Brian McNeil wrote:
I suppose the key point to take from the gripes Majorly and I have posted is that you need input from people outwith the hosting country. People who have visited the country as tourists and can comment on where and how there will be attempts to take advantage of you.
True enough, though I think that much of the problem related to an inattention to details. Residents of a country tend to take their way of doing things for granted, and this includes any number of practices that are completely foreign to us foreigners. It takes a great deal of foresight to anticipate the kinds of problems we foreigners may encounter. The website for the Cairo International Airport does include information to the effect that there are two commercial companies providing bus service to Alexandria, but says nothing about where in the airport one might find these services, not even in which of the two terminals. This inattention to detail, or lack of specificity may be endemic in Egyptian society, and is not limited to our own organisers. What is needed is detailed specific instructions from the time we leave the airplane until we arrive safely in the hands of the conference organizers.
Some of us who may arrive a couple of days early to offset jetlag need to know where we can meet other earlybirds. Setting up an early information desk to deal with this is very helpful.
Ec