Travel Blogger Has Really Infuriated Egypt

Egypt is hopping mad and the target of its wrath is, of all things, a travel blogger. As the New York Times reports, the tussle revolves around Cairo International Airport and goes a little something like this:

• The blogger in question: Ben Schlappig, who runs the One Mile at a Time website, penned a post with the not-so-subtle headline, "Cairo Airport: Is There a Worse Major Airport?" In it, he eviscerated airport employees for being "actively hostile and rude" and making "endless requests for tips," and the airport itself as "inconvenient and disorganized, to outright chaotic" with "yuck" lounges, "weak" food offerings, and without "a single redeeming quality."

• That didn't go over well: Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry wasn't taking that one lying down, digging up security footage of Schlappig and responding with a 1,100-word post that accused him of posting photos of a bathroom he didn't visit, unreasonably visiting "two lounges before a single flight," and having visited with the specific goal of "undermining Cairo Airport." As the Times notes, the post indicated the ministry "was prepared to take legal action."
• Furthermore: "The passenger ... completed the arrival procedures within 18 minutes, which is a record time compared to international airports," said the statement, per the Egypt Independent. Upon his return to the airport, security screening "took one minute, while the waiting time to complete travel procedures did not exceed 8 minutes."
• And that didn't go over well: Schlappig slammed the ministry for "the most bizarre response I've ever seen from a government" and "a Pyongyang-esque response."

(More Egypt stories.)