Egyptian vacation turned into an evacuation

For her 25th birthday, Ashley French wanted to go on anadventure.

But a flood of protesters overrunning the streets of Cairo provedto be more than French bargained for - the Rancho Cucamonga residentwas stuck for more than 30 hours at the airport while trying to getout of the mayhem-engulfed capital of Egypt.

"It was (a scene) out of a movie," French said. "When we arrived(two weeks earlier) it looked like the Ontario airport, quiet, noproblems. (On Friday) baggage was everywhere, children crying,people were being trampled. It was scary."

The United States began evacuating nonessential governmentpersonnel and their families Wednesday, amid slightly more organizedchaos than earlier in the week when French and more than 18,000others massed at the airport.

The exodus of foreigners and some Egyptians came as demonstratorsdemanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster clashed with thepresident's supporters - some riding horses and camels - in centralCairo in a fresh outbreak of violence in the weeklong protests.

The U.S. Embassy said it expected to evacuate more than 1,000Americans from Egypt over the next two days, including governmentpersonnel and other U.S. citizens.

Celebrating her birthday, French arrived in Egypt on Jan. 16 withher mom, Charisse, and sister Aimee.

"We said, 'Let's see the Pyramids,"' French said. "We turned downGreece because they had some issues there recently. We didn't wantto take a chance."

The trio spent the first week touring the Pyramids and taking acruise up the Nile. The second leg of their journey included a visitto the tourist resort Sharm el-Sheikh, followed by a 24-hour hike upMount Sinai.

"It was really nice," French said. "We slept at the top and leftat sunrise."

When they returned to Sharm el-Sheikh on Jan. 26, "all hell brokeloose in Cairo," French said. "It went from a peaceful demonstrationto streets flooded with people. The Internet service was down. Theonly cell phones that were working were those from the U.S.carriers."

Following their initial plans, French, her mom and her sisterflew to Cairo on Friday morning to catch a connecting flight toParis and then on to Los Angeles.

"Our agent was not there to meet us at the terminal, so wedecided to take a shuttle bus," French said. "We met this guy in asuit who told us, 'Don't leave the airport, there is a 4p.m. curfew,the soldiers have been ordered to shoot to kill,' and it was like3:45 (p.m.)."

The scene back at the main terminal was "chaos," French said."Seventy-five percent of the people were foreigners like us tryingto get out."

Most flights out of Cairo were either canceled or delayed. Frenchjoined another group of Americans and took turns sleeping andwatching the luggage. They were able to make calls on their cellphones, but only a minute or two in duration before the line wouldget cut off.

"The airport kept the news on TV, but it was in Arabic, so allyou see were demonstrations, tanks on the streets, but noexplanation," French said. "The scariest thing was when we heardthat prisoners got out of the jail, which was apparently two milesfrom the airport, a maximum security facility.

"While we were in Egypt I never felt unsafe until we got to theairport," French said. "During our trip everyone was kind. We met somany friendly, educated people. When they would hear that we arefrom the States, they would say 'America, freedom."'

More than 30 hours later, on Sunday, they boarded an Air Franceplane headed to Paris. The standby list for the flight had more than1,200 names on it. Some people were leaving Cairo to go back toBaghdad, French said.

The curfew had forced many airlines to readjust their schedulesto account for the times when passengers would be able to come tothe airport. Several temporarily suspended flights.

French and her relatives arrived in Los Angeles on Mondayevening. Their luggage made it back also.

French's plans for her next birthday?

"Staying in the U.S., definitely," she laughed. "Hawaii is astretch."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

mediha.dimartino@inlandnewspapers.com

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