I Went to Egypt (here are some unsolicited thoughts on the experience)

I’ve been back in the country for exactly one week, here are some thoughts on my travel experiences (apologies in advance for any introspective rambling, but you get pictures, so it evens out).

Top questions I’ve encountered since returning stateside: What was your favorite part of your trip? What was the worst part of your trip? What was the most unexpected part?

Honestly, I don’t really care about the first two. Yes, I have answers to them, I’m just not at liberty to share that information. However, the third question I do have an answer for…

The most unexpected part of this trip was the friendships I made. Never did I think I could be thrust into a group of 14 strangers and in less than a week consider them all good friends. Canonically, that doesn’t fit into my previously established character traits. Also it’s surprising how much I miss them all and weird realizing that there will likely never be a time all of us are in the same place again.

Whew, now that that’s out of the way, I really did have a fantastic time in Egypt.

Probably the strangest cultural difference is the traffic. No one drives in the lines, horns are used to communicate ones presence to other drivers, and the entire system feels like barely organized chaos. In the mist of this turmoil people are casually crossing the road narrowly avoiding being run over the entire time. It makes even the craziest traffic in the US look tame.

Their grasp of time is also really unique. Especially in Nubia, time is something that doesn’t control their lives at all. It provides a stress free living experience as tasks get done when they get done and if something doesn’t happen today, it wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s a crazy concept their stress free existence.

This was one of the reasons I loved Nubia so much. The second reason was the color and art. Everything is bright and colorful and vivid and cheerful. It was beautiful. Also, the crocodiles. The crocodiles were cool. The Nubian people were very nice as well.

Oh another fun fact: Egyptians love pranks.

Surprisingly, Egypt is actually a little chilly in the winter. Though February was a great time to visit as it is still the off season and it’s not too hot and there are fewer other tour groups out and about.

It is really mind blowing trying to grasp just how old all of these structures are. Yes, some of them are partially fallen down, but so many are still mostly intact. There were many moments, walking amongst the massive stone pillars, that it felt as though you’d traveled back in time.

I could spend many more paragraphs telling you all about every experience in detail, but that sounds kind of boring. Instead we’ll hit the spark notes of the things I liked the best.

In no particular order: Valley of the Kings (minus the valley of the vendors), an epic hot air balloon ride that nearly didn’t happen, a sailing on the Nile (both in a sail boat and on the cruise boat), the little kids and their mashup of popular songs, watching the sun set over the Nile from the deck of the cruise boat, and seeing the sunrise one morning over Kom Ombo Temple. There were way more too. The whole trip was just amazing.

Here at the end of the narrative we reach the ultimate question. Would I go back? The answer is absolutely. The GEM will be finished by then and there’s the Alexandria library which I heard was pretty cool.

So yes, there is still a lot to see and experience in Egypt. Plus, I miss the food there most of all. Especially that one place that had the really good fish. Definitely would go back there.

I forgot how strong the travel bug gets at the end of a great trip. Sure the long haul flights are miserable, and not sleeping for nearly 36 hours feels like torture, and yeah, getting sick right after I got home wasn’t a good time, but already I’m ready for the next trip, itching for the next adventure and friends to share it with.