Aman told him we were staying at the Sheraton, then Kempinski, which are very high end hotels in Cairo.

Also, whenever he moved Aman around the airport to get tested or talk to someone, I followed them both around Cairo airport like a good brother. Aman thinks Usama liked meeting me also.

Either way, Usama suddenly started treating us very well. He linked us up with this guy Adam, an Egyptologist, who is going to meet us at our hotel in the lobby and present us both private tours to places like Imhotep, Sphinx, Giza, Sakkara, Alexandria, and more, at a discount! Lol.

EXT. RESTAURANT ALONG NILE RIVER, CAIRO, EGYPT, 8:43 PM EEST

Aman and I bought dinner at a place by the Nile near our hotel. I got crispy chicken with pasta and mashed potatoes. Aman got lemon grilled chicken with pasta and vegetables. The woman serving us definitely liked Aman, who too enjoyed flirting, to my amusement.

Aman and I talked a lot about America’s religion being money. America in general is a weird country, with an ever growing wealth gap, a middle class being gutted. Men are suffering, women are enrolling in college more.

The educated, the wealthy, across societies, do tend to be treated better within them.

ACTION POINT: People treat you differently if they think you are wealthy