Travelbug

My adventure didn’t start well. My flight from San Francisco to Paris went swimmingly however in Paris I was delayed for 7.5 hours due to ‘technical difficulties’. I eventually made it to Cairo after nearly 48 hours of travelling to a hotel that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in about 48 days. I was so tired didn’t care, I crashed out on the bed for a good 9 hours.

The trip had been in the planning for about a year. I should point out to you now this was not a 5 star Sharm el Sheikh holiday, I booked one nights’ accommodation in Cairo and my flights back that was it. I planned to simply travel around and see where the sand dunes blew me. When I announced my plans to my friends their replies ranged from ‘I’m so jealous, that will be amazing’ to my Mothers ‘You will die’.

After my flight out to Egypt I began to think she was right. However after a night in the airport hotel and a buffet breakfast I was much brighter and ready to embark on my adventure. I explored Cairo for a few days I was mesmerized by the hustle and bustle of people, exotic smells and buzzing atmosphere. I visited the Egyptian Museum and saw ancient treasures including King Tutankhamen. I also went to the Khan Al-Khalili market this is where you can truly soak up Arabic Culture in the open market place. Some of the market sellers were a little intense but on the whole it was amazing and I picked up a few treasures to take home.

After a couple of days of lounging about Cairo I took the 3 hour train ride up to Alexandria. Alexandria has the same style of buildings as Cairo built by the English, Greeks and French which are in the same shabby chic state. Some buildings have the same lifts and it looks like even the same furnishings from the 1930s. If you were to remove the modern cars and fast food restaurants you could actually be back in the 1930s its oozes character and charm. I absolutely loved it.

I then took the overnight train from Alexandria to Aswan. This was relatively drama free although the toilets were horrendous. Never the less I arrived pretty much fresh and ready to explore. I found a hotel quickly and began wandering around the streets. The streets came to life at night when they were packed with people, sights and smells. The following morning I had organized to drive down see The Great Temple of Abu Simbel and the temple of Hathor. These massive stone monuments are truly mesmerising and although this sounds a little cliché they took my breath away.

From Aswan I hooked myself up with a 2-day Felucca ride to Luxor. A Felucca is a traditional sailboat with a giant sail they have been sailing the Nile for hundreds of years. If I had to pick one event that was my favourite it would have to be this, there was an over whelming sense of calm as we slid up the Nile in this stunning boat. Luxor is right on the Nile and it is packed full of temples. I met some people for dinner that evening that I had met on the Felucca, a lovely British couple and another Australian lone traveller. We decided that the next day we would take a hot air balloon ride over Luxor. It allowed us to see the huge temples in their full glory and we then watched the sunrise over the Nile. It was then I realized how alone I was.

After pottering about in cities and town for the past while I decided it was time to run further a field and drove into the dessert. For people who have seen desserts like the Sahara, Tunisia or Jordan. The Egyptian Western Desert is completely different. Sure it has the sand but this is different sand this sand gets into your bones. It really makes you think about who you are and what you’re doing. I chilled in the Dakhla Oasis for the rest of my trip moving around the area every few days.

At the start I motioned that some of my friends said that they were really jealous of my trip and my mother said you will die. What I didn’t mention was that most other popular replies were’ why go?’ You don’t know me but even if you did you probably wouldn’t know that for the past few months I have been living a sort of pretend life. Sure I eat, I drink, I got to work, I sleep about 2 hours a night but I exist I don’t live.

So why do people travel, is it to experience new cultures, see new things, eat different foods, learn a new language, take great pictures, to challenge yourself, to have fun and to party? I don’t know but with me it is quite different I travel because I need to be somewhere else. I need to be somewhere where there isn’t anything familiar there isn’t anything to remind me of what happened. There aren’t any smells, images, worries and senses to remind me. It’s all new and it’s all different. I think that couples who are considering marriage should spend some time pondering what forever actually means it’s not a temporary fix for when everything is good and it’s for all the time through everything.